Sloppy Lasagna

I saw this recipe on another cooking blog that I really like (www.tasteandtellblog.com) and thought it would be perfect for the cooler weather we're finally getting here in Texas. It's a Rachael Ray 30 minute meals recipe but since I don't enjoy running around the kitchen like a chicken with my head cut off, I didn't attempt to make it in 30 minutes. Okay, I lied. I did try, failed miserably, had a glass of wine and told myself that cooking is supposed to be relaxing and not an Olympic sport. So I finished the recipe in about 45-50 minutes and I followed the recipe pretty exactly. I thought it was pretty good, but it could be better with a few changes, I think.

So next time I make this (it is much easier and faster than traditional lasagna, so I will make it again), I plan on making the following changes:

1.) I'll cook some finely chopped veggies - onion, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, whatever I have on hand really - before cooking the meat. I like to try to add as many veggies as I can to make sure we get our daily recommended number of vegetable servings.

2.) I'll cook the meat and then DRAIN the fat off. I didn't realize until it was too late that the recipe never says to drain the fat. Gross!

3.) To the sauce, I'll add a can/jar of tomato sauce in with the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Andrew and I both felt that the lasagna had plenty of bechamel sauce but not enough red sauce. This was especially true when I reheated the leftovers the next day - they were still good but on the dry side.

Another thing to make note of - this recipe makes scads so unless you're having 6 or more people for dinner or want tons of leftovers, I'd cut the recipe in half. Here is the link to the Sloppy Lasagna recipe. Enjoy!