Heart Lasagna

Cook time: 3 hours

Total time: 3 hours

Serves: 4+

Turn your lasagna into a special Valentine’s dinner by cutting heart shapes out of the cooked lasagna noodles.

Ingredients

• 1 large can of tomatoes
• 1 12-ounce can of tomato paste
• 1 tsp salt, to taste
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound ground beef or chicken sausage
• 1/2 pound whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 3/4 pound {or less} ricotta cheese
• 1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup grated or powdered cheese

Instructions

1. Sauté the onions and the garlic in a little bit of oil.
2. Remove the onion and garlic from the pan and add the ground beef or chicken sausage to the pan.
3. Brown the meat over medium heat until it is fully cooked.
4. Combine the canned tomatoes, cooked onion and cooked garlic in a blender and blend until the sauce is smooth.
5. Pour the blended sauce into a large sauce pan and add the tomato paste, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and the seasonings.
6. Simmer the sauce uncovered for 5-10 minutes.
7. Then add the browned meat and let the sauce simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
8. Cook the lasagna noodles and drain them in a colander.
9. In a 9×13 pan, layer the ingredients as follows:
10. About 1/3 of the sauce
11. About 1/2 of the cooked noodles, to cover the area of the pan in one layer
12. Half of the ricotta cheese or just spread a little bit of ricotta over the noodles
13. Roughly 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese or enough to generously cover the ricotta
14. Roughly 1 Tbsp of parmesan cheese or enough sprinkled to cover the mozzarella
15. Repeat the layers ending with the sauce.
16. Cut heart shapes out of the remaining lasagna noodles using cookie cutters.
17. Arrange the noodles on top of the sauce.
18. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese and the remaining parmesan cheese on top of the noodles, leaving the heart cut-outs open so that the red sauce shows through.
19. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake it at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until it is bubbly and lightly browned.
20. You can assemble mini heart lasagna using the lasagna noodle heart cut outs, the remaining ingredients and a mozzarella cheese heart, baking them in individual ramekins.

From: http://itsybitsyfoodies.com/heart-lasagna