My Standard Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (or mix ground beef with Italian sausage meat)
• garlic powder, to taste
• 3 cups spaghetti sauce (a meat flavored version, homemade is best, but bottled is ok too)

• 1 (15 ounce) container light ricotta cheese (or small curd cottage cheese, drained well)
• 1 1/2-2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 6 slices provolone cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1-2 large eggs
• parsley, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/2 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles, cooked until just soft, approximately

Directions

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease a deep 9x13" casserole, spread just a couple of spoonfuls of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the pan and set aside.

2. 2

   Brown meat in a skillet until fully cooked; drain fat.

3. 3

   Combine the cooked meat with the rest of the spaghetti sauce and a few shakes of garlic powder, heat until warmed through, about 5-10 minutes.

4. 4

   Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, half of the shredded mozzarella cheese, the Parmesan cheese, the eggs, a few liberal shakes of garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper, mixing well.

5. 5

   Place a layer of lasagna noodles in the bottom of the prepared baking dish, then pour some of the meat sauce, spreading to cover evenly.

6. 6

   Spread some of the cheese mixture on top of that, then top with another layer of noodles.

7. 7

   Repeat layers until you have used up all of your filling.

8. 8

   Sprinkle remaining mozzarella over the top, then place the slices of provolone cheese on top, leaving some gaps.

9. 9

   Cover tightly with foil and bake 45 minutes.

10. 10

    Remove from oven, leaving covered, set on top of the stove and let rest 20-30 minutes.

11. 11

    While the lasagna is resting, you can pop in a loaf of garlic bread wrapped partially in foil.