Thursday, April 14, 2011

Hat Dad Gets a Break From Cooking: Meatball Lasagna

I tried to help Hat Dad out around the house this week by going grocery shopping for the family, and making dinner Monday.  I had been wanting to try this Meatball Lasagna recipe for-ev-er, and I'm so glad I finally did.

I used beef italian meatballs, but I think this would be awesome with turkey meatballs or even veggie meatballs.

I'm not sure where I originally saw this recipe, so if you know where it is from, please let me know!

Meatball Lasagna
Serves 5-6


Ingredients:
9 dried lasagna noodles (I cooked 11 because inevitably some rip, and I'm anal)
1/2 of a 15 oz container ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
16 oz miniature frozen italian-style meatballs, thawed* 
16 oz jar of marinara pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

Cook lasagna noodles according to package.  Set noodles aside to cool.

In a small bowl, stir together ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.



In a medium bowl, stir together meatballs and 1 cup pasta sauce.


Spread a small amount of sauce over the bottom of a baking dish.


Layer 3 noodles in dish.


Spoon meatball mixture over noodles.

(Don't waste your time counting out the meatballs to ensure the 
same amount overs each noodle - no one will notice)

Layer 3 noodles over meatballs, and spread half of the remaining pasta sauce over the noodles.  Spoon ricotta mixture over sauce, and spread evenly.


Top with remaining noodles and sauce.


(Now if you're me, about here is where you put the foil on and tell Hat Dad or Handsome Husband to put it in the oven in a few hours while you're off to suffer in Professor All Over the Place's class.)

If you're not me, however - cover the dish with foil, and bake 35 minutes.  After 35 minutes, remove foil and sprinkle remaining mozzarella over lasagna. 

Bake another 10 minutes, and remove.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


(Personally, I think it could use some more cheese, but I'm a BIG cheese fan)

The meatball lasagna was a pretty big hit.  I loved it, so did Hat Dad.  Handsome Husband doesn't like ricotta (something that would've been nice to know before planning to make lasagna, no?), but still enjoyed it.

*For the meatballs, I could only find a huge bag of them, so I simply figured they each were about a half ounce, and counted out 32 meatballs.  Also, I put my lasagna in the oven with the meatballs still fairly frozen and it turned out just fine!

4 comments:

Heidi / D-Tales said...

YUM! My husband would love this. I'm glad you posted this recipe. I'll have to make it...albeit with a little more cheese on top. :)

Unknown said...

Hey! Thanks for visiting my blog!

You are such a grown up--look at you making such a delicious meal!
Yum, love the idea of a layer of meatballs!!!

Looking forward to visiting again soon...

Sylvia

Casey said...

Thanks for stopping by, ladies!! The meatballs were a really fun touch to the lasagna!

Jessica said...

This looks yummy! I have never tried lasagna with meatballs, but this recipe looks like i'll have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing!

Oh, and thanks for the wonderful comment that you left on my blog. I really appreciate it!

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