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I say beef. I start with a spaghetti sauce (usually Ragu ro Hunt's) then add to it like crazy ie: onions, mushrooms, hamburger that was previously cooked with fresh garlic, brothers pepperoni, cooked & sliced sausage if you like, green peppers, anything you like and simmer for awhile. Then when I am layering, I also put thin slices of either salami or pepperoni and shredded Mozzerella cheese on each layer, my brother in law tried Ricotta cheese too and said it was delicious (expensive but good). Then for the topper, more shredded mozza. MMMMMMMMM. Hope this helped - Good Luck and happy eating....Oops, 1 more tip, when using boughten noodles, just buy the regular and you do not have to pre-cook, I never do and it always turns out great..

This is how I make my lasagna

cooked ground beef

cooked crumbled sweet Italian sausage

half of a small container of cream cheeses mixed with 1 big container of whole milk riccotta.

Your favorite jar of sauce.( I like Ragu mushrooms & peppers)

Lasagna noodles

1)cook noodles according to package

2)spread a little sauce at bottom of lasagna pan

3)put down noodles

4)spread on ricotta mixture, then meat mixture, sauce, grated parmesean cheese. then top with sliced mozzerella cheese.

5)repeat layers starting with the noodles again. The last layer should end with noodles. Spread some sauce on them, sprinkle some parm cheese and top with mozzerella.. Cover and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 10 min.

My family loves it, and I serve it with garlic bread and a salad. Enjoy!

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/2 pounds crumbled sausage, sweet or hot

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 (28-ounce) jar Muir Glenn tomato sauce

1/2 cup dry red wine

15 ounces part-skim ricotta (about 2 cups)

1 large egg

12 (7 by 3 1/2inch) no-boil lasagne pasta sheets

12 ounces part-skim mozzarella

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a heavy kettle cook onions and 3 cloves of garlic until softened. Add sausage and bell pepper and cook 2 minutes, breaking up sausage. Add tomato sauce and red wine and remaining garlic. Simmer 10 minutes.

In a bowl lightly beat eggs. In another bowl stir together ricotta, egg, salt and pepper. Grate mozzarella.

Pour 1 cup sauce into a baking dish, 13 by 9 by 2-inches (sauce will not cover bottom completely), and cover with 3 lasagne sheets, making sure they do not touch each other. Spread about 2 cups sauce over pasta. Drop 1/3 of ricotta mixture by spoonfuls onto sauce and gently spread with back of spoon. Sprinkle 1/4 of mozzarella over ricotta mixture. Make 2 more layers in the same manner, beginning and ending with pasta. Spread remaining sauce evenly over top, making sure pasta is completely covered, and sprinkle with Parmesan and remaining mozzarella.

Cover dish tightly with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching top layer, and bake in middle of oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake lasagne 10 minutes more, or until top is bubbling and golden. Let lasagne stand 5 minutes before serving.

i love roasting or grilling veggies to go in as alayer. try eggplant, zucchini, or yellow squash, garlic, red onions. toss the veggies with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roast or grill till soft and yummy smelling. if roasting, 400 for about 35 minutes, grilling medium heat for 20 minutes with a flip. I usually use turkey sausage for the meat mixture if i don't want it completely vegetarian. For the ricotta part, mix in 2 eggs, fresh chopped (any) herbs, and salt and pepper. Put some tomato sauce on the pan bottom, layer on noodles, ricotta mix, grated mozzarella and turkey sausage. next, more sauce, noodles, ricotta, and veggies. noodles, sauce and grated mozzarella finish it off. bake at 375 for 40 minutes or so covered. then uncover and let cheese brown a bit for 5 more minutes. Yumm...

I have several recipes on lasagne but here's the one I got from my Betty Crocker's cookbook which is really tasty.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE LASAGNE

(8 servings)

1 pound bulk Italian sausage or 1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped (about ½ cup)

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried basil leaves

1 can (16 ounces)whole tomatoes, untrained

1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce

12 uncooked lasagne (about 12 ounces)

1 carton (16 ounces) ricotta (2 cups)

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp chopped fresh or 1 ½ tsp dried oregano leaves

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook sausage, onion and garlic in 10-inch skillet, stirring occasionally, until sausage is brown. Drain. Stir in 2 tbsp parsley, the sugar, basil, tomatoes and tomato sauce. Break up tomatoes. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered about 45 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Heat oven to 350. Cook noodles as directed on package. Drain. Mix ricotta, ¼ cup parmesan, 1 tbsp parsley and the oregano. Spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture in ungreased rectangular baking dish, 13x9x2 inches. Top with 4 noodles. Spread 1 cup of the cheese mixture over noodles. Spread with 1 cup of the sauce mixture. Sprinkle with 2/3 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with 4 noodles, the remaining cheese mixture and 2/3 cup of mozzarella. Top with remaining noodles and sauce mixture. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and ¼ cup parmesan. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

This is adapted from the original Moosewood Cookbook. It's vegetarian, but I've gotten nothing but raves from meat-eaters. It's a little extra work to prepare the sauce from scratch, but it's worth it.

Sauce

2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil

2 c chopped onion

1 med bell pepper, diced

2 med stalks celery, minced

1 to 2 med zucchini, diced

2 to 3 med ripe tomatoes, chopped

handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 29oz can tomatoes

1 6oz can tomato paste

1 Tbsp honey

black pepper, to taste

4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced

Heat olive oil in large sauce pot or Dutch oven. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, zucchini, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, dried herbs and salt. Saute over medium heat until the onion is very tender (10 or so minutes.)

Shred canned tomatoes (juice and all) briefly in blender. Add canned tomatoes, tomato paste, honey and black pepper. Bring to a boil then lower heat and cover partially. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes.

Add garlic and simmer an additional 10 minutes.

Refrigerate overnight for flavors to blend. (Yummm....)

Lasagna

1 batch sauce (I always prepare a day ahead and refrigerate)

box lasagna noodles (they work just fine uncooked or you can boil them for half the time given on the box)

pint lowfat ricotta

1 lb grated mozzarella

tub grated parmesan, romano, asiago (or a combination thereof)

Preheat over to 375.

Spread some sauce over the bottom of a 9x13 pyrex baking dish. Layer ingredients as follows:

Single layer of noodles (break to fit)

Half the ricotta, spread over noodles

One third of the sauce

Half the mozzarella

Single layer of noodles

Remaining ricotta

One third of the sauce

Remaining mozzarella

Single layer of noodles

Remaining sauce

Parmesan/romano/asiago sprinkled over the top (as MUCH or as little as you like)

Bake for 45 minutes, tenting loosely with foil if it starts getting too brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving

I never could fix a decent home-made lasagna. So what I do is get the very best out of the freezer at my grocery store. It's gotta be Stouffer's Lasagna all the way. I think it's the greatest.