3 Cheese Lasagna with Zesty Meat Sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large skillet add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat on medium high heat. Add chopped onions to skillet and sauté for a few minutes. Add ground beef to the onions and cook till no longer pink. Drain onion and beef mixture and set aside.

In a medium large pot add the 28 ounces of tomato sauce, granulated sugar, salt, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.

Add meat and onion mixture to the simmering sauce pot and continue simmering until sauce thickens and desired consistency is reached.

While sauce is simmering, boil noodles to al dente.

Pour ricotta in a medium mixing bowl, set aside. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a medium skillet and saute spinach.

Add spinach to ricotta and mix until combined. Set aside.

Now to assemble layers. In a 9x13 baking dish add a small amount of sauce to the bottom of the dish and then layer 5 lasagna noodles.

Layer half of the remaining sauce on top of the noodles.

Layer all of the ricotta mixture on top of the sauce.

Layer half of the mozzarella cheese and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Layer 3 more lasagna noodles side by side then the rest of the meat sauce, mozzarella and another generous sprinkle of Parmesan and fresh cracked rainbow peppercorns on top.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until top is bubbly and golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes and serve.