Fall Comfort Food: Gluten Free Lasagna

If you live somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere with seasons, you may have noticed the fall chill has crept into the air. One of my favorite cold weather foods is lasagna, so today I'll share my recipe for Lazy (Gluten Free) Lasagna, the perfect warm fall meal. 


Lazy (Gluten Free) Lasagna
FILLING:
-Sautee 1 medium onion and a clove or two of garlic with:
-Carnivore filling: brown 1 lb hamburger or Italian sausage 
-Herbivore filling: thaw, drain, then sautee 1 block frozen chopped spinach and 1 block frozen chopped broccoli (I think these packages are about 10oz each)
-Add approximately 26 oz of your favorite pasta sauce to your filling (you'll need to save a little sauce to put in the bottom of your baking dish) and let it simmer for a couple minutes so everything gets warm and toasty, like your innards will be after you eat some piping hot lasagna. I like Newman's Own Organic Tomato and Basil sauce. Last time I made this, I used nearly 2 jars of pasta sauce because I had one open and it was lonely. This works fine and makes for a saucier lasagna (duh). 
-Sometimes I like to add some red Tabasco sauce to my filling mixture to make a tangier lasagna, and sometimes I add red pepper flakes to give it some kick.


CHEESE MIXTURE:
Mix together in a bowl
-12 oz of cottage cheese (I like to use low fat, and I also like to disregard my own recipe and add the entire 16 oz container)
-1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
-2 eggs, beaten
-2 T parsley
-pepper, to taste


MORE CHEESE:
-2-4 cups mozzarella, depending on how cheesy you like things. I always err on the side of 4 cups. I also like mozzarella parmesan blends. You could probably use reduced fat cheese in this recipe, since there's lots of moisture to mask the weird way that stuff 'melts.'


PREPARATION
In a 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray:
-Add that little bit of pasta sauce you saved to the bottom of pan. This moisture is crucial for the gluten free noodles to cook.
-Put down a layer of gluten free lasagna noodles. I like DeBoles Gluten Free Rice Lasagna. No boil! 
-Use half of the filling mixture to make a layer
-Add half of the cheese mixture on top of that
-Add 2 cups mozzarella
-Add another layer of noodles
-Add the other half of the filling
-Add the other half of the cheese mixture
-Add another 2 cups mozzarella


-If you hate non-useful amounts of leftover ingredients like I do, you can add another layer of noodles to the top layer, since the box contains approx 9-10 noodles but we've only used 6ish so far. If you do this, you MUST add some more pasta sauce to the top, or else the noodles will stay hard. Add some more mozzarella on top, too, because guests like a nice golden cheese crust. Or you can break up the extra noodles and jam them in wherever there's space. Or you can save them for next time. Whatever suits your fancy. 


-Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from oven to set and cool, or else you will burn your mouth. Enjoy!


Note: This recipe is resilient! I tend to throw whatever I have around into it, in whatever quantities I have, because of my aforementioned annoyance with leftover ingredients that I don't use often. 
Second note: This is my mom's recipe. She makes so many delicious dishes! Thanks, mom!