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It’s funny how life can go from zero to sixty in no time flat once the school year starts up. Finding time to do the simple things like laundry and dinner suddenly seems as daunting as climbing Mount Everest. Luckily over the past couple of years I have gotten a great system in place for getting healthy and delicious dinners on the table almost every night without slaving away in the kitchen after a long day at work.
This lasagna recipe is one that I make a couple times a month because it is so versatile. It takes about 15 minutes to put the whole thing together and then the oven does all the heavy lifting! Plus it’s a total kid pleaser, and a sure way to get some much needed vegetables into their diet.
Pesto & Sausage Lasagna
- 1 box oven ready lasagna sheets
- 1 jar Prego pesto marinara
- 1 jar Prego pesto sauce
- 1 pound mild Italian sausage
- 1 bag baby spinach
- 1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded
Start by cooking your sausage and shredding your cheese. Fresh mozzarella is super squishy so I like to use the grater on my food processor to deal with the shredding, but you can totally buy pre-shredded if you want, it all tastes good! Once your cheese is shredded and your sausage is cooked you are ready to assemble the lasagna! For this version I picked a Prego pesto marinara and a Prego pesto sauce, but you can do any two flavors you like to create any number of combinations. I was really intrigued by the Prego bacon & provolone sauce I saw at Walmart, so I might have to try that one next! Either way, they have an awesome coupon for you to use to pick up your own favorite flavor!
Alright, back to the task at hand. First thing you need to do is pour half your jar of sauce onto the bottom of your casserole dish. I’ve got these amazing 3 quart Pyrex dishes that come with an airtight lid so this lasagna can go from freezer, to fridge, to oven to dishwasher without ever having to move! Because this is a pesto lasagna I then spread three of my lasagna sheets with a small spoonful of pesto sauce then layed them face up on my bed of marinara. I layered some baby spinach on top of that and then some of my cooked sausage. Repeat this process 3-4 times or until you are out of sausage.
Once you have all your layers done, pour the remaining half jar of marinara on top and spread it out. Then add your shredded mozzarella to the top.
Then you have a difficult decision to make. You can either pop on the lid and stick that bad boy in the fridge or freezer for an quick and easy dinner another night OR you can pop it in the oven at 400 right now. It takes about 30 minutes to bake and you’ll know it’s done witht he cheese is brown and bubbly. If you choose to freeze it for later you can pop it straight from the freezer into the oven for about 2 1/2 hours for the same result. You can also keep it in the fridge up to a week for a quick meal ready any time! No matter which you choose it’s going to be good.
Now, sometimes we all need a little “encouragement” to eat all our grow food. I like to offer this encouragement in the form of after dinner treats, however these treats are also pretty darn good for you! Case in point, these fruity popsicles. They are made using V8 +Energy juice, which is made up of both fruits AND vegetables, plus the energy come from green tea so it won’t make you super crazy or cause a crash later.
