At long last - Lasagna!

I will apologize up front. I didn't have pictures because the camera was dead and I totally forgot to charge the battery. FAIL - but that doesn't compare to the HUGE WIN I just had with my first lasagna EVER!

I have always been intimidated by making lasagna after watching my Mom for years slave at the process. Start your sauce the day before by scratch. Carrot, Onion, Garlic, tomatoes that were whole that I got to help squish into the pot - seasoning for days, tomato sauce and paste and on and on and on. THEN you cooked the noodles, trimmed the noodles - layer after layer after layer. I was just too afraid to make it without it being a total failure.

Tonight, on a very festive occasion - MY BIRTHDAY - I decided I wanted lasagna and I was going to make it. (Sorry Stouffers) So I went to the store to purchase ingredients.
Lasagna Noodles -check
Two jars of sauce - check
Ricotta cheese- check
Parmesan cheese- check
Mozzarella cheese - check

We already had some ground beef in the freezer so I pulled that out to do it's bidness ;) Opened the sauce and used a jar and a half along with the cooked beef once it wasn't a block of frozen red substance. The jar sauce I used and happen to still love is Classico Tomato & Basil. It's not the sweetest sauce out there by any means and has a decent amount of flavor.

I called my Mom for advice as I always do. She told me how to make it as I frantically tried to write it all down. "Just follow the directions on the box, it's not that hard" she says. As I picture her in the kitchen many times during my childhood slaving away over her process.

*SIGH* Ok, I can do this!

I read the directions a few times - just to make sure I knew what I needed to do. I just had to remember these were telling me to cook the noodles and I wasn't going to do that. Hmm.

I pulled out of the fridge the items needed to mix the "stuffing" with. The Ricotta slipped out of it's container with the most distinct sound and ending with a big thud in the bowl. It did NOT look yummy! Cracked in two eggs, added 3.5 cups of the Mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan and mixed. This looked interesting. Was it going to taste good? Not so sure!

Before starting the assembly process, I tasted the meat sauce. It needed a little something. I added some sage, thyme, oregano, and a little salt & pepper. MUCH BETTER!

Now to put this pan of potential perfection together!!!

"layer bottom of pan with noodles slightly over lapping them" - if any of my 2 readers have ever made a lasagna with "oven ready" or not cooking your noodles first - you know that they aren't the easiest thing to work with. Yes, the pan is 9 x 13 - YES the pan is square and so are the noodles - but they are rock solid and don't move or conform to the shape you wish them to - DUH!

I put my first layer down trying to break and crack the noodles to create the shapes and lines to fit this square yet unsquare 9 x 13 pan. Maybe next time I'll actually cook them. We'll see. :)

Now cheese mix. WOW this stuff doesn't move easy and yes I'm only supposed to use half and spread it all over this 9 x 13, dry noodled mess without moving things around!? HA! Note to self - use a fork not a spatula for this process - it works SO much better. Small strokes and move things around. It will fit! Dump half your sauce mix over the cheese mix and repeat layers. Yeah well - this wasn't the box directions first time making a meal they've stressed over making since cooking became a thought. GEEZ!

I eventually got the 2nd layer on. Preheated the oven to 375 and baked for an hour. GUESS WHAT I FORGOT!?! You really should cover the damn lasagna so the noodles can catch some steam and cook - HELLO! Thank you for the loving reminder Mom! :)

I open the oven after the timer goes off an hour later and pull the lasagna out to top with cheese to melt. oooh! OUCH! There are some burnt or slightly darkened and dried out pieces around the edge. DARN IT! Not a total fail but not a total win! Oh well, you live, you learn right!? Thank you for your amazing words of wisdom Alanis Morissette. I topped it with cheese after picking off some dried out burned edges and placed it back in the oven to melt.

After the cheese looked oooey and gooey (did I spell that right?) I brought it back out of the oven to rest while cooking the garlic bread. I was terrified! Did the noodles cook!?? If I stuck a knife in this thing (which didn't look so bad!) would it go all the way through?? YES! WOOO HOOO! WIN #1!!! The noodles were cooked and I wasn't totally screwed for leaving the foil off during the baking process. Would it taste good??? We'll have to wait and see.

The garlic bread finished - sorry to disappoint, but it was store bought. Sliced it up and served with a modest slice of the lasagna. Of course wanting to avoid total taste failure - I served Matt & Nate first waiting anxiously to hear some sort of response before dying or giving an enormous sigh of relief to continue on to my taste test. (waiting, waiting, ..... OMG SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING!)

"Mom, this is the best thing EVER!" "oh yeah, no more store bought please"

YES! YES! YES! They like it! Shew! My turn! :)

It was great!!! I didn't have a total fail! It was really tasty and cooked well. I can't tell you just how proud I was and how the anxiety of making my Mom's lasagna finally left my body. I no longer fear the huge pan of lasagna.

I do apologize that I am lame and didn't check the camera to see if it was charged to take a picture of my lasagna deliciousness but life goes on. (wow I'm full of analogies today! sorry!)

One more hurdle in the great kitchen of life has been jumped over and I accomplished another course. I promise not to make it so long before my next blog. :)

Thanks for reading :)

Much <3