Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Red Gold Tomatoes and a campaign with New Creative Media. Thanks to Red Gold for supplying me with several cans of tomatoes, I was inspired to create a few new recipes.
Gluten Free Meat Lasagna
The smell of the Gluten Free Meat Lasagna filled my house with the aromas you’d experience in an Italian restaurant or at least of that expensive frozen brand, without the cost of either!
This is a simple recipe to make gluten free or with regular lasagna noodles. I’m not a big fan of lasagna, so when this one was done, I shared it with some friends. When they were finished, they told me that it was “Amazing!” Not bad for my first time cooking lasagna, huh? 😉 I made the Gluten Free Meat Lasagna at the same time as the Creamy Spinach and Tomato Lasagna was made with gluten free lasagna noodles and they never even realized it until I pointed it out to them later.
I also had another secret my friends weren’t aware of before, during, or after eating the Gluten-Free Meat Lasagna. I had some leftover Lasagna Soup, made the previous day, and it was used to create the entire top layer of the Gluten-Free Meat Lasagna! I’ve never had much luck freezing casseroles and soups with gluten free pasta in it. The pasta ends up too mushy. So, I drained the liquid, which was mostly water, from the leftover Lasagna Soup, and used it instead of the lasagna pasta for that layer. I added a little more of the meat sauce and finished it off with a healthy layer of cheese. Not only did I use up a leftover in a creative way, but it also gave my lasagna the curly noodle look that my lasagna noodles didn’t offer.
Like the Creamy Spinach and Tomato Lasagna, the Gluten-Free Meat Lasagna was made according to the direction and baked part way one night. After it cooled, it was refrigerated and then cooked the rest of the way the next day. I could have easily prepped it, then cooked from start to finish the second day. Freezing after prepping is also another great option to help make week night dinners easier and faster.
When using the gluten free lasagna noodles, I do suggest soaking them, or at least rinsing them before putting the lasagna together. This could be especially helpful if cooking the lasagna from start to finish on the same day. Of course, this will depend on the lasagna pasta brand and your own preferences. Wheatland (available on the regular pasta aisle at Walmart) was used for this recipe. If preparing and cooking the lasagna on two separate days, rinsing or soaking shouldn’t be needed. The liquids in the sauce will absorb into the noodles to soften them. Leave a little “growing” room in the cooking pan as the noodles may really expand once they began absorbing the liquids. Think about one of those paper thin sponges that expands in all directions, but without the bulk. 😉
Were you a fan of the Philadelphia Cooking Creme? I was and had a bunch of it stockpiled in my deep freezer. I used it in my original recipe and didn’t realize until later that it’s no longer available. What is a cook to do? Create a substitute for that yummy Philadelphia Cooking Creme Savory Garlic flavor, of course. The Savory Garlic was LOADED with garlic, so I recommend using 1-3 tsp of garlic powder, 1 large tub of cream cheese spread or 2 cream cheese bricks, and about 2 Tbs milk to cream it all together and make it pourable or spreadable. This could be done in a mixer or food processor, if desired.
Want to make the lasagna, but not a huge pan like the original recipe will make? Not a problem. I actually made three separate recipes using the base tomato sauce recipe:
- Creamy Spinach and Tomato Lasagna
- Gluten Free Meat Lasagna (or Regular Meat Lasagna)
- Gluten Free (or Not) Lasagna Soup
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
- 1 (28 ounce) can Red Gold® Crushed Tomatoes
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans Red Gold® Diced Tomatoes With Basil, Garlic & Oregano
- 6 to 10 oz. Fresh Spinach (optional)
- 1 teaspoon (each) dry oregano, basil, and parsley
- Salt to taste
- 1 (9 ounce) box Gluten Free (Heartland) lasagna noodles, Oven Ready, uncooked
- 1 (12 oz) package of Cream Cheese Spread
- 2 Tbs milk
- 1 tsp to 3 tsp Garlic Powder
- Preheat oven to 350º F.
- In a large pot, combine water, RED GOLD® Crushed Tomatoes, RED GOLD® Diced Tomatoes with Basil, GARLIC & OREGANO, dry oregano, basil, parsley, garlic powder, and salt to taste.
- Chop spinach into tiny, chopped shreds.
- Add about ½ of the spinach to the tomatoes and mix well.
- While tomatoes and spinach are heating, prep and cook the sausage and beef.
- If the Italian Sausages are in casings, use a sharp knife to slit the casing and remove the ground sausage. Discard casings.
- Brown Italian Sausage and ground beef. My beef was already cooked.
- Like that smooth, super fine meat texture found in many frozen and restaurant meats? Run the meats through the food processor. It will give a fine texture as well as blend the two meats together.
- Add meat to the pot of tomatoes and heat at least 30 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese spread, milk, and garlic powder (to taste). Add the other ½ of the spinach and blend well.
- Spray a 9x13x2 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Cover the bottom of the pan with 1½ cups of meat sauce.
- Arrange ⅓ of noodles on top of sauce, slightly overlapped or breaking noodles, if needed.
- Top noodles with ½ of cream cheese mixture.
- Top cream cheese layer with 1 cup of Italian cheese.
- Top the cheese layer with another 1 cup of tomato sauce.
- Repeat layers and top with last ⅓ of noodles and the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Italian cheese.
- Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Cover lasagna with the foil and bake for 1 to 1½ hours; until noodles are cooked.
- Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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