by Gail M Feldman

Created on: September 14, 2010

Lazy Lasagna!

What's the hardest part about making lasagna? Transferring the noodles from the pot to the casserole, of course! They slip, they curl, they end up on the floor or sticking together or in the garbage disposal! Here is a recipe that may seem foolhardy to you in that it uses the dried noodles directly; it works!

Time- and moneysaving tips:

* Cheese is readily available already shredded. Buying the larger sized package almost always saves you money, though not always; check for coupons and sales. If you are worried about keeping the cheese fresh when buying it in large quantities, when resealing the package, reseal it almost all the way, squeeze the air out of it, then seal that last half-inch.

* Most vegetables freeze well enough; cut them up when you buy them, leaving aside any you intend to eat in another form, and freeze in sealable bags (we save the empty cheese bags) or in green plastic boxes. You can rinse them lightly in a collander before use in a recipe such as this, and they do not need to be thawed (the rinsing is just to separate the pieces and remove any frost).

* Cooking spray saves a lot of time (and your arteries) and reduces waste as well.

* If you want to fit lasagna into a square casserole instead of a long one, carefully break the dry noodles in half as soon as you've purchased them, and store them in a sealable box or cannister instead of leaving them in the cardboard box in which they came, into which bugs and moisture may creep to ruin your noodles. You may safely buy in bulk if you do this. If you have found a tall enough cannister to store the noodles without breaking them, even better! (Since we generally break spaghetti in half or third before boiling it, we have no trouble storing it in the kind of plastic cannister in which pretzels are sold, or the decorated tin ones in which one can buy fancy popcorn; these are also good for storing flour, granola, other kinds of noodles. Coffee cans work well too. We have never understood why people throw these containers away and then go out and buy brand-name containers! At any rate, we leave very few dry goods in their original unsealed cardboard containers.)

* You can store your meat, frozen, in portions as well. Remember not to refreeze meat. Freezing it in portions means you can buy in bulk but not have to thaw a huge amount in order to get the little you need and then rush to use the rest up before it goes bad.

Ingredients:

* Nine lasagna noodles, dry, right from the box
* Cooking

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>