Natalie's "Quickish Lasagna"

Oh. My. Gosh. How good does this look? Natalie sent me pictures and her recipe for ( I love this name) "quickish lasagna" and I'm pretty sad that I'm only looking at it and not actually getting to eat this! Seriously, I'm drooling. Here's what she did, in her words:

This recipe is for a 9x9 to feed 4—double for 8. 

• 1 box Barilla No Boil lasagna noodles. 
• Brown 1/2 lb lean ground beef, then add 1/4 c water, 1/4 t onion powder and 1/4 t garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer until the rest of prep is done.
• 8oz. Ricotta mixed well with 1 egg, 1/4 t garlic powder, 1/4 t dried oregano, 1/4 t salt, 1/4 c shredded parm
• 1 (24 oz) jar fave red sauce or homemade.
• 1 1/3 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1/8 c. grated parm

Place 2 dry noodles parallel over 1/2 c. red sauce in 9x9 greased square pan. Spread 1/4 ricotta mix evenly over dry noodles. Sprinkle 1/2 cooked ground beef evenly, then 1/3 c. mozzarella, then 1/3 c. sauce. 

Layer 2 more noodles perpendicular to last and press firmly down. Spread 1/4 c. ricotta mix evenly over dry noodles, remaining half of ground beef, 1/3 c. mozzarella and 1/3 c. sauce. Add 1/3 c. water to remaining sauce and stir well to hydrate remaining sauce.

Layer 2 more noodles perpendicular to last. Spread remaining ricotta mixture evenly over noodles, add 1/3 c. mozzarella and 1/3 c. red sauce.

Last layer—2 more noodles perpendicular. Spread remaining sauce. Top with remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle with 1/8 c. parm - I prefer grated and not shredded in this layer -lol. Cover tightly with foil. 

Bake in preheated oven covered on 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil for 10-15 and continue cooking until as brown around the edges as you like (keep foil on if you prefer it melty).

After 30 mins 

Took the foil off:

At 40 no foil

And Jimi likes it brown-so we are going for 50!

It’s cooked at 30!

50 and done! To Jimi’s liking-lol.

Color commentary: it’s easy and more assembling than cooking. Kids like it. It tastes better the next day. Looks like a real cook made it-lol. And can be doubled, tripled etc. and still works!