Mrs. Bear's Sweet Sausage Shroom Lasagna

Even though my Italian mom and grandmother have given me lots of advice on how to make a fantastic lasagna, I take full credit for this lasagna recipe. I have perfected it and found what works the best over the past couple of years. I have lots of different variations of lasagna recipes, but this one has been a huge hit in the Bear's home this past week. It's an easy recipe to follow and I attribute that to the fact that I don't use homemade sauce!

The Bears are huge fans of this sauce... I know its not fresh, it comes out of a jar, and my grandma would point her finger and frown at me if she knew I did this... but we don't care! It's so good!

First step to a good lasagna... make sure to sauce the bottom of the baking dish so your noodles don't stick!

Ingredients

1 box of lasagna noodles

1 XL jar Chunky Ragu Tomato Onion Garlic Sauce

I dont know what size it is!

12 oz container reduced fat ricotta

1 large egg

1 huge block of mozzarella - grated

1 teaspoon salt and pepper

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 tablespoon of oregano

1 tablespoon of parsley

1 small can sliced mushrooms

5 sweet Italian sausages - casing removed

Plus 6 oz shredded mozzarella for topping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put a large deep pot of water on the stove, lightly salt, and then turn up the heat. When it's boiling, carefully put the lasagna noodles in the pot. Cook until al dente, drain, then carefully drape the noodles over the edge of the pot. (If you want, you can drizzle the noodles with a little bit of olive oil so they do not stick to the pot).

2. In a skillet, cook the sweet Italian sausages over medium heat. I use a wooden spoon to break down the meat as it cooks through.

3. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley.

4. In a large baking dish, coat the bottom with some sauce. Cover the sauce with 3-4 noodles (depending on how wide your dish is). Spoon on some ricotta to the noodles. Add some crumbles of sausage and some mushrooms. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Then cover with a light layer of sauce.

5. Place down 3-4 more noodles, then repeat with the ricotta, sausage, mushroom, mozzarella, and sauce. Repeat until there are only 3-4 noodles left for the covering of the lasagna. I then spoon sauce over the noodles and apply a generous helping of mozzarella cheese.

6. Spray one side of a large piece of tin foil with non-stick baking spray. Cover the lasagna and bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove the tinfoil and bake for 15 more minutes.

7. Allow the lasagna to settle and cool for atleast 10 minutes before digging in!

Finished Product:

Note: I only put sausage on one half of the lasagna b/c I can't eat it!