Ms. Lasagna Meets Mr. Freezer

I eagerly wanted all the promises offered by homemade freezer food to hold true. Delicious, really easy and no-fuss meals after a long day of work? Save money on groceries by buying and cooking food in bulk? Yes, please! In response, I checked out a few cookbooks from the library that were devoted to making freezer meals, and set to work in the kitchen on the rare no-work day. 

1. I spent that Friday morning diligently reading up on all recipes in Don't Panic, (More) Dinner's in the Freezer, studiously noting which recipes I wanted to try. 
2. The hardest part: Deciding which entrees I wanted to make and freeze. I settled on Heavenly Scones, World's Best Lasagna, Chicken Enchiladas, and Tangy Chops with Honey Curry Sauce.
3. Compile my shopping list and go shopping!
4. Cook. 
5. Freeze.

From beginning to end, the endeavor took from roughly 6 hours of time. And the glorious result- dinner for the next week is solved! No more cereal for dinner when I have my pick of homemade frozen dinners.  

First up, I really wanted to try my hand at making lasagna. Inspiration: Jess made lasagna for our girls' group a few weeks ago, and it was simply amazing! As I pored through the recipes in the cookbook, I realized that I preferred to use good ol' Allrecipes.com for my basic recipes. I guess part of me is a bit suspicious of cookbooks put together by 1 person- what if their taste differs from mine? So, I found World's Best Lasagna on Allrecipes.com with over 2000 reviews. I modified the recipe to be less meaty and include more veggies, then followed the tips on how to freeze food from the cookbook. My version is below! 

World's Best Lasagna (modified) 

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 c. diced onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (28oz.) can crushed tomatoes

2 (6oz.) cans of tomato paste 

2 (6.5oz.) cans of tomato sauce (I substituted some chunky salsa, turned out well)

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp. white sugar

1/2 cup fresh basil

1 tbsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. oregano

3 zucchinis (green or yellow), sliced

8 oz. package mushrooms, sliced

16 lasagna noodles, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes until pliable

16 oz. ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/2 tsp. salt

Dash of nutmeg

4-6 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. In skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil, then add onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add ground beef, and cook until browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. 
2. In another skillet or pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil and saute zucchini and mushrooms until soft. Stir veggies into meat sauce. Simmer sauce, covered, for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. 
3. Soak lasagna noodles for 20-30 minutes in hot water, until noodles are pliable. Drain, and rinse with cold water. In mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 
4. Prepping for the Freezer: Assemble lasagna either in one 9x13 pan or two 8x8 pans. Line pans with aluminum foil, then a layer of plastic wrap. Make sure aluminum foil and plastic wrap are large enough to cover bottom, sides, and top of the dish. 
5. Assembling in 8x8 pan: Layer 1/4 of the meat sauce, 4 lasagna noodles (cut noodles to fit pan), 1/4 of the ricotta mixture, 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, then repeat layers. Repeat for other 8x8 pan. 
6. Freezing: Tightly seal plastic wrap to remove air. Then seal outer aluminum foil layer. Flash freeze in 8x8 baking pan for 30 minutes, then slide lasagna out of pan and freeze in freezer bag. 
7. Eating the lasagna: Thaw lasagna in fridge the day prior to eating. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap and foil. Spray 8x8 pan with nonstick spray, then bake lasagna in pan for 25 minutes with foil loosely covering lasagna. Then remove foil, and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Cool 15 minutes before serving. 

The lasagna was delicious, and was even better the next day as leftovers! And the best part... and true story: Even though I came home late on Tuesday after work, dinner was ready for Ben, Nathan, and I. I had placed the lasagna in the fridge the night before, and Ben popped the lasagna into the oven around 4:30pm to bake. As I walked into the front door, the smell of meaty tomato sauce wafted throughout our house. Success!

After flash freezing: lasagna has mold of 8x8 pan