Best Ever Classic Lasagna

Oh man, I am SO excited to share this recipe with you. A classic and a staple from my mom's kitchen: LASAGNA!

And boy, I've got a lot to share about this one!

This is truly one of my all-time favorite Mom recipes. I wish I knew the history of this one. I think it may have originated as my grandma's recipe? And over time, my mom adapted it and tweaked it and made it her own. This recipe has a special place in my heart for a bunch of reasons.

Growing up, Mom made this killer dish for special occasions – I remember one time in particular she made it for Christmas dinner and justified it to me as, "Well, it's red and white, right? Christmas colors!" It's also an amazing meal to make ahead of time. Sometimes, she would make a lasagna to take on our summer beach vacations to heat up once we got there. So basically, this lasagna tastes like happy memories to me.

Some of you may not know this about my mom, but she was the youth group director at our home church in Huntsville, Alabama...an Episcopal church called St. Matthew's. And she was absolutely incredible at that job. She touched so many lives as the youth director and brought joy and faith and happiness to so many. After she passed away, St. Matthew's dedicated the youth building in her honor; they called it The Amy West House. At the dedication ceremony, they hosted a huge lasagna dinner for everyone in attendance and used this recipe right here – her lasagna recipe. That makes it extra special to me.

Here are a few pictures from that dedication ceremony:

And my most recent memory with this lasagna is extra-special too! Just last week, my husband and I traveled to Alabama to visit my sister...who just had a baby! She named her beautiful baby girl after our mom: Amy Rose. While we were there visiting, I made this lasagna for my sister, her husband, and my brother who was also visiting. And they gave me the best review of the dish I could possibly want: "This tastes just like how Mom used to make!" And because I am overwhelmed with love for my new niece, here are some adorable baby pictures:

See, I told you I had a lot to share!

Ok, so shall we get to the actual lasagna now? Let's do it!

For this recipe, I actually have my mom's original recipe card and a version that she typed out and sent to me at some point in the past, with a little bit of extra Mom notes in there. :)

Ok, so here's the thing. If you're crunched for time when making this, you can use pre-made/store-bought tomato sauce. But if you have the time, I HIGHLY recommend making my mom's classic tomato sauce recipe to use in the lasagna. You can find the recipe HERE. I promise, your lasagna will be better for it!

First, preheat your oven to 375º. Then take your package of lasagna noodles...Mom says in her recipe that she likes the Barilla brand, so that's what I always get. Cook the noodles according to the package. When done, drain and rinse them under cold water, then toss with a little olive oil to prevent sticking. Don't forget that step! I did once and it turned into a big sticky mess.

Next, take either a 9x13 baking dish or a lasagna pan and cover the bottom in a thin layer of sauce (either your store-bought, or Mom's tomato sauce that you've already made by this point.) Lay 3 lasagna noodles down over the sauce. Top the noodles with more sauce. *Note: it's super easy to overdo it with the sauce and end up with lasagna soup! Be sparing with your sauce: just enough to cover the layer.

Scoop 12 spoonfuls of ricotta cheese in rows on top of noodles – 4 scoops per noodle. As a good rule of thumb, you can use a heaping teaspoon for the scoop size. At least that's what I always do! Next, top each blob of ricotta with a square of mozzarella. *Note: In the picture above, I have a ball of fresh mozzarella because I was just experimenting with that. I do not recommend this! Definitely use a block of mozzarella instead, like the recipe says.

Once finished, sprinkle shredded parmesan over the entire layer. It should look something like this:

Now begin a new layer! Noodles > sauce > ricotta > mozzarella > parmesan. Etc etc! You should be able to fit about 4 layers in your pan.

For the final (top) layer, omit the ricotta, but do everything else the same. Now cover the entire pan with foil, careful not to have the foil tight on top of the cheese. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook another 10 minutes uncovered. Then remove the lasagna from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes (this is important, because if you try to cut into it fresh out of the oven, you'll have a giant mess on your hands!) And voilà! You have made the BEST EVER lasagna in the entire world. But it's not like I'm biased or anything.

Now, as you've noticed, this is a meat-free lasagna. Feel free to add meat to your sauce for an extra carnivorous kick! Or, you can do like I do and serve meat on the side. I usually love making some Italian sausages and a nice Italian salad to serve with it. And it's literally the perfect meal.

I'm truly so happy to be sharing this meal with you. What do you think? Does it sound like something you'd love? If you end up making this recipe, I'd love to hear how it turned out in the comments below. As ever, thank you all for your support for this culinary adventure. Bon Appétit! XOXO

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The Best Lasagna Ever

Ingredients

• 1 box of lasagna noodles (I use Barilla)

• 3 cups of tomato sauce (check out my recipe for tomato sauce here)

• 1 large container of ricotta cheese

• 1 large block of mozzarella cheese

• 6 oz container of shredded parmesan cheese

• Olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375º

2. Prepare lasagna noodles according to the package, then drain, rinse under cold water, and toss with olive oil

3. Prepare a lasagna pan or 9x13 baking dish by spreading a thin layer of sauce over the bottom

4. Lay 3 lasagna noodles down over the sauce

5. Scoop 12 heaping teaspoonfuls of ricotta cheese in rows on top of the noodles

6. Top each scoop of ricotta with a square of mozzarella cheese

7. Sprinkle the entire layer with parmesan cheese

8. Repeat the entire process approx. 3 or 4 more times

9. For the final (top) layer, omit the ricotta cheese but do everything else the same

10. Cover the pan in foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes

11. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes

12. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes

13. Serve and enjoy!