Lasagna has been a favorite dish in my house for years. My kids and several of my nieces and nephews ask for lasagna for their birthday dinners year after year. We aren’t the only ones eating a lot of lasagna though. After I had my youngest baby, we had a lot of meals brought in by church members, to help us out during that healing and transition period. We began to laugh at how many people brought us lasagna! We thought it would be funny to hold a lasagna cook-off to see who really made the best one!

Sometimes I make lasagna from scratch and other times I just don’t have the time or patience. Because everyone loves it so much, my mom came up with a slightly easier version so we would actually make it more often. Instead of having to carefully lay out lasagna noodles and do all of that layering, we cut that step out by using smaller noodles like rotini or another type like this, that can be poured on. It’s more of a casserole really – with most of the same ingredients. This Lasagna Casserole is easy to make ahead, and everyone loves it.

In fact, this morning my mom and I were cooking up two casseroles. One for our family and one for a family that goes to our church, who just had a new baby. We hope they like it as much as we do. Now the trick for this particular casserole turning out nice and flavorful is the new Pacific Coast Selections Marinara sauce from Save Mart. When I think of marinara, I often think of bland tomato sauce, but not with this brand. It’s chunky and full of herbs and flavor.

Pacific Coast Selections also makes an Alfredo Sauce and I can’t wait to try in on some chicken and garlic pizza! For more meal inspiration you can follow the #FreshFinds hashtag on Twitter, and the Fresh Finds recipe page on Save Mart.

Yield: 6

Lasagna Casserole

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Make lasagna the easy way with a simple layered pasta casserole!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef or sausage
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 8 oz uncooked pasta
• 1 container of Pacific Coast Selections Marinara
• 2 cups cottage cheese, small curd
• 1 egg, beaten
• 8 oz Italian blend cheese, shredded
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large frying pan, brown ground beef with onion until beef is no longer pink, and onion is soft. Salt and pepper to taste.
While meat is browning, boil water with 1 tsp olive oil for your pasta and cook according to instructions on package.
When meat is cooked, add marinara sauce and heat through.
In a bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese.
In a 1.5 qt casserole dish, layer one third of the meat sauce, then the noodles, then the cheese. Repeat two more times and sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.
Bake casserole at 350° for 30-45 minutes, until bubbly.