Meat Lasagna with Spinach & Goat Cheese

By Thom7747

Ingredients

• 12 spelt lasagna noodles
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1-2 lbs. ground chuck, venison or buffalo
• 3 cups pasta sauce (or tomato sauce)
• 3 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
• 4 oz. crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• Herbamare® (or salt and pepper)
• 4 cups raw baby spinach (or regular chopped spinach)

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place lasagna noodles in a large shallow dish and cover with boiling water for 15-20 minutes in order to soften. Cook meat in a large skillet for 10 minutes or until brown, stirring occasionally. Drain fat and return to skillet. Reduce to low heat and add in pasta sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes.
 
In a bowl, mix ricotta, goat cheese, eggs, basil, parmesan and Herbamare to taste.
Spread 1 cup of sauce on bottom of 9x13-inch baking dish. Place one-third of softened noodles on top of sauce. Add half of the spinach, pressing down to make a flat layer. Spread half of the ricotta mixture as the next layer. Top with meat mixture, and then another third of noodles. Add remaining spinach as a layer, and then the remaining ricotta mixture as a layer. Top with remaining noodles and last cup of sauce. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour on the middle rack at 400 degrees. Pour mozzarella cheese over sauce the last 10 minutes of baking.
 
May be prepared and refrigerated up to 24 hours or frozen.