Poor Man's Lasagna

[Rebel Child]

We all know that lasagna is not only an expensive dish - it's also one that can be tedious and time consuming.

There's been a few times when the money has been tight, but I craved a baked pasta dish.

The dawning of this recpie is one that came by happenstance.  I went into my pantry, found spaghetti noodles, 2 jars of pasta sauce, and an idea began to form.  I went into the fridge, found two half blocks of cheese (that I had used the other blocks for uber melty sammiches), and some cottage cheese that the spawn hadn't finished off yet, so about half a large container.

I think for a moment - and then bam, I created the poor man's lasagna.

Now there's some tweaking that has occurred since the very initial test run.  The measurements aren't always exact (as there was no recipie to follow when I did this)


1 half box of spahetti noodles [if you have any left over noodles after this, there's something really cool you can do with this - which I'll leave a note on]

2 jars of your favorite spahetti sauce

1 large container of cottage cheese

1/4 cup of parmesean cheese

1 egg

cheese - shredded  [suit to your own tastes but make sure to have enough for the topping]

Special add ins -

Hamburger that has been browned and crumpled - make sure to drain this if you use it  [but this isn't needed]

Shrimp - make sure it's been properly cleaned off and rinsed

Prushitto ham - chopped

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Preheat the oven to 375

Cook spaghetti as per instructions on the package.

While the spaghetti is cooking, now is the time to get the cottage cheese mixture prepared.

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the cottage cheese, and parmesan.  Crack the egg in a smaller bowl and with a fork, whisk it - add this to the cottage cheese and parmesean then mix all together.

Cook/clean/chop your add ins (if you have them)

Once the spaghetti is cooked, return back to the dutch oven, after it's been drained [that's your REALLY big pot that comes with standard cookware]

Mix in two jars of spaghetti sauce, then your cottage cheese mixture.

If you're the type of person who likes lots of cheese, make sure to add some at this point into the dutch oven and give it a really nice stir.

This is also where you put in your add ins

In the baking dish of your choice (I tend to use just a normal cakepan), make sure it's lightly sprayed with cooking spray, and then add the contents from your dutch oven into the pan - if there's some left over, don't worry about it.

Top with cheese and place in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is a light golden brown, and all cheese is melted.

Voila - poor man's lasagna.


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Now here's the little cool trick you can do with your left over spaghetti.

Fritattas.  I've seen them created on a few cooking shows here and there and they seem really cool, but I've never had the luck of eating one.

What you do is put your left over spaghetti (from the dutch oven) into the fridge, and the next day you can create a wonderful tasting fritatta.

Here's one that I found on their site just by skimming through it.  Forget about the wheat pasta unless that's what you alread used prior.

10 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, sliced thinly into half moons
1 bunch fresh spinach (about 1/2 pound) washed, dried and coarsely chopped (5 cups)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted in boiling water for 10 minutes, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cooked whole-wheat spaghetti tossed with 1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/3 cup grated Parmesan

In a medium bowl, separate 5 of the egg whites, discarding the yolks. Add the remaining 5 whole eggs to the bowl with the whites and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Heat the oil in large oven-proof, nonstick skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 1 minute. Add the pasta to the pan and stir to combine. Pour the eggs evenly over the pasta and vegetables. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until eggs are set on the edges but not in the middle.

Preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the top of the frittata with cheese and place under the broiler. Cooke until the top is set and golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook or the eggs will become tough. Cut into 6 wedges and serve.


If you DON'T have a broiler...


You can cook this in a preheated oven at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes.

There's a skillet variant as well but seriously? That sounds just like a bunch of trouble.