Lasagna

There's a lot of lasagna recipes out there...I know, I've tried a LOT of them. I love lasagna, but its gotta be just right for me. Here's a new recipe I tried this weekend. Its adapted from this recipe. One of the beauties of lasagna is its a freezer food - my little family can't successfully eat an entire 9x13 pan of it before we get sick of eating the same food day in and day out, so I make it in 2 8x8 pans - cook 1 and freeze the other. Two meals in 1 - can't beat that! This turned out really good. Its the perfect cheeziness and the sauce was mighty tasty.

• 1 package oven-ready lasagna noodles (or if you prefer, you can use regular ones, just be sure to boil them while you're making your sauce)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 lb hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 (28 oz) can Italian stewed tomatoes, undrained (if not already chopped, chop if you're like me and don't like big chunks of tomato in your lasagna)
• 2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• garlic powder, to taste

Cook ground beef, sausage, and onion; drain. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, and pepper. If you would like to, now is the time to add cayenne and garlic powder. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes. In a small bowl blend ricotta, egg, parsley, parmesan cheese, and 1/2 tsp salt. Put a layer of noodles in a 9x13 (or 2 8x8s) pan, then a layer of meat sauce, layer of ricotta mixture, and a layer of the cheese. Repeat all layers twice more (3 layers in all). Cover with foil. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 20 more minutes. We like our cheesy top to be nice and chewy and almost crunchy, so for the last 2 minutes I turned the broiler on (make sure you watch it and don't go too long or you'll have a crunchy black top). Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.