Italian-Style Lasagna-My Way

Don't second guess the cream cheese cubes--it's wonderful! Can freeