Ready-to-bake Freezer Lasagne

I've always liked my mom's lasagne.  I don't make it often, though, because it seems like it takes forever to make.  I tried once to make a Martha Stewart lasagne that took less time, but it was terrible.  So this time around, I broke it up into a couple of steps, and finished off the easiest ever freezer lasagne.

Two weeks ago, I took an hour to make spaghetti sauce.  My mom starts with ground beef, but I made a cheese lasagne this time. All I had to do is mix 1 tsp onion powder, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 1/2 tsp Italian
seasoning, 15 oz can tomato sauce, 6 oz can tomato paste, and 1 cup water in a big pot.  I doubled the recipe so that I could get more product out of my time.  I also used homemade tomato paste from my San Marzano tomatoes that came in last year.  Once everything is combined, all you have to do is simmer for about 1 hour.  When all was done, I threw the sauce into sealed glass jars in the fridge.


This morning, I was ready to tackle the second half.  I mixed 2 pounds of ricotta cheese with 1 egg, 1/2 cup
parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1 tbsp parsley.

I bought square glad containers that work for both the freezer and the oven.  In the bottom, I put a thin layer spaghetti sauce.  On top of that, I put two no-boil lasagna noodles.  My mom said three, but only two fit in one layer in the pan without too many gaps and without too much overlap.  Then, I spread 1/2 ricotta mix over noodles, spread thin layer of spaghetti sauce, and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese.  I did the ricotta, sauce, cheese step again.  Then, I layered two more noodles, put the rest of the tomato sauce, and a ton of mozzarella on top.  Slap on the plastic lid, label, and throw it into the freezer.

When ready to cook, just pull it out of the freezer, take off the lid, and bake at 350 degrees until hot throughout and golden on top.  With the zucchini bread I made at the same time, this is a perfect dinner.  Yum!