Putting the Pizza in Pasta: Pizza Lasagna

Pizza night is a weekly occurrence in our home.  And I try to spice it up a bit with variety.  Spinach pizza, radish pizza, cheese pizza.  But Thatboy's favorite kind of pizza is a meaty pizza - with sausage and pepperoni.

Really, there's no much difference between a pizza and a lasagna.  One has a crust, the other has noodles.  But both are a conglomeration of cheese, sauce, and whatever other ingredients you care to throw in there.

Sausage in a lasagna isn't really anything new, but I wanted to give this one a pizza-y twist, so I added pepperoni to it.  This was apparently one of the smartest things I've ever done, at least according to the males in my home.  Thatbaby devoured this lasagna for dinner two nights and for lunch one afternoon. Thatboy couldn't wait to get his hands on the leftovers.  I could tell he had been thinking about it all morning when we got back from the pool and he remarked "I know what I'm having for lunch!"

Pizza Lasagna

3/4 lb ground sausage

2 cups of your favorite marinara

no-boil lasagna sheets

16 oz ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, sliced

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

6 oz pepperoni, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Brown the ground sausage. 
2. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Pour some of the marinara in an 8x8 dish, enough to cover the bottom.  Place 2 of the lasagna noodles over this sauce.
4. Place half of the sausage on top of the noodles, then half of the ricotta.
5. Place 1/3 of the mozzarella over the ricotta and half of the pepperoni over the mozzarella.
6. Top with 1/3 of the sauce, then another layer of the noodles.  Repeat with remaining sausage, ricotta, 1/2 of the remaining mozzarella, pepperoni and 1/2 of the remaining sauce.
7. Top with noodles, remaining sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan.
8. Bake, uncovered for 40 minutes.