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I’m gonna be short on today’s post because I’m working on a massive pyrex post that I hope to have up tomorrow. Yesterday I had a lot of fun playing with pyrex for a photoshoot we had at my house and I had such great feedback on Facebook and Instagram (follow me and look at all of my photos by clicking here) that I feel the need to do a full post of how I organize and display my Pyrex, as well as more information on some of the patterns I have.
BUT I had to stop that for a bit so I can bring you this recipe, because we seem to have the same taste in food and I LOVE SKILLET LASAGNA – so you need this recipe. In fact, you need to cook it for supper soon. I’m jes sayin’…
Ooh, speaking of that phrase “I’m jes sayin'”, have you noticed how often it’s used in such ugly ways nowadays? Folks say something awful or mean and then follow with that like “Oh you can’t be mad at me, I was just saying…”. No honeybunchesofoats, I won’t have to be mad at you but if you like to go around sticking barbs in people for sport, I sure can delete you from my friend’s list. 🙂 See quote at bottom of today’s post for a little more insight into this and don’t feel guilty for wanting people of kindness and grace in your circle of friends.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen…
I absolutely love Lasagna, but it has a few strikes against it. Even though my slow cooker lasagna is a dear favorite, it makes enough to feed an army and requires a little bit of planning ahead – and if you’re just not tuning in, there are two things that I’m not: organized or a planner.
This skillet lasagna is a new favorite of mine for several reasons. First of all, let me start by telling you that no matter what you think, it does not taste just like spaghetti. It tastes like skillet lasagna, and you need to make it soon because it is:
- Easily made in about 20 minutes
- Economical (stretches a 1/2 pound ground beef to feed 4 people)
- All the flavors I love in Lasagna but in a perfect serving size for a smaller family.
- Easily doubled (see recipe for notes on how I do that)
I love this so much that when my birthday rolled around a week or so ago, rather than going out to eat, I opted to stay home and make this dish instead. It’s just that good. Seriously.
I’m hungry so let’s get started:
You’ll need: Italian seasoning, garlic powder, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, ground beef, onions, mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, and about 1/2 a package of egg noodles.
The beauty of this recipe is that it feeds about four people with only 1/2 pound of ground beef, which is a real budget saver.
I say “about” because putting servings on a recipe is very relative. The first thought that comes to mind every single time anyone asks me how many a recipe feeds is “How hungry are you?“. If you have a casserole that some “say” feeds 6, but four are little kids, it may feed 8-10. Likewise, if you have a half starved lumberjack in the family, it may feed two :).
In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown ground beef and onions until it’s no longer pink in the center, breaking it up into smaller pieces as you do so. Drain off any grease once it’s cooked.
Add in your water, tomato paste, tomatoes (with juice), Italian seasoning (Pronounced EYE-talian by my grandmother), and garlic powder.
Stir that up good and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about ten minutes – or until you get tired of simmering.
Either or works for me – I promise I’m not grading on how well you follow instructions.
Cook ’em noodles!
Your package tells you how in case you need to know 🙂
Stir in your cooked egg noodles.
Interesting fact: You know when I do TV I’m not supposed to say “your” egg noodles or “your tomatoes”. I’m supposed to say “the” egg noodles and “The tomatoes”. Which is completely and utterly ridiculous (not that I have an opinion on it or anything) because at this point, if they don’t belong to you, you really shouldn’t be cooking with them. It is not often that I break into people’s homes and cook with ingredients I find in their pantries but I supposed tv folks are supposed to use general terminology in order to avoid make burglar chefs feel guilt or shame about their unfortunate but tasty habit.
The world is a crazy place and I’m just a swinging over it on my trapeze…
Stir your two cheeses together.
Drop that by spoonfuls onto the top of your skillet.
You don’t have to put it in the center like I did, you can just go crazy putting it all over if you want – or even make a smiley face out of cheese blops on the top!
Get creative but if you do anything really fun be sure and send me a picture 🙂
- ½ pound ground beef
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 16 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon dry Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 ounces Egg Noodles (half of a 16 oz pkg), cooked and drained
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup Mozzarella
- In large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium high heat until no longer pink in center. Drain off any grease.
- Add tomatoes in juice, tomato paste, water, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder to skillet. Stir well and lower heat to simmer for ten minutes, while you cook the egg noodles separately.
- Stir cooked egg noodles into the sauce.
- In separate bowl, stir together cottage cheese and mozzarella. Drop by spoonfuls over top of lasagna skillet. Cover and let cook about five minutes, until the cheese melts.
