Cooking for someone is the universal expression of showing you care. So is there any better way to say “I love you” through food than by making lasagna? I think not.
A big dish of lasagna says: I poured my heart into making this meal for you.
But let’s be honest. Traditional lasagna takes about a million years to make (give or take few) and is a giant undertaking for most home cooks in terms of time and effort.
Tell your family (or your sig other… or yourself!) you love them through lasagna, but take the painstaking time and effort out with this recipe. No-boil noodles, plus plenty of sauce and cheese, make this a super-easy way to achieve the same delicious and comforting end, while frozen veg (in this recipe I use spinach, but you can substitute anything you have from other frozen veggies to leftovers) adds some extra healthy goodness. Want it to be meaty? Just brown some ground beef or sausage and add it atop the spinach layers.
While the prep time is swift, the cook time is still a little lengthy; but that gives you plenty of time to get ready for tomorrow, or catch up on your Netflix binge-watching.
Make it look like you slaved away in the kitchen to profess your love, while you actually just took a maximum of 20 minutes to layer this before you threw it in the oven. You can even make it ahead and just bake when you get home, or before company arrives. You look like a champ, everyone is satisfied, and you get a darn fine hearty meal, too. It’s a win on all levels.
- 13 x 9 pan
- 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 2 (size) jars marinara
- 2 cups ricotta
- 1 cup shredded parmesan
- 3 ½ cups shredded mozzarella
- About a teaspoon each of crushed red pepper, dried basil, and dried parsley (all optional)
- 2 cups of frozen spinach
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spread sauce along bottom of pan
- Line bottom of pan with four no bake noodles
- Spread sauce along top of noodles
- Generously spread ricotta over noodles
- Sprinkle crushed red pepper, dried basil, dried parsley
- Cover with a cup of frozen spinach
- Sprinkle 1 cup shredded mozzarella and ⅓ cup shredded parmesan
- Spoon sauce on top to cover
- Layer 4 noodles on top and cover with sauce, then repeat the above steps one time
- Place final layer of noodles on top and generously pour remainder of sauce, 1 ½ cup mozzarella and a ⅓ cup of shredded parmesan on top, sprinkling with crushed red pepper, dried basil and dried parsley.
- Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 30 more minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes before cutting.
- Make sure to cover the pasta entirely in sauce to ensure that the no-boil noodles cook completely.
- While spinach is used in this recipe, feel free to substitute any vegetable(s) of your choice.