When I was a kid, my dad would ask me every year what I wanted to eat for my birthday dinner. Year after year, it was the same answer: Lasagna! My dad’s lasagna isn’t like your average lasagna, it’s filled with unexpected flavors like salty pesto, creamy ricotta, sweet sausage, and tangy tomato sauce. Fast forward to today when every time I recreate the dish, my boyfriend claims it is, without a doubt, the best thing I make. And I have to agree. Sadly, I can’t eat it given my dairy allergy so I make myself a dairy-free version with my homemade pesto (under recipes) and no cheese. It’s not quite the same but I’d love ideas about how to spice that up. I’ll give you the real version now.

Ingredients:
1 large bottle tomato sauce (or make your own)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 box lasagna pasta
1/2 lb ground beef or turkey (my dad mixes half italian sausage, half beef but I use ground turkey for a healthier version that tastes just as good)
1 cup pesto (I use my homemade vegan pesto but store-bought or your own recipe works as well)
1 yellow onion
3 tblspns olive oil
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup pecorino romano cheese

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350
Cook pasta until tender
While pasta is cooking, mix ricotta and pesto and set aside
Heat 2 tblspns olive oil and sauté onions for about 3 minutes
Add ground meat and sauté until cooked through
In a pyrex or baking dish start layering the lasagna in the following order:
A thick layer of tomato sauce drizzled with olive oil
Pasta
Meat covered lightly with tomato sauce and sprinkled with pecorino romano cheese
Pasta
Mixture of Ricotta and pesto
Pasta
Cover lightly with tomato sauce, sprinkle with Mozzarella and Pecorino Romano
Cover with tin foil and cook for 30 minutes
Uncover and cook for 10-15 more minutes until the cheese begins to bubble
Let cool for 10 minutes and serve with extra sauce on top