Cheesy Lasagna with Baby Spinach

Hello folks and welcome back to the All Things Southern kitchen.  We’re making my Cheesy Lasagna with Baby Spinach”.  I know. I know. Lasagna gets a bad rap for being labor intensive. But, it really isn’t. It’s just a matter of preparing your layers and assembling ‘em. Here, let me show you.

“Cheesy Lasagna with Baby Spinach”

1 package of lasagna noodles (twelve count)
1 pound bulk sausage
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 (24 ounce) can of Hunts Garlic and Herb Pasta Sauce
2 cans (6.5) tomato sauce
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
16 ounces ricotta cheese (you can also use cottage cheese)
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 pound fresh mozzarella, shredded
1 cup Parmesan cheese for topping
3 tablespoons chopped diced green onions for topping
Salt and pepper

We’ll begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil with a dash of salt. We’ll add our lasagna noodles and let them boil about eight minutes, or just until they begin to soften. Then we’ll drain them, rinse them with cold water, and set ‘em aside.  Now for the meat sauce. I like to begin with equal parts ground sausage and beef. We’ll brown them along with dried basil, Italian seasoning, and oregano. Then we’ll drain the grease off and add a can of Hunts Garlic and Herb pasta sauce, two cans of tomato sauce, and 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste. We’ll salt and pepper to taste and let this simmer while we finish prepping our other layers.

To prepare our white sauce we’ll combine ricotta cheese with a half cup of milk and one egg. I like to add a bit of green to my lasagna, so we’ll heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and add a tablespoon of minced garlic. To this we’ll add a couple handfuls of baby spinach that we’ve diced, and let it cook down, two to three minutes. Once it wilts, we’ll stir our spinach into our white sauce and it’ll be time to build our lasagna.

Begin by spooning half of the meat sauce in the bottom of a greased casserole dish and layering it with half of the precooked noodles. Spread with half of the ricotta white sauce and spinach, sprinkle with half of the shredded mozzarella and then just repeat the layers. That’s it,  y’all!

Cover with foil and bake for twenty minutes in a 350-degree oven. Remove, top with grated parmesan and diced green onions and bake another fifteen minutes. That’s my Cheesy Lasagna with Baby Spinach and it’s good eating from the All Things Southern kitchen to yours.