My family loved this. They devoured it, which means a lot because I have three finicky eaters. The baby usually only takes a bite or two of anything; the list of things my 5-year-old won't eat is longer than the list of things he will. The whole reception was pleasantly surprising because I was flying by the seat of my pants, without a recipe. I had tracked down a recipe, this one, but I didn't have access to it. (We're down to one working computer—I know, the horror!—and my husband and I are in an amazingly civil tug-of-war with it whenever we're both home. I couldn't bring myself to take it from him to look up the recipe.)

So the lasagna looked a little weird, with big chunks of ground beef on top, but it was spot-on in terms of texture and taste. I started by browning 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, then I mixed that with a jar of marinara sauce. I mixed 1 cup ricotta with 1 egg and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan; I mixed in some pepper, too. I spread some marinara (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) in the bottom of a square baking pan, then layered 2 no-boil lasagna noodles, 1/3 the meat mixture, 1/2 the ricotta mixture, 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella. Then another layer: 2 noodles, 1/2 the remaining meat mixture, the rest of the ricotta mixture, another 1/2 cup mozzarella. The final layer is just 2 more noodles, the rest of the meat mixture and another 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella. Baked covered with foil in 375-degree oven for 1 hour. Let sit 10 minutes before slicing and serving. 

I was thisclose to making the Lazy Lasagna, but opted for something more akin to the Easy Lasagna instead:

Easy Lasagna

Vegetable Lasagna

Lazy Lasagna

— Kim Walker