Nothing warms the soul more than comfort food. And this Easy Lasagna is at the top of my comfort food list!

We all make resolutions to eat a little healthier every January, don’t we? But with the deep freeze that has been happening here lately, eating a salad for dinner just isn’t appealing. Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE salads for dinner, but when I have 3 layers of clothes plus a space heater just to keep me from shivering, a salad just isn’t going to cut it.

Cold weather like this calls for comfort food. And that’s when it is time to break out the lasagna. Easy Lasagna, to be specific. The layers of gooey cheese (3! just like the layers I’m wearing) combined with red sauce and Italian Sausage all work together to make the cold seem a little more tolerable.

Sometimes lasagna can be putzy to put together, but with this easy version you don’t need to boil the noodles ahead of time (WIN), so it can be put together in a flash. I used my favorite red sauce as another time saver and find that slices of cheese are so much easier to layer than shredded cheese. The hardest part about this easy lasagna? Waiting for it to be done.

So winter and wind chill? Game on. I am armed and ready for you with lasagna in the oven. Just please be polite and don’t stick around too long, ok?

Yield: 8

Easy Lasagna

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Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound Mild Italian Sausage, browned and drained
• 9 lasagna Noodles
• 48 ounces Marinara Sauce
• 1 (15-ounce) carton whole milk ricotta
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 12 slices Mozzarella cheese
• 6 slices Provolone cheese
• 3 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 mini slices pepperoni

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine ricotta, egg, oregano and basil. Set aside.
3. Place 1 cup sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 lasagna pan.
4. Place 3 lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Continue layering with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the Italian Sausage and top with 6 slices of Mozzarella cheese. Cover with 1/3 of remaining sauce (about 1 1/2 cups).
5. Repeat layers using Provolone cheese instead of Mozzarella.
6. Repeat layers one more time finishing with Mozzarella cheese.
7. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and place 8 pepperoni slices evenly out among pan to mark serving sizes.
8. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Take foil off and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until cheese is melted, brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and allow lasagna to rest for 15 minutes before cutting.

  Here are some other pastas for those cold winter nights!

Pasta with Sausage, Mushrooms and White Wine Cream Sauce

Fettuccine with Seared Tomatoes, Spinach and Burrata

Creamy Gruyere and Shrimp Pasta with Peas