Charlie's Lasagna

  Each of us seems to have the one dish we make that everyone loves and is usually the item we bring to potlucks because we're kinda known for it.  Mine is lasagna.  I make it slightly different from the norm and my friends and family have all decided its a hit.  Who doesn't love cheesey warm tomatoey goodness? It is my favorite comfort food of all comfort foods.

  Hope you enjoy this recipe.

Charlie's Spicy Chicken Sausage Lasagna.

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
box of dried lasagna noodles
1 can Trader Joe's Toscano low fat Marinara
1 small ball low moisture mozzarella, cut into slices.
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
half pint of low fat cottage cheese
1 package either spicy chicken andoullie or spicy chicken Italian sausage, 5 links.  I like Trader's Joes for this too.
crushed chili flakes/to taste for top

1.  Slice sausage into 1/4 inch rounds, put into nonstick skillet and cook till done. Remove and put onto paper towels to remove any excess oil.

2. Starting with 9x11 pan, put a bit of olive oil into bottom to prevent sticking and then add a TBLS of uncooked sauce to bottom. Add 3 uncooked noodles across bottom of pan and top with dollops of the cottage cheese and half the sausage.  You want to have enough to make 2 cottage cheese/sausage layers, so divide evenly, then put sauce along edges of noodles, the sauce will cook into the noodle edges better this way, and a bit in the middle, think of sauce as being divided into thirds, enough for each layer and to cover top.

3.  Make another layer of noodles and repeat with ingredients.

4. For the top, use a layer of noodles, then cover entirely with sauce.  Add slices of mozzarella to top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, removing foil at end to brown cheese.

Suggestions:  I sometimes just make with the Chicken Italian sausage and then use fresh basil leaves added in the center layer for a nice really Italiany type lasagna but either way, use what you have. It's always simple and so good.

Enjoy!