If you want to feel powerful, create a new recipe. Then come up with a dazzling title for your amazing recipe. After that, you must share it with the whole world as though it is the link to happiness they’ve all been missing for years . . .
Must be nice to be one of those new-recipe-making people.
But this recipe today is not new. In fact, it came about when the sleuth in me tried cutting corners with lasagna and matching it with pizza casserole.
The title is pretty awful, too. I thought about “Lasagna Meets Pizza Casserole” . . . but it sounded too much like an Italian romance. And the “dump” part of the title is a key component to this entire thing. I literally do not have this recipe written down – it is all stored in my blonde brain . . . somewhere, just don’t ask me where.
This fact is one that makes my husband nervous.
It’s those times when I slap a dish on the table that tickles his tastebuds and then he asks me the ultimate question: “Where’d you get the recipe?” My silence and Cheshire grin make him groan. He knows there is probably never going to be a time when that same exact dish will be sitting in front of him. Poor man.
I call it being unique. However, too much uniqueness can cause marital difficulties. So having said all that . . . I am now writing down a recipe of sorts for this awesome, delicious, life-changing lasagna dump casserole!
On second thought, let’s scratch the whole life-changing bit . . . nobody’s life ever changed in any drastic way with the word “dump” in the title.
Now for the recipe!
This seriously is a mix of my favorite parts of lasagna and pizza casserole. So if you see a component you loved missing, just add it in. Sometimes I am feeling more pizza-ish than lasagna-ish, so I will throw in pepperoni slices. Or I am finding myself ogling the Parmesan cheese, so I throw more of that in. And as always, fresh cheese is the best, I’m sure. But I don’t always have it available, so I use dried Parmesan cheese many times.
Here you go, folks!
- cooked pasta – any kind, shape, or size (I like to use whole wheat penne pasta)
- 1 lb. fried sausage, elk, or beef
- 1 1/2 – 2 quarts pasta sauce
- 3 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 tub of 4% cottage cheese
- 2 eggs
- pepperoni slices *optional*
- *All amounts are approximate – sometimes I use handfuls of ingredients and almost never measure.*
- Mix together your eggs, cottage cheese, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese. I like lots of this mixture – so usually go overboard on it. Set aside.
- Salt your cooked pasta. Add meat and pasta sauce to your cooked pasta. Stir together.
- Grease your baking dish.
- Put 1/2 pasta mixture in dish. Drop the Parmesan/cottage cheese mixture over the pasta and spread around, if possible. Put the remaining pasta mixture on top.
- Sprinkle 1 cup (or more) mozzarella cheese on top.
- Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly and cheese looks slightly browned at edges – about 1 hour.
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MM says
Ooh yummy! I’ve made a recipe “dump” similar to this, and call it lasagna casserole… your name is great too! My family doesn’t like cottage cheese, so I use cream of mushroom soup instead, and it is ah-mazing! The picture of your wonderful casserole look good enough to lick the screen! 🙂
Kendra says
Thanks!