Shortcut Lasagna

This is my mother's recipe. It is much lighter than traditional lasagna recipes and takes about half the time! Plus, feel free to swap out the meat for veggies to create a vegetarian lasagna.

Photo Courtesy of Taste of Home

Ingredients

1 jar (28 oz) Prego Spaghetti Sauce (3 cups)

6 dry lasagna noodles

1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)

½ pound ground beef OR 2 cups cooked spinach, steamed zucchini squash, or cooked eggplant

Directions

In a 10-inch skillet over medium high heat, cook beef until browned.  Drain off fat and add Prego sauce.  If using veggies instead of meat, skip this step and just add the vegetables straight to the spaghetti sauce.  In a 2-quart oblong baking dish, spread 1 1/3 cups meat (or veggie) mixture.  Top with 3 lasagna noodles, half of the ricotta cheese and half the mozzarella cheese.  Repeat layers so that the final dish will have the following layers: meat, noodles, ricotta and mozzarella, meat, noodles, ricotta and mozzarella, meat.  Slowly pour ¼ cup water around the inside edges of the baking dish and cover tightly with foil.  Bake at 400°F for 55 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes.