Two Sauce (Alfredo & Red) Meat Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those dishes my mother would make every once in a while throughout my childhood and even into my adulthood.  Like most folks, my mom’s lasagna in my opinion is one of the best lasagnas in the history of lasagna.  I’ve made her recipe in the past, but hadn’t recreated it since I’ve been a Weight Watcher. A little over a month ago, I tried a small piece of lasagna my aunt had made and I was instantly hooked. It was a lasagna she had made by mixing together alfredo and spaghetti sauce while also incorporating her own different ingredients. I decided to use the general gist of mixing alfredo and spaghetti sauce together, but overall followed the general idea behind my moms lasagna … except I used no-boil noodles (which my mother has never used).

 

This lasagna recipe is no word of a lie – out of this world delicious! I shared the recipe with my mother, my 4-yr old niece, my mom’s friend and her husband … and the general consensus across the board was it was delicious. My niece save me a “2-thumbs up” which is a lot coming from a somewhat picky 4-year old. My mother mentioned the lasagna was SO delicious (which is a big compliment since she’s not the fondest of some of the healthier dishes I whip up).

I had a piece for dinner for a few days and individually wrapped up leftover pieces in saran wrap and tucked them away in the freezer. The lasagna freezes quite well … all that’s required is allowing it to defrost fully in the refrigerator before heating through in the microwave.

Serves 12. 11 points plus / serving

Ingredients:

• 1 pound 93% lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• ¼ cup diced green pepper
• 14 oz can diced tomatoes, strained
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 box No Boil Lasagna Noodles (I used the ridged edge Market Basket noodles – box contained 6 servings)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 jar Ragu Light Parmesan Alfredo
• 1 jar (26 oz) Barilla Traditional sauce
• 2 cups par-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs
• 32 oz Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese (I used Sorrento)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste (I used Cento)
• 1 ½ cups water

 Spray a large casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a non-stick chef’s pan add onions, green peppers, garlic and ground beef. Cook over a medium-high flame until meat is cooked through.

Once meat is cooked through, add in drained diced tomatoes, Barilla spaghetti sauce, Ragu Alfredo sauce, 1 ½ cups of water (add half of the water to eat jar and shake up to get any residual sauce out of the jars). Stir to combine mixture together then season with salt, 1 tsp black pepper, oregano, garlic powder, and 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Mix mixture together until the tomato paste is melted into the sauce then turn off flame and set aside.

 

In a medium-large bowl, blend together ricotta cheese, ½ tsp black pepper, breadcrumbs, and 1 ¼ cups shredded mozzarella. Smooth mixture together until well combined.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layer 1 to 1 ½ cups of sauce in the bottom of your non-stick cooking sprayed pan. Layer in 4 lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of the pan. Gently smooth 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the noodles, holding the noodles in place as best as you can.  Top the cheese with ½ cup of sauce.

Repeat the noodle, cheese, sauce layers 2 more times (3 cheese/sauce layers in total). Top the last layer of cheese/sauce with the remaining lasagna noodles. Top with the top lasagna noodle layer with the remainder of the meat sauce.

Top the sauce with the remaining ¾ cup of shredded mozzarella.

Cover the pan with 2 layers of tinfoil and place the pan into the preheated oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

When done, remove the lasagna from the oven and allow to rest on the stovetop 5-15 minutes before cutting into and serving.