Judy’s Famous Lasagna: Saving Second Base

Today’s post is from Melissa Ballweg:

I love this idea, although I have to laugh about submitting an original recipe from my mother because she never really liked cooking.  I’m not sure if it was because she grew up on a farm in rural IN with 8 brothers & sisters so cooking was always considered a “chore” and consumed the entire day between breakfast, lunch & dinner.  Maybe it was because when we were young we were on a very tight budget so variety in our meal plans was pretty much non-existent.  But there were a few things that I absolutely loved of my mothers cooking.  It’s hard to believe she’s been gone 8 years this October succumbing to a recurrence of breast cancer.  She was a great role model, a godly woman, faithful wife & encouraging mother- all things I continue to aspire to be.  Every time I make her “famous lasagna” which has now been re-named my famous lasagna by this next generation of our family, I think of her.  I love sharing the prep of this dish with my 7 year old daughter & talking about my mom, who died just 7 short months before she was born.  (my mother-in-law also passed away 14 years ago from breast cancer so my daughter missed out on the joys of knowing both of her grandmothers due to this terrible disease)

In a fabulous twist of events, there is a local connection to my recipe that makes me smile every time I think about it.  We always made my mom’s lasagna with Schiavone’s marinara sauce.  We bought it at the Marsh grocery store in town and even had to petition the store manager to continue to carry it just for my mom & my aunts because the lasagna just wouldn’t be the same without it. After moving to Dayton I mentioned this recipe to a friend and happily found out that Schiavone’s is a family owned restaurant in Middletown, OH.  I never knew it was anything more than canned marinara all those years!  This picture is from my sister’s bridal shower many years ago but it is one of my favorites of my mom with the 2 of us. (yes, it was in the early 90′s based on my hair!)

Author/Source:

Melissa Ballweg

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 2 cups cottage cheese (could use ricotta)
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• salt
• pepper
• 3/4 lb hamburger
• 3/4 lb italian sausage
• 1 can Schiavone’s marinara (or sauce of your choice if you aren’t lucky enough to find it!)
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (honestly I love my lasagna extremely cheesy so use as much as you like!)
• lasagna noodles (I’ve tried the no boil noodles & while they’re convenient still prefer the old fashion boil variety)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. If you are using the old-fashion noodles, bring large pot of water to a rolling boil and add lasagna noodles.  Cook according to package directions.  While noodles are cooking mix together the first 5 ingredients in medium bowl and set aside.
Brown the hamburger & sausage in large skillet and drain fat.  Combine with marinara in medium bowl.
After noodles finish cooking, drain & submerge in large bowl of cool water to stop the cooking process & bring down the temperature so you can handle them for assembly.
In 9 x 13 glass dish, layer 3 noodles then a portion of the meat sauce, a portion of the cottage cheese mixture and portion of the shredded mozzarella.  Repeat this process 2 more times ending with mozzarella on the top layer.

Place the glass dish on large rimmed cookie sheet and cover dish with aluminum foil.  Cook covered for 40 minutes.  Remove aluminum foil and continue cooking at least another 20 minutes until cheese on top starts to brown.  (cookie sheet underneath helps to catch any bubbling over that may occur). Allow lasagna to cool around 10 minutes after cooking to “set up”.

About Melissa: I am a wife to a wonderful man, mother to a precious 7 year old daughter, sister & friend.  My brother, sister & I all love to cook.  In addition to my full-time job, I am an independent lia sophia jewelry Advisor and love helping women accessorize their life.  My website is www.liasophia.com/melissaballweg You can also find me on facebook www.facebook.com/dreamingofbling and twitter @dreamingofbling

This Post will be linked at:

• Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• No Whine Wednesdays at Food on the Table

Want to know how you can help? or be a part of this project?

• LIKE the Saving Second Base Facebook Fan Page!
• We’re on TWITTER!!! @Savng2ndBase (i know it’s missing an i but someone already HAS saving2ndbase and isn’t using it :-{ ) Follow us and spread the word!
• Post our button
• Send us your story and recipe: one that reminds you of/celebrates someone who has fought with, is living with, is fighting cancer, has lost the fight…. send a story, a recipe, a blurb with recipe, a memory with recipe, a tribute with recipe… and pictures.. a picture of the person.. a picture of the recipe (preferably both) but either works. Please send this to: Breastcancerebook @ gmail.com and we’ll post your recipe/story and send you a release for inclusion in the eCookbook.
• We’re going to post at least one recipe and story every. single. day in October on A Southern Fairytale and on Once A Month Mom and then we’ll compile all the stories and recipes into an e-book that can be purchased and ALL PROFITS. ALL OF THEM. will be donated to the Susan G Komen Foundation. (Rachel and I are not taking a single solitary cent for any of this)
• Tweet with #saving2ndbase

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.