Pepperoni Lasagna ****

We have been firmly entrenched in baseball practices, school programs, and activities for about 2 months now.  Needless to say, I rarely get to cook, and when I do, it's always old T&T simple recipes.  That said, I finally had a day today where we had nothing to do after work and school.  Yay!  So to celebrate, I made this old family favorite.  In the old days (back before we were in so many sports and activities!), I used to make this a couple times a month.  It's a bit labor-intensive, but no worse than any other homemade lasagna.  Because of the time it takes to prepare, though, I just never really have the chance to make it anymore.  When we finally got some down time, I knew it was the perfect time for this one.  And boy, was I right!  The kids really didn't even remember how much they used to like it, so it was basically like a brand-new recipe again.  They devoured it and both asked for seconds! 

As a side note, I've also successfully tried this in the crockpot.  Click here to check out that review.

PEPPERONI LASAGNA
(luckymommyto2boys ~ Amy ~ Recipezaar.com)

1-1/2 lbs ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2-1/2 cups water
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
2 eggs
1 (12 ounce) carton small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package sliced pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz.)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Add water, tomato sauce, tomato paste, bouillon and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
In a bowl, combine eggs, cottage cheese and sour cream.
Spread 1/2 cup meat sauce into a greased 13x9-inch baking dish. Layer with four noodles, the cottage cheese mixture and pepperoni. Top with remaining noodles and meat sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
Cover and bake at 350*F for 35 minutes.
Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until heated through.
Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.
*Amy's notes: I subbed ground turkey for ground beef and garlic powder for garlic salt. I also only cooked the sauce for 20 minutes, as opposed to 30.


Previous reviews:3/8/10 ~ I don't even know where to begin in describing how good this was! First of all, it's been ages since I've made a homemade lasagna, so you have to take that into account, lol. Even still, this was amazing. I had fears that the pepperoni would make it too salty, but it really just added an extra little zing of taste to each bite. The boys are not pepperoni lovers at all, but my 6-year-old even asked for thirds (which he did not get, obviously)! The cheese layer is perfectly baked, and the eggs actually add another dimension of flavor to it. It takes forever to throw together, but it is SO WORTH IT!!! I will be making this again and again. I'm thinking I could start putting it all together the night before and then just throw it in the oven when I get home after work. The only change I made was to use garlic powder instead of garlic salt. With the pepperoni and then the addition of salt already, I thought the garlic salt would be overkill. Oh, and I subbed ground turkey for ground beef, as usual. I also used the tiny pepperonis instead of the regular-sized ones, so there was at least a little bit of pepperoni in every bite.