My Family Favorite Lasagna

Ingredients:

- About 9-12 whole wheat lasagna noodles (you can use regular too)

- 1 can Marinara sauce (any brand will do- I like Lucini Tuscan organic marinara with this)

- About 1/3 can Rao’s Arrabbiata sauce (you can use regular marinara too, I just like this combination- it gives it more of a kick)

- 1 lb ground turkey

- ½ - 1 lb ground Italian sausage (I like to use spicy, but you can use regular too)

Ricotta mixture:

- 15 oz whole milk Ricotta

- 8 oz bag shredded mozzarella

- ½ cup grated parmesan

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp onion powder

- 1-2 tbsp. Italian seasoning

- 2 dashes of cinnamon (my secret ingredient)

- ½ tsp salt

- ½ tsp pepper

- 1/3 cup peas (I use frozen and thaw in microwave ahead of time)

- 1/3 cup carrots chopped tiny

Directions:

- Boil large pot of salted water and boil lasagna noodles until al dente, rinse under cold water and set aside

- On stovetop, brown turkey + sausage meat until no pink remains, drain any fat.

- Stir in the sauces to the browned meat and simmer uncovered over medium heat for 5-10 minutes

- In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta mixture

- Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce into a 9x13 inch glass pan or casserole dish. Top it with 3-4 lasagna noodles, layer with ½ ricotta cheese mixture, a handful of mozzarella cheese, then 1 cup meat sauce.

- Top with 3-4 more noodles, the remaining ricotta cheese mixture, a handful mozzarella cheese, 1 cup meat sauce

- Top it with 3-4 more noodles, remaining meat sauce, another handful mozzarella cheese

- Bake at 350 degrees, covered for 40 min. Remove foil, sprinkle more mozzarella and parmasean if you desire on top, and bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered

I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does! The combination of the spices, with the dashes of cinnamon are what really make it I think 🙂