Meaty Lasagna

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F).

Brown beef and sausage in a large saucepan over medium heat. Throw the onions and garlic in the with the beef for the last few minutes of cooking. Once meat is browned and onions are translucent, drain grease.

Add marinara sauce to saucepan and stir to combine everything. Keep on medium heat and heat through.

Combine cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese and egg in a large bowl.

In a large lasagna pan, put enough meat sauce on the bottom of the pan to cover it (about 2 cups). Place uncooked noodles in a single layer on top of sauce. On top of noodles, spread 1/2 of the cottage cheese mixture and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese. Place about 2 cups of meat sauce on top of mozzarella cheese, then another layer of noodles. Put remaining cottage cheese mixture on top of noodles, followed by remaining meat sauce and then top with remaining mozzarella cheese (and additional Parmesan cheese if desired)*.

Cover with aluminum foil, place on top of a baking sheet (to catch drips) and bake for 45 minutes.

At the 45 minute point, remove aluminum foil and continue to cook until cheese is bubbly and brown.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 – 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

*If you have a deeper lasagna pan (or if you don’t use any meat), you could probably do a third layer. Mine was almost overflowing so I could only do 2 layers.

**This recipe is easy to cut in half if you want to use an 8″ x 8″ baking dish instead of a 9″ x 13″. Cut all ingredients in half except for the egg – you can still use a whole egg (plus, how do you cut an egg in half? Don’t answer that.).