Christmas Lasagna

“Five Gold Rings” on Hallmark Channel was all about a quest to track down the owners of five gold rings that were once found lost on the beach. This sweet story takes place during the holidays and is full of heart. During the scene where the main characters were enjoying dinner together, they enjoyed Christmas Lasagna, which also warms your heart! Here, I’m making a delicious homemade lasagna with a Christmas twist. I wanted to add some red and green elements, so I added some pesto and sun dried tomatoes!

Ingredients:

-One box lasagna noodles

-Olive oil

-One large onion

-2 cloves garlic

-2 28 oz cans of San Marzano tomatoes

-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

-2 tablespoons parsley flakes

-Fresh basil leaves

-Sea salt flakes

-Pepper

-2 large carrots

-2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

-2 15 oz containers of ricotta

-Small jar pesto (or homemade)

-Small jar sun dried tomatoes

-Sliced fresh mozzarella

Directions:

Chop onion and garlic. Saute onions is olive oil first for a few minutes, then add garlic afterwards.

Once those have softened, add cans of tomatoes (gently crush them in the pan), all the seasonings, and fresh basil. Stir and add whole carrots to soak in the sauce to release their sugars. Let simmer.

While sauce simmers, cook your lasagna noodles in a separate pot of water.

In a small bowl, stir in the ricotta and mix with 3 spoonfuls of pesto. Save the rest of the pesto for the top of the lasagna at the end.

Once the sauce has been simmering, taste to see if it is sweet enough with the carrots. If not, add a bit of sugar one teaspoon at a time. You can either remove the carrots and discard them, or cut them up and add them to the sauce.

Once the sauce is done and noodles are cooked, you can start layering.

In a square baking dish, spoon some sauce on the bottom of the dish, followed by a layer of noodles, then ricotta and pesto mixture, then sauce, and keep repeating until you reach the top of the dish. Your top layer should be just noodles and sauce. On top of the sauce, spread the slices of fresh mozzarella, dollop the pesto and sprinkle the sun dried tomatoes.

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes until top is crisped up and cheese has melted a bit. Garnish with fresh basil before serving. Enjoy!