Last Saturday night we had a surprise b-day party for one of my sis-in-laws. We had her best friend make the lasagna. It was the first time I ate it with sausage in it. OMG that was all I ate. I even brought some home with me. And yes she is Italian. I need to get her recipe.

Geoff, you did a great job. It looks so yummy. Come here and help me make it.

Geoff, it looks wonderfully delicious. What noodles did you use? I sometimes think the boxed are too thick and try to buy fresh, but they're tough to find.

LOVE pork and chicken in a sauce. They make it sweet.

I will never use the boxed ready to use noodles again. The lady who made the lasagna for my SIL's party used frozen noodles. She said they use those at the Italian restaurant they have. They were good.

SC and Geoff, you inspired me. I mixed up meatballs and made a big sauce. Although I'm only making pasta and no lasagna, the house smells so GOOD.

It's an Italian air freshener. I LOVE that smell about this time of year.

The meatballs and gravy were delicious, if I do say so myself. I also made some garlic bread, in memory of our friend.

Ya'll need to make a meatball and sauce air freshener and sell it.

I used no-boil noodles because they're nice and thin. I looked for fresh, but Pathmark didn't have any. I only had enough ingredients (fillings) for three or four layers of noodles -- next time I'll have to make it 5 or 6 since it was pretty flat. But delicious.

I wouldn't go much more than that. What did you put in between? I only use cheese in between. I'm not much of a meat lover in lasagna, but that's me. It's probably just what I'm used to. I only layer with sauce, ricotta and mozzarella.

As for my special touches to the recipes linked above:

Meatballs

I added 1 clove minced garlic, ~1/4 cup minced onions, <1/4 tsp crushed red pepper. Next time: more of each.

Used 9 slices of white bread (between the 8-10 called for), 1/3 cup grated cheese (between the 1/4-1/2 cup called for; next time I'll up to the 1/2 cup); 2 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; and the ground beef (93% lean) closer to 2.25 lb.

Sauce

Used Tuttorossa brand crushed tomatoes; Cento brand for puree and paste. Two large, raw pork spareribs (ordered/cut right on the spot from the butcher) added right in, and 2 rotisserie chicken thighs (from the deli) with skin removed, and 10 slices pepperoni in cheesecloth for easy removal and discarded. I also deglazed (Step 11) with red wine instead of water. And only cooked it 2 hrs instead of 3, cuz quite a bit of the sauce was taken away for the lasagna.

Lasagna

I didn't post a recipe, but basically loosely followed it from the box of no-boil noodles. I added fresh basil and parsley used pre-grated asiago cheese to the ricotta mix. The beef layer was ~1lb ground beef plus sautéed garlic and onions. Sausage layer was just 2 sweet sausage patties broken up. Grated real romano shredded throughout. A bit of cheddar added to the top, then another .5 lb mozz melted on top at the end.

Next time, I'll double everything to make a nice and tall lasagna.

Going by memory, I think it was (from bottom-up):

Spray olive oil and a thin layer of sauce;
Noodles, ricotta mix, beef mix, perhaps some asiago and parm and mozz;
Little more sauce, noodles, ricotta mix, sausage layer;
More asiago/parm/mozz, bit more sauce, noodles;
Bit more sauce, more cheeses (lightly, including some cheddar);
Then baked, then .5 lb more mozz until melted.

Something like that

Assuming you are using a 9x13 pan (or something close), I use a lot more cheese than most recipes call for. The same for meat.

I'll usually use a large container of ricotta (2 pounds, I think), 1½ pounds mozzarella, about two pounds of browned chopped meat or sausage, about a quart of sauce and grated parmesan. That'll cover the height of the pan when using pre-cooked noodles.

My pan is 10" x 15" x 2" depth. I haven't made lasagna in years, so I'm still adjusting. More of everything next time!