• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/3 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 tbsp chopped parsley (fresh)
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 3 crushed garlic cloves
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 2 (6oz) cans tomato paste
• 16 ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 3/4 lb mozzarella cheese
• 1.5 tsp dried basil
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

This may seem like a lot of ingredients, but there are many you should have on hand. Luckily the hunt for all of the ingredients is definitely worth it, as this dish is savory and really comes together with all of the different flavors.

1. Start by cooking your sausage in a Dutch oven with the onion, garlic and ground beef. Use medium heat and watch the meat closely to see when it has browned. After this happens, add in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, water and crushed tomatoes. Stir everything up and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
2. Next add in the basil, fennel seeds, 1 tbsp salt, Italian seasoning, sugar, pepper and 2 tbsp of parsley into the Dutch oven. Stir this up so everything is well combined and then turn the heat down to simmer. Cover this up and leave it to cook for 1.5 hours. Stir this occasionally just to keep things moving around.
3. When this is almost done cooking, take a large pot of water and add salt to it. Turn the heat on high until the water is boiling vigorously. Put the lasagna noodles into the water and cook them for the time required according to the box. Once finished, drain the noodles and immediately rinse them with cold water. Set these aside and grab a separate bowl.
4. In this bowl put in the ricotta cheese, egg, parsley and 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix this together until everything is combined and then preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
5. After the meat sauce is done, spoon it into the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish. After you have a layer of sauce, arrange six lasagna noodles on top of it. Spread them out evenly and then spread the cheese mixture you just made on top of that. Then add 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese you have, but cut it into slices so it’s spread evenly.
6. From here, spoon another 1.5 cups of meat sauce on top of the mozzarella cheese followed by 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Now you will start the layering process over until you run out of ingredients. You should finish with a topping of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. When it’s ready to go into the oven, cover the top of the dish with foil.
7. Bake this in the oven for 25 minutes and then take the foil off. After this, cook for another 25 minutes and cool for 15 before eating!