November 15, 2018

Sausage and Beef Lasagna

Sausage and Beef Lasagna. Layers of perfectly seasoned beef and sausage tomato sauce with melty, tasty cheeses! Lasagna kicked up a notch!

Italian Food

My one year old can put away some food. It doesn’t make any sense how much that tiny human eats. Especially when it comes to Italian food. That girl loves herself some pasta with tomato sauce. She can easily out-eat everyone else at the table. Whenever we have Italian for dinner, the go to conversation is my daughter yelling, “More! More!”, and someone saying, “I don’t understand how this is possible.” Then my husband says, “Whoever watches her tomorrow will understand.” It’s true.

Last week I had a conference and was away six days, and my husband joined for the last four days, so I made some food to help out everyone who was watching my kids during that time. Since my daughter loves Italian, and I wanted to have some food that each of my kids liked while I was away, lasagna was a must on the list.

MORE!

While my husband and I were together for the trip, we’d call at night time to say hey to the kids. My in-laws had them during that time, so we’d call around dinner. During dinner one night we heard the typical “MORE! MORE!” screams. My mother-in-said that my daughter was crushing bowls of chicken and rice, as well as lasagna. My heart was full. That may not make sense to everyone, but when my family is full and happy, my soul is happy.

Sausage and Beef Lasagna

This recipe has grown and changed with my family over the years. It started off with a recipe from my husband’s grandfather that I have changed here and there to make it ideal for our family. I’m a firm believer there there is no such thing as too tomato sauce, so this lasagna has plenty of it. And although I don’t eat much cheese at this point in life, the rest of my family does, so I make sure that there is plenty of it, and that it’s tastily seasoned!

This sausage and beef lasagna freezes well and is one of my go-to freezer casseroles. When I freeze it, I prepare up to the point of baking, and then cover it with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. When I’m ready to cook it, I let it thaw and then bake it. It’s a great meal for any night of the week!

Sausage and Beef Lasagna

Sausage and Beef Lasagna. Layers of perfectly seasoned beef and sausage tomato sauce with melty, tasty cheeses! Lasagna kicked up a notch!

4.50 from 6 votes

Course: Dinner

Prep Time: 45

Cook Time: 1

Servings: servings

Calories: 662

Ingredients

12 lasagna noodles
1 pound ground beef
1 pound mild breakfast sausage
4 cloves garlic
18 ounces tomato paste
28 ounces tomato sauce
14 ounces crushed tomatoes
1 package onion soup mix
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
2 1/2 tbsp dried parsley divided
1 1/2 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp sugar
1 teaspoon ground thyme divided
32 ounces ricotta cheese
3 cups mozzarella cheese divided
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp fresh shaved parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

In a large pot over medium-high heat, add beef, sausage and garlic. Saute until meat is cooked through. Drain and discard fat.
Turn heat to low and stir in tomato paste, tomato sauce, onion soup mix, pepper, oregano, 1 tbsp parsley, basil, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon thyme. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, and set aside. If you're using oven ready noodles, skip this step.
In a small bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, 1 tbsp parsley, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To assemble, use a 9x13 casserole dish. Cover bottom of dish with a thin layer of meat sauce (about 1 cup). Place 4 lasagna noodles over sauce (you may need to cut or break the noodles for this). Cover noodles with 1/3 of the cheese mixture and then 1/3 of the meat mixture. Repeat process of noodles, cheese and meat two more times. Top final layer with remaining cup of mozzarella cheese and 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 60 minutes. Remove foil after 30-40 minutes if you'd like your cheese to brown.