My "Winging it" Lasagna

I had never made lasagna before. But it seemed easy enough. Beef, cheese, noodles, sauce, right? So I winged it. (wang it?, no that can't be right)

Materials:
OVEN READY Lasagna noodles (next to regular lasagna noodles in your grocery store) technically you should only need one box but I always end up with broken ones, so I buy extra
1- 1/2 pounds ground beef
6 jars "prego" sauce of choice
LOTS of mozzarella cheese (I just buy the largest bag they have and end up using most of it!)
15oz tub of ricotta cheese (you may not use it all)
Garlic (you can go the hard route, and buy a bulb and mince it up yourself, or buy pre-minced)
McCormick "Italian" spice mix
cooking spray

Saute pan
9X13 pan

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

First, you brown your ground beef in your saute pan. throw all your garlic in there and let the meat soak up the flavor. I personally love garlic, so the more the better. I used the whole clove.

Spray your 9X13 pan with cooking spray.

Then you start layering. Sauce, noodles, beef, ricotta, mozzarella, spices. Repeat. Repeat.

1. It is important you cover the bottom of your pan with sauce before you place your noodles, I did not the first time, and the noodles on the bottom burned.

2. Lay as many noodles on the bottom of the pan lengthwise as you can fit without them overlapping. I can get 3 or 4 depending on the pan.

3. Lay on a good layer off your beef garlic mixture, although you still want to be able to see the noodles!

4. The ricotta is the fun part, because of its consistency, you can just pinch it out of the tub, or you can use a knife. Place it randomly within the layer. Use as little or as much as you want. You should barely be able to see the noodles now.

5. Give it a nice coat of mozzarella! The more the better :) I just love cheese!

6. Add a couple of shakes of spices to your liking.

Repeat steps 1 through 6. I can usually fit 2 full layers in.

Then finish with a final layer of noodles, lots of sauce, and some spices. (you will put more cheese on top later)

You may want to put your pan of lasagna on a cookie sheet before you put it in the oven to control any spill over!

Let bake about an hour, Add some more mozzarella on top. Bake another 15 minutes.
NOTE: All ovens are different. In my oven, it takes an hour and 15 minutes. In a different oven it has taken an hour and 45. The sauce should be bubbling around the edges, and the noodles on top should be soft.

Let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving, so it stays together better

ENJOY! :)