Sausage Lasagna

As far as I can remember, when my mom made lasagna she made it this way. Don't get me wrong, it's delicious, but I was ready to try out a new recipe. We had some leftover sausage from the jambalaya and I figured now was as good a time as any to try making sausage lasagna. I kinda winged it (wung it?) for this one and just went wherever my nose took me and it turned out beautifully. I felt like Remy from Ratatouille. 

Sausage Lasagna

What You Need:

• 9 cooked lasagna noodles
• 1 jar sauce (if you make your own pasta sauce, more power to ya) 
• 2 (vegan) sausage links/roughly 1 lb sausage links
• 1/2 large green pepper, chopped
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
• 8 oz firm tofu (8 oz ricotta cheese if you're not going the vegan route) 
• 1 tbsp dry basil
• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 1 package (vegan) shredded mozzarella cheese

The Process: 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Slice the sausage links to make half inch quarter pieces and slice the tofu (if using) into small squares. Add to large mixing bowl and mash with a potato masher until the tofu resembles ricotta cheese texture.
3. Chop up the vegetables and add to the sausage mixture along with 1/4 cup of pasta sauce and 1/4 cup of cheese and the spices. 
4. Pour 1/4 cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish. Lay 3 or so lasagna noodles down (depending on the shape and size of your dish), cover with half of the sausage mixture. Then add 3 more noodles and cover that with 1/4 cup of pasta sauce. Add the remaining sausage mixture and cover with the last of the lasagna noodles. Top it off with the rest of the pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese. 
5. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.