“The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.”
~Colin Powell
Yum
That picture reminded me of this dish from Hunt’s. My mother liked easy….and this is one of the things we ate. I was trying to figure out a way to season your cheeses like this because even though this was processed, it was pretty good and your dish reminded me of it! 🙂
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonliebigstuff/4180390274/
Made this last night and we both loved it. So gooooooood. I know a lot of people don’t like cottage cheese in lasagna but strangely I prefer it to ricotta and have always used it. I grew up with lasagna being made with it so I know that that’s a big part of it. I have had ricotta as an adult and not personally cared for the texture which I know is many people’s issue with cottage cheese; lol. The great thing about lasagna is it’s flexible. I also love the simplicity of this recipe. I melted the cheese on top then mixed it in before serving. I googled other skillet lasagna recipes just to see what was out there because my sister had asked if you cooked the noodles right in the sauce and I told her no not with this one. I emailed her the recipe. She and I share recipes a lot. So many of the other recipes looked much more complicated when compared to yours. Thanks for another delicious recipe. Love your site. It is such a great resource and your writing is so genuine and positive.
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I made this skillet lasagna last night and it was absolutely delicious. I am alone now, so I have enough for a couple more meals. Can’t wait to finish it. Thank you.
Love this recipe! Our son wants lasagna this month… So here ya go!! Simple and easy…. Just x 4 for almost everything… we’re really into left overs!
I made this the other night…only change I made was to use ricotta instead of cottage cheese (sorry, but I am Italian!!) and sprinkled some Parmesan over the top. My daughter (age 18 & Miss Picky) told me that she liked this better than regular lasagna. My other kids scraped the pan, & I made a double size recipe…2 adults, 2 teen girls and 2 teen boys (1 my son, 1 friend)…I was glad I had enough!!!!
Thanks for this recipe!!!
Oh my goodness!! I am so glad to hear it was a hit!!
Excellent! We made this tonight and it’s delicious. Thanks for another great recipe!
So glad you liked it Stephanie!
I am wondering if this would be as good without the mozzarella? :-/ I don’t wanna go to the store for just a little cheese….
Absolutely!!
First of all, I love you. Basically all your recipes are perfect for me because I can’t for the life of me plan anything. Whenever I’m asked about 4pm “What’s for dinner?” I’m usually like, “Hmm… I’ll figure something out.” And that stresses everyone out. Except for me. Anyway, tonight we are going to see if the skillet lasagna tastes just as good with sour cream instead of cottage cheese. Don’t scream, I know they are pretty different. But they are both milk products and creamy. It’ll be alright. I’m sure of it.
Well I’m a sour cream lover. My family is not. I think they’d be the ones screaming but I’d be like “Oooooh gimme some of that!”. Just remember, it isn’t a cheese so it’s gonna melt in there some but honestly, I think you’re about to create an amazing new dish.
P.S. I love you, too :).
Done this for years, my brother is the one who turned me on to cottage cheese in lasagna he tried ricotta and didn’t like it and used cottage cheese, but he always used dry curd, makes the sauce less wet and faster to cook down. We made lots of skillet meals, still do, make a hash from pot roast and veggies.
If I were to use dehydrated ground beef, would the measurement still be 1/2 cup? Just wondering. All your recipes sound delicious!!!
I would still use half a cup. Remember to cover your beef in boiling water and let it sit for a bit to rehydrate. It seems like mine always takes longer than I plan on it taking so I’m just mentioning that 🙂
I have just recently discovered your website. Haven’t tried any of your recipes but this Skillet Lasagna is definitely going on the table one day this week. Like you, I am not a planner or very organized. My husband retired 18 years ago when he was 55 and I was only 47. Our youngest son was still at home. Once he moved out a few years ago, I decided that *I* should get to retire from something. So, I chose cooking. 🙂 I enjoyed cooking when the kids were young, but not so much for the last several years. This recipe sounds perfect for two people and can easily be made on the spur of the moment, if you have all the ingredients. Thanks for helping me out with my “retirement plan”!
I’m rather new to cooking and I just stumbled upon your recipes. They all look and sound delicious! I need a little help on the doubling of this recipe though. I would like to use a whole pound of ground beef, instead of half. Because I’m not totally sure what to cook using the other half. I’d like to know how to double using 1 pound of beef for this recipe and/or another recipe to use up the rest of the beef. Thank you!