serves 6
You might need to buy:
  • Green Giant® frozen broccoli cuts
  • lean ground beef
  • half-and-half
serves 4
You might need to buy:
  • uncooked regular long-grain rice
  • garlic pepper blend
  • water
  • chow mein noodles
Belongs to Bethany Sausage Lasagna 

Serves 6 to 8

Why this recipe works:
Following the success of our Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna, we decided to create a hearty sausage version. Boosting the flavors of the ricotta filling with a hefty amount of Parmesan and some fragrant basil certainly helped our cause, as did boldly flavored Italian sausage. To keep things simple, we found spooning dollops of ricotta over the noodles—instead of spreading it—and pinching off pieces of raw sausage helped to streamline assembly. As for the sauce, the test kitchen’s favorite jarred sauce (Bertolli Tomato and Basil Sauce) worked perfectly.

You might need to buy:
  • Vegetable oil spray
  • curly-edged lasagna noodles
  • grated Parmesan cheese
  • minced fresh basil
  • large egg
  • Salt and pepper

Serves 8 to 10

Our favorite lasagna noodles are Barilla No Boil. You can thaw the spinach overnight in the refrigerator instead of microwaving it. But do warm the spinach liquid to help smooth the ricotta.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To make a spinach lasagna worthy of its name, the first step was simple: increase the spinach. Frozen spinach tastes just as good as fresh and cuts down on kitchen time as well. For the finest, most even texture, we use the food processor to chop the spinach and to smooth out the ricotta cheese. The final secret for extra spinach flavor is using some of the spinach liquid but not enough to make the lasagna watery. We nixed the traditional creamy béchamel in favor of a fresh, herb-flecked tomato sauce but still layered in plenty of mozzarella and Parmesan for added richness.

You might need to buy:
  • frozen chopped spinach
  • olive oil
  • red pepper flakes
  • Salt and pepper
  • chopped fresh basil
  • no-boil lasagna noodles
serves 4
You might need to buy:
  • Salt and Pepper
  • dry white OR red wine
  • chicken stock
  • fresh ricotta cheese
serves 4
You might need to buy:
  • fresh whole wheat linguine
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • red pepper flakes
  • dry white wine
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • salt
  • packed baby spinach
  • finely chopped parsley
  • grated parmesan cheese
Belongs to Heather Hulsey Baked Ziti 
serves 4
You might need to buy:
  • lean ground turkey
  • dried oregano
  • part-skim ricotta cheese
  • jarred marinara sauce
  • grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
ready in about 35 minutes; serves 4
You might need to buy:
  • dried whole wheat bow-tie or spiral shaped pasta
  • crushed red pepper flakes
  • Sea salt or kosher salt