Easy Lasagna Bake Recipe

A Simple 30 Minute Recipe for a Quick Mid Week Dinner!

So Little Man LOVES this easy lasagna bake recipe….so much that he even helps me make it!  For those of you that are frequent Serendipity and Spice readers you know what a big advocate I am for cooking with kids!

Cooking with kids is so important in helping them build life skills, increase self esteem, improve hand/eye coordination, and it’s a great bonding experience.  When you bring your kids into the kitchen to help you’re subliminally telling them that you trust them to be there.  This increases their self esteem and gives them a sense of autonomy.  When I started bringing Little Man into the kitchen at just 2 years old to help cook I was terrified!  I could just imagine the messes, the dangers…trips to the ER for burns or cuts….it was quite the leap for me to take.

But once I started letting Little Man into the kitchen those fears disappeared.  I mean, yes, there’s the occasional spill, there’s extra dirty dishes, dinner takes a little longer to make, and so on…..but the rewards are amazing!  Little Man actually listens to the instructions I give him (which is rare these days– but he knows if he wants to be in the kitchen he has to follow every rule), watching him think about the task he’s doing is absolutely priceless, he uses precision and is very careful in each activity that he does…..and we have a LOT of fun!

Now, I do make sure that I make the tasks age appropriate…. like for this dish he doesn’t get to drain the boiling water from the noodles….but he does get to mix the sauce into the ground beef…he gets to use a wooden spoon and (with some help from mom) layer in the ingredients from the pots into the casserole dish…..and (his favorite part) he gets to sprinkle on the cheese.

Alright, so ready for the recipe?

Easy Lasagna Bake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb. 90% lean ground beef

1 24oz jar pasta sauce (I like to use Ragu Chunky Garden Combination)

2 Cups of Egg Noodles

4oz Neufachatel Cheese (basically low fat cream cheese)

1 TBS Italian Herbs Seasoning

2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

Brown ground beef in a skillet and drain excess fat.

Boil egg noodles until al dente and drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour jar of pasta sauce into ground beef and stir together.

Coat casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt neufachatel cheese in microwave safe bowl in microwave for 30 seconds.

Combine Italian seasonings into neufachatel cheese.

Combine cheese mixture with egg noodles.

Layer 1/2 of egg noodle mixture on bottom of casserole dish.

Top egg noodle mixture with pasta sauce ground beef mixture.

Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Repeat layers above with remainder of ingredients.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

There you have it…a simple meal ready in no time…and some fun with your toddler in the kitchen!

How do you like to get your kids involved in the kitchen? Share in the comments below!