World's Best Lasagna

1 pound sweet Italian sausage
3/4 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 oz) cans canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 T white sugar
1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 T salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 T chopped fresh parsley
12 lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 T salt, pepper, and 2 T pasley. Simmer, covered for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Bring a large pot of lighly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 tsp salt.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups (I did 2 cups each time because I had plenty of sauce) of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with on half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarela cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups (or 2) meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Now, I understand that this recipe looks like a lot of work and it kind of is.  I sort of cheated because I didn't have quite enough time to simmer the sauce so I just made the sauce and let it simmer while my noodles cooked and then I put it all together and baked it.  It tasted just fine so unless you have time, I wouldn't worry about simmering for an hour and a half.  Also I didn't have fennel or Parmesan so I skipped it. Next time I definitely want to try it with the parmesan cheese. For the mozzarella I just used shredded because that is what I had. This lasagna really is the world's best!  Unlike some lasagna's that are kind of sloppy and soupy, this one set up really good which made it easy to serve.  I can still smell the aroma...Delicious!

This recipe came from allrecipes.com

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad

1 T butter
3/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered
1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn
1 cup dried cranberries
2 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp minced onion
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and let cool. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almnds and cranberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving. 

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it is so delicious. They gave it 5 stars and I would do the same.  I cut out the poppy seeds because I didn't have any and used red wine vinegar instead of white for the same reason.  We also really like feta cheese so I put some of that on as well but it would be good without. This is definitely going to be my new go to salad!