Brian had to work a little later than normal one night this week, so I decided to bring him and a coworker dinner at work. Coco offered to help, if you call playing on her Magna Doodle, eating popcorn and drinking juice helping.

 

 

We(?) made what I call Cheater Lasagna. It is fast, easy, and compared to making most other lasagnas with bechamel sauce and home made tomato sauce, it is much less time consuming. I call this Cheater Lasagna because I use jarred sauce (gasp!) which, even Giada DeLaurentiis herself has been known to use jarred sauce, and no boil noodles. This helps cut down on a few steps and makes homemade lasagna on a weeknight a possibility.

 

Cheater Lasagna
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
48 oz of your favorite jarred tomato sauce
1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese
1 egg beaten
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
10 slices mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded Italian cheese blend
1-9 oz box of Barilla No Boil lasagna noodles
Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot over medium heat add olive oil and ground turkey. Season with salt and pepper, and then breaking apart with a spatula, cook ground turkey until cooked through (no longer pink) about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add sauce and stir occasionally until heated through 5-7 minutes then remove from heat.

While sauce heats through, in a large bowl add ricotta cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning, and mix until well combined and set aside.

In a greased 9 x 13 baking dish start layering:

1/2 cup of tomato sauce mixture spread around dish
4 or 5 noodles
2 cups of sauce mixture
5 slices of mozzarella cheese
1/2 ricotta mixture
4 or 5 noodles
2 cups of sauce mixture
5 slices of mozzarella cheese
1/2 of ricotta mixture
4 or 5 noodles
remaining sauce mixture
2 cups of shredded Italian cheese blend sprinkled over top

 

Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Brian and his coworker were thankful! Coco was even more thankful for the leftovers (you know, because she was such a good helper).