Welp, I couldn’t not include a skillet lasagna recipe in this month’s 31 Days of Skillet Dinner series. So here it is.

I adore lasagna. While my mom isn’t known for her skills in the kitchen, she can make a mean lasagna! I adore her lasagna. I adore any lasagna. I should clarify…I adore the taste of lasagna. The pasta with the flavorful tomato sauce and richness and tang from the cheese. It’s food perfection, really. Those Italians…they sure know what they are doing when combining flavors and ingredients like this.

There is one thing that I don’t adore about lasagna…the time in putting it all together. Yes, it’s worth the work and waiting for…but what if I told you could create the same delicious flavors in a fraction of the time.

Yup. yup.

My only note on this recipe is that I used cottage cheese in place of ricotta. Because I’m cheap like that. Pennies matter my friend, they matter! Pick whichever your prefer!

{Learning the family biz.} Here is Cuatro trying to take a photo of the meal while I ran back inside to grab my camera. I generally take photos of our meals outside on the back deck and he likes to follow and watch.

Please note: I made this meal before Christmas when it was still warm-ish in the 60s/low 70s. He would not be out in a short sleeve shirt these days! Our “winter” in San Antonio is already about half over, so we’ll be back in short sleeves in no time!

OH. And Cuatro turns 2 this week. Which I find completely unbelievable. I wanna flip back through my calendar and make sure we didn’t just skip a year somehow. Sigh.

Ok, let’s get back to the food. Since skillet dinners can be tricky if you’ve never made one before, especially this lasagna, I thought a photo tutorial would be helpful!

Here goes…hope it helps you feel more confident in making this amazing dinner!

Brown the beef. With some onion and garlic.

Drain if needed. Then return to skillet and dump in the spinach.

I used about 8 oz. You could use 10 oz. but probably not more. Unless you make this in a giant saucepan.

Watch it ‘melt.’

Almost completely melted.

Tomato sauce.

Diced tomatoes.

Spices.

Mix it all together.

If you wanted to just use this as your sauce for pasta, that would work too.

But let’s press on to getting it all together, cooking in the same dish.

Add the broth.

All of this broth will be soaked up by the noodles.

Broth adds a richness to the flavor. If you want to just use water, that works too!

Please note that I used regular lasagna noodles. If you have the ‘no boil’ or ‘oven ready’ noodles, you might need to reduce the liquid amount some. But not a lot.

Add the lasagna noodles. I had to ‘slide’ some in under and into the meat.

And I left several floating on top.

Cover and simmer.

The moisture under the lid will ‘baste’ the noodles on the top and keep them from drying out.

The liquid will soak up and reduce to this point, where the noodles are tender and the sauce thickened.

Sprinkle some grated Parmesan over the top.

Add a couple dollops of cottage or ricotta.

Garnish with fresh parsley. Or basil. Or nothing. It’s just an optional garnish.

Be sure that you have at least 1 dollop for each serving. As you want to be able to get some of the tangy-creamy cheese with each bite of pasta and sauce!

Drop the skillet on the table and scoop it right out into bowls or plates right there.

Easy, Peasy.

Hope you love this as much as we did!!!

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Weeknight Spinach Lasagna Skillet

All the delicious flavors of lasagna, in a quick weeknight skillet version!

Prep Time20 minutes minutes

Cook Time20 minutes minutes

Servings - 4 servings

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 Tbsp minced onion or 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 8 oz. fresh spinach
• 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 8 lasagna noodles broken
• 1 cup cottage cheese in dollops
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Fresh parsley for optional garnish

Instructions

• Brown the ground beef with the minced onion and garlic powder in a large skillet with tight fitting lid. Drain and return to the skillet.
• Add the fresh spinach over top of the browned ground beef and let cook over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring a few times while the spinach ‘melts.’
• Once the spinach is all melted in, stir in the diced tomatoes (undrained) and tomato sauce with the Italian seasoning and some salt and pepper.
• Bring to bubbling and then stir in the chicken broth and bring to bubbling again.
• Once the broth-sauce is bubbling, add the broken lasagna noodles and float them deep into the sauce, as well as on the surface. Be sure that as much of the lasagna noodle is covered by the sauce so that it cooks evenly.
• A tight fitting lid will help the steam ‘baste’ the noodles on the top too. Let cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, or until noodles are cooked al dente.
• Remove from the heat and add the dollops of cottage cheese (or ricotta if you prefer) and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese and parsley over the top.
• Serve Spinach Lasagna Skillet as a one dish dinner or with a side of salad, or garlic bread, or other favorite veggies.

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