Dinner Tonight: Lazy Lasagna

Oh, how I love me some lazy lasagna.  I first saw this method on Rachael Ray’s show and thought it was brilliant.  I love lasagna but who the heck has time to make it during the week?!  This allows you to have the same great flavor of lasagna but in mere minutes.  I timed myself this night…from start to finish was 27 minutes.  (And during this 27 minutes I was able to set the table and make a salad…oh and keep an eye on two toddlers.)  This is a really low maintenance, super hearty meal.

You can really use any type of short pasta you like but I prefer just taking my lasagna noodles and snapping them into smaller pieces.

A simple way to use lasagna noodles without having to layer them.

Ok…let’s get to it…

Shopping List

1 pound pasta

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (or try some homemade)

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Garnish with parsley, extra Parmesan, basil and/or ricotta 

Bring one large pot of water to boil, drop pasta in and cook 8-9 minutes or until al dente.  Meanwhile, brown ground beef in separate skillet, add in onion and garlic and saute a few minutes.  Add your favorite spaghetti sauce and simmer.

In another large skillet, melt butter over medium heat, whisk in flour and stir one minute, whisk in milk.  Bring heat up to medium-high, stirring often until sauce becomes thick and bubbly (about 5 minutes), reduce heat to low and stir in Parmesan.  Drain pasta and toss with white sauce.  Serve pasta in bowls and top with ground beef mixture.  Top with desired garnish.

Soooooo yummy!  The white sauce wrapped around your pasta, topped with a yummy marinara sauce…so good.  So good.