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Ground Beef and Spinach Lasagna

Lasagna.  I never thought of it as a weeknight meal, until I promised my crew baked ziti and opened the pantry and - NO ZITI.  There was no way that I was going to drag an eight month old, four year old, and six year old to the grocery store at dinner time to fetch a single box of ziti.  Alas, I had to face my fears of making lasagna on a weeknight (way less scary than dragging three hungry kids to a grocery at 5pm).  I had already made my red sauce in the slow cooker, and had the ricotta, mozzarella, and lasagna noodles on hand.  My husband gave me an encouraging text and requested that I add ground beef to the lasagna.  Done and done.  I grabbed my four year old son (aka my resident soux chef) and got cookin'.  Here's the outcome:

For my go-to sauce recipe, click here.


Ground Beef and Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients

(1) package of lasagna noodles (I prefer to boil mine, but you can use whichever type you prefer)

(1) 15 oz container of Ricotta Cheese (I used part skim store brand.  Again, go with your preference)

(1) 7 oz bag of shredded mozzarella cheese

(1) egg

1 lb of ground beef (I used lean)

1/2 c. - 1 c. of uncooked, fresh baby spinach

1-2 tsp. garlic powder

Garlic salt and black pepper to taste

Red sauce (recipe here)

Directions

1)   Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

2)   Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions (if you are using no-boil noodles, skip this step).

3)    Heat large pan over medium-high heat. Add ground beef, garlic powder, garlic salt, and black pepper.  Cook ground beef until browned.  Make sure that the ground beef is separated into smaller pieces.  Reduce heat to medium low and add in spinach.  Cook until spinach is wilted.  Add sauce to pan and mix thoroughly.  Remove from heat.

4)    In a separate bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 1 1/2  cups of mozzarella cheese, and egg.  (You should have a small amount of mozzarella cheese remaining).

5)    Spread about 1/2 cup of sauce and meat mixture on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Layer noodles, then cheese mixture, then sauce and meat mixture.  Continue layering in this order twice.  Top with sauce mixture and remaining mozzarella cheese.

6)    Spray a piece of foil with non-stick spray and cover lasagna with foil (sprayed-side down).

7)    Bake for thirty minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.




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