Laughing and Lasagna

Laughing and Lasagna

Are you a Dad that comes home from a long day of work grumpy and hungry? Let CookLikeADad show you how to turn that frown upside down with a quick and easy Lasagna dish. This cooking for kid’s recipe promises to have you laughing by the end of the meal.

Ingredients: Feeds a Family of 5

Total Cooking & Prep Time: 45 minutes or less…

1 ½ Pounds of Ground Beef, OR Ground Turkey, OR Sausage (The Sausage can be any variety) Cook completely in a fry pan on Med/Hi heat, drain grease.

1-One, 10-12oz. Can of Tomato Sauce

1-One 10-12oz. Can of Stewed Tomatoes, drain can juice

1-One 6- 8oz. Can of Tomato Paste

2 Tablespoons of Oregano Leaves

1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning

OR

(You can substitute the above Tomato ingredients with (1) 16oz. Jar of Ragu Traditional Pasta Sauce).

1-One Package, Dry Lasagna

1-One 10 -12 oz. Mozzarella Cheese Ball, Grade it Or substitute with the Sorrento, 12 oz. Pre-Graded Mozzarella Cheese.

1-One 10 -12 oz. Container of Ricotta Cheese

1- Tablespoon Olive Oil

½ Onion, Fine chopped

Equipment:

Oven, Square 8 or 10-inch Baking Pan, Fry Pan, Boil Pot, Mixing Bowl, Cheese grader

No Laughing Moment…

As a Dad to three kids, I discovered a lot about keeping a positive attitude at home. Unfortunately, it took a real bad day at work to wake me up and realize what was more important in my life. It took my oldest child to walk up to me one evening after one of my “grumpy bouts” and tell me, “Dad, you don’t laugh or smile anymore and we don’t like to be around you for dinner when you are grumpy like this… I picked up dinner on the way home from school and we ate already so we won’t have to be around you.”

That was all it took for me to realize how much I lost touch with my priorities. I discovered that I was mentally bringing my work home and carrying the stress of the day to the one place I looked forward to being at the end of every day; dinner time cooking with my family.

So this recipe is for all parents out there that are bringing home the stress of the day home to their sanctuary. Trust me, your children know when you are grumpy, so take it from me and let go of your day and celebrate your evening with your children by making my CookLikeADad, Laughing Lasagna Recipe.

Cooking Steps: Set the Mood

This recipe has a couple cooking steps where you can cut some time down, so get your children involved in this recipe; The family that cooks together, stays together! I like to cook with a little background music and I let my kids choose the music. With today’s technology, it’s great to have the variety of music playing from Pandora Internet Radio while you are cooking with your family, (It also helps the Dad Cool Factor by learning new music). During this particular recipe, I was able to educate my children by playing some classic Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra music while making Lasagna… A classic Italian moment with my Rat Pack!

Anyways, back to the cooking steps; Start Boil Pot with salted water, (1 cup Salt) bring to a boil and follow directions on cooking the Lasagna pasta.

Pre-heat oven: 375 Degrees F

Take the Ground Meat that you have chosen for this recipe and cook thoroughly in a fry pan, Med /HIGH heat.  While cooking, season meat with ½ Cup finely chopped onion, 1 Table spoon of Italian Seasoning and 1 Tablespoon of Oregano. Mix well with meat. Drain excess grease and se meat aside in a bowl.

Make Sauce:

Like all CookLikeADad recipes, I like to give my Dads flexibility with my recipes and options on ingredients. I have my three tomato mixture of Tomato Sauce, Stewed Tomatoes and Tomato Paste on this recipe AND an option you to just buy a large jar of Pasta sauce. This option is all according to your budget and time. You can your prep time with pasta sauce, just make sure you have some tomato paste around to thicken your Lasagna sauce. You can also add the recommended spices to the pasta sauce to bring out more flavors.

Let the Layers Begin…

You are going to make a couple of layers in this recipe, so make sure you keep a portion of sauce, cheese and lasagna available. You can also just make one layer of the ingredients and use up all of your ingredients in just one run. Either way, you will be smiling now because your dish is starting to resemble a meal…

Grease the bottom of your Lasagna pan with Olive Oil and place an even coat of your sauce at the bottom of your pan. Now start with one layer of Lasagna Pasta and cover the bottom. Add sauce to that layer, now sprinkle your cooked meat over the sauce evenly. Take a healthy scoop of Ricotta Cheese and spread it across the layer of meat. The Ricotta should spread like Sour Cream so don’t worry if you have gaps in between your meat and cheese. Add a Sprinkle of the Mozzarella Cheese. Make sure there is a good layer of sauce and cheese if you just plan on topping off this Lasagna. You can repeat the  first steps again or just top this layer with another layer of Lasagna Pasta and finish with  a coat of sauce, meat and mozzarella cheese.

Place the pan of Lasagna in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes…Since all of the ingredients used in this recipe are already pre-cooked, you only need the time in the oven to melt the cheese. Serve warm.

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