Italian Sausage Lasagna

This recipe is my contribution to this month’s Recipe Round Up. I don’t often freeze main dishes, but one of the ones I do freeze is lasagna. Most lasagna recipes freeze well, but one of our favorite ways to have lasagna is with Italian sausage and spinach, so I’m sharing a lasagna recipe that has sausage and spinach in it. This will make two 9 x 13 pans of lasagna, one to eat the day you put it together and one to freeze for later.

• 2 lbs. sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 green bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3-28 oz. cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 Tbsps. unsalted butter, melted
• 1-16 oz. bag fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
• 3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• 24 oven ready lasagna noodles
  

1. Crumble and sauté sausage in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until well browned. Drain off fat. Set sausage aside and wipe skillet clean with a paper towel. 
2. Add oil to skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add sliced peppers, sliced onion, and 4 cloves garlic. Cover and cook about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft.
   
3. Stir in tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20-30 minutes. Stir in reserved sausage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set sauce aside.
4. Melt butter in a separate heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sauté 4 cloves garlic about 10 minutes, until soft. Stir in spinach and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
5. Combine ricotta and mozzarella cheese in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
6. Preheat oven to temperature 350°F and lightly oil each 9 x 13 pan.
   
7. Pour 1/6 of the tomato sauce into each pan. Spread evenly.
   
8. Arrange 4 noodles in each pan and spread 1/4 of the spinach mixture over the noodles. Spread 1/4 of the cheese mixture evenly over the spinach in each pan. 
   
9. Repeat this layering process (tomato sauce, noodles, spinach mixture and cheese mixture) once more.
   
10. Top  each pan with 4 more noodles and 1/2 the remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
    
11. Bake about 1 hour, until bubbly and browned on top. Cool 10-15 minutes before serving.
12. Cool the pan for freezing as quickly as possible. Cover it tightly and place in freezer.
    
13. To reheat, place frozen in the oven and turn on heat to temperature 375°F. Bake about 1 hour or until bubbly.
    

Be sure you check out all the other freezer recipes at Motherhood Apologia.

Phantom Scrabble Boards

Cell phone junkies feel phantom ring vibrations, or so I’m told. I wonder if online Scrabble junkies see phantom Scrabble boards.

I could ask Carla, I suppose. I’m waiting for her next weird dream post, because I’m pretty certain that somewhere in it she will be chased in a dark alley by a fanged Scrabble board wielding an ax.

I do hope she wakes up in time to save herself  and recount her adventure.

What are we to believe concerning the resurrection?

We are to believe, that at the last day there shall be a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust:[1] when they that are then found alive shall in a moment be changed; and the selfsame bodies of the dead which were laid in the grave, being then again united to their souls forever, shall be raised up by the power of Christ.[2] The bodies of the just, by the Spirit of Christ, and by virtue of his resurrection as their head, shall be raised in power, spiritual, incorruptible, and made like to his glorious body;[3] and the bodies of the wicked shall be raised up in dishonor by him, as an offended judge.[4]

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