Name: Million Dollar Lasagna
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef or turkey; 1 lb ground Italian sausage; 2 24 oz jars spaghetti sauce; 1 16 oz box lasagna noodles; 1 15 oz tub ricotta cheese; 1 16 oz tub small curd cottage cheese; 1 8 oz block cream cheese (softened); 2 c shredded cheddar; 1 egg (lightly beaten); ½ tsp onion powder; ½ tsp Italian seasoning; ½ tsp oregano; 1 tsp minced garlic

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I am on a comfort food kick right now, so it is time to share another recipe for something that most of us are very familiar with. The comfort food I speak of is lasagna. I would be willing to bet that most, if not all of you have made lasagna at some point. It might even be a weekly meal in your home. It is a fairly easy dish to make and comes in a lot of varieties such as seafood, traditional Italian or veggie. Most of you have also probably heard of “million dollar spaghetti” as well. But move over spaghetti, because we are about to take that million dollar makeover and hand it over to our lasagna. It’s only fair to give lasagna a turn to be glamorous right? Despite its name, this million dollar lasagna won’t break the bank and will be on your table or at your next family gathering in no time. So head to the kitchen and let’s get started!

We love Italian food in our house, especially if it involves some form of pasta. Lasagna was always a staple growing up. Something about a big pan of lasagna on a Sunday afternoon just says family to me. I love it because it really is very easy to put together. So easy in fact, that it was one of the few dishes that my husband could make for me when we first married. 🙂 Traditional recipes call for very few ingredients, such as lasagna noodles, sauce, ricotta and mozzarella. From there, you can customize with additions such as meat in the sauce or adding some fresh spinach.

Lasagna Gets A Makeover

This recipe starts with many of those traditional ingredients. The first and most crucial of course being the lasagna noodles. Nowadays, you can even get noodles that don’t require pre-cooking or whole grain. I have a love hate relationship with the no boil noodles myself. Sometimes they work and they are a huge time saver. Other times, the texture is just off and it ruins the whole dish. Too much of a gamble in my opinion. It really doesn’t take that much more time to boil them, so whether white or wheat, cook them first! Just be sure to add a healthy dose of salt to your water before adding the pasta because this will help to flavor the noodles themselves. Once they have cooked, I like to drain them and rinse them quickly under cool water to make them easier to handle. I also usually cook them to no more than the suggested minimum time so that they are not as delicate.

While your pasta is cooking, you can fire up the stove top and brown the meat. This million dollar lasagna recipe uses a combination of ground beef or turkey (whichever you prefer) and ground Italian sausage. Just combine the meat in a large skillet (large enough to accommodate the sauce) and cook until it is browned and cooked through. I love to use a meat masher when I am browning meat because it helps to break up the chunks. This gives you a much more uniform texture in your sauce. Once the meat has cooked, just drain and add it back to the same pan.

Keeping That Homemade Taste

Now let’s talk about sauce. I think we all have our favorite brands or even homemade recipes. When it comes to sauce from a jar, Prego is my personal favorite. I usually buy the traditional flavored (meatless) sauce so that I can add my own seasoning. Adding some of your own spices, as well as allowing the sauce to simmer on the stove a bit will give it a more “homemade” taste. Some of my favorite spices are onion powder, minced garlic, Italian seasoning and oregano. You can even give your sauce a little kick by adding in some crushed red pepper. We usually just add that on individual servings because the kids would not appreciate the heat.

So far our million dollar lasagna has pretty standard lasagna ingredients. What takes this to the next level is the trifecta of cheese. Most recipes use ricotta, which I do personally love. It is rich and creamy and perfect for lasagna. But to make this recipe even more rich, we are going to add cottage cheese and cream cheese. The cream cheese takes the creaminess up a notch while the cottage cheese adds some much needed moisture. All you have to do is combine the cheeses with a little beaten egg (for binding) and it is ready to go! There is one last cheese worth noting and that would be the cheddar. We are ditching the traditional mozzarella for a more flavorful cheese. This is million dollar lasagna after all!

Assembling Million Dollar Lasagna

With all the ingredients ready, it is time to assemble! Rather than spraying the bottom of my baking dish, I like to add a thin layer of sauce instead. It helps prevent sticking but also helps to ensure that the flavor makes it all the way to the bottom. On top of that sauce, you can layer your remaining ingredients: noodles, cheese mixture, shredded cheddar, sauce, repeat. I like to end the lasagna with the meat sauce and some more cheddar on top. Now it is ready for the oven! There is no need to cover it, just pop it in and start checking it around 30 minutes. If your oven tends to cook on the quicker/hotter side, then 30 to 45 minutes will be plenty. It is done when you see bubbling around the sides and the cheese on top is nice and melty.

After removing it from the oven, it might be tempting to grab a knife and dig right in. But wait! Taking this approach, your lasagna will come out in a big sloppy mess rather than a nice uniform piece. If that doesn’t bother you, then by all means have at it! If you do want it to stay together, then let it rest on top of the stove for about 10-15 minutes. This will allow it to cool enough to set and stay together when it is sliced. Hungry yet? It is time to grab a plate, a nice crusty piece of garlic bread and a big piece of million dollar lasagna. Family dinner is served! Bon Appetit! And if you haven’t already, check out my Easy Cheesy Shells for another great comfort food dish!