Ricotta cheese is essential. Cottage cheese is NOT an acceptable substitute. The flavor and texture are entirely different. People used to use cottage cheese in lasagna in the 1950s. They also used to use ketchup in those poor, suffering lasagnas.
I admit to getting the packages of shredded Italian cheeses, rather than grating it myself. The packages contain four or five cheeses, which I add to the ricotta. I get whole milk ricotta if I can.
I don’t use the no-boil noodles, and I don’t boil them. I put in a light layer of sauce, a layer of noodles, a layer of the cheese mix, a layer of the sauce mix, and then repeat from there. I try to end with a layer of noodles and then pour some plain sauce over them. I make sure that there’s plenty of sauce in the pan, and add some water. Similarly, I don’t boil manicotti or pasta shells prior to stuffing them with the cheese mix, and I cover them with sauce and water.
When I’m not cooking for vegetarians, I make a meat and veggie sauce, with ground beef, onion, garlic, bell pepper, and mushroom. When I am cooking for vegetarians, I leave out the beef.
An easy way to make garlic bread is to melt butter, brush it on slices of some sort of white bread, and sprinkle Mrs. Dash’s Garlic and Herb mix over it. I can’t eat this any more, as it has far too much black pepper in it for me, but it makes a delicious garlic bread.
Certain people should be very glad that I am not supposed to give out customized user titles any more, or they would have Heathen or Heretic as their title. I’m looking at YOU, mack and pulykamell.