Few things are our home comfort food like beef with pasta. Last night as I thought toward just what to cook for dinner, I turned to a trusted favorite and made my homemade The Ranch Kitchen’s Lasagna. This recipe is a family favorite and one that we usually eat the next day or use as meal preps for lunches for the few days during our work week. I have never found anyone who doesn’t care for this dish and it’s one of my dad’s favorites when he comes to eat at our home.

My lasagna doesn’t use Ricotta cheese like most do, and instead uses cream cheese. You’ll love the difference it makes and may never use Ricotta cheese again. For this recipe, I also sometimes blend both my beef and pork together. However, last night as I do most times, my lasagna was made with our Hereford beef.

For this dish I also do not pre-cook the lasagna noodles and have found over the years that they will soften with no problem as your dish cooks in the oven. As a mom who works out of our home, the ability to cut as many steps in a recipe as possible is a winner in my books!

This recipe also uses store bought spaghetti sauce of your choice, but you can most certainly make homemade and use as your sauce. Two kids ago, I made homemade spaghetti sauce and rarely used store bought. Times have changed and our lives have become busier, so I go for convenience. These days there are some amazing spaghetti sauce varieties to choose from and some that are downright delicious.

Make sure to spray your dish with a cooking spray since clean up is never fun with spaghetti sauce. Another trick is to line your dish with non-stick foil and clean up is a breeze! Second to sliced bread, non-stick foil is a cook’s dream.

I serve my lasagna usually alongside my Italian Green Beans and Squash recipe from my site, The Ranch Kitchen, along with a green salad and garlic toast. This vegetable recipe can be made with just the green beans and is the only way my husband will eat them.

Leftover lasagna can also easily be frozen to have later. Doubling this recipe allows us to have a meal ready to heat up the next night, which is always a good idea when school starts back in to full swing and nights get busy once again.

The Ranch Kitchen’s Lasagna made with Certified Hereford Beef is a recipe we hope will be a huge hit with your family and friends. It’s a simple meal to prepare and nothing beats Italian food with Hereford beef as its main ingredient.

Enjoy!
Alise Nolan










Ingredients
• 2 pounds ground Certified Hereford Beef, cooked and drained of all leftover grease
• 1 large onion, cut into chunks
• 1 Ragu or Hunt’s spaghetti sauce, 16 ounce or larger
• 1 can chopped tomatoes with sauce, with spice or without
• 1 block cream cheese, 8 ounce size • 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 package lasagna noodles (15 total long noodles)
• 1/2 to 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions
1. In a large pan, cook ground beef on medium high heat with onions until meat is done and onions are transparent.
2. Drain off excess grease from meat into a heat proof bowl and discard.
3. Add entire jar of spaghetti sauce to meat and heat through. Cover pan so that spaghetti sauce does not pop out and burn you.
4. In a 9×13 inch Pyrex pan or casserole dish that has been greased with oil or sprayed with Pam cooking spray, place one can of chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle these tomatoes with garlic salt, oregano, and pepper.
5. Add one layer of lasagna noodles that are not cooked. You may have to break some of them to make them fit or lay them slightly over each other. I used 5 noodles per layer.
6. Add 1/3 of spaghetti meat mixture.
7. Add half of the cream cheese on top of spaghetti meat mixture, smoothing out as evenly as possible.
8. Add 5 more lasagna noodles.
9. Add 1/3 of spaghetti meat mixture again.
10. Add remaining cream cheese, smoothing out as evenly as possible again.
11. Add 5 more lasagna noodles.
12. Top with remaining spaghetti meat mixture and cover with foil.
13. Place in a 400°F oven and cook on middle rack for one hour, or until lasagna is easily cut through with a knife.
14. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Allow the lasagna to sit for 10 minutes in order for cheese to melt slightly.
15. Slice in 3×3 inch squares and serve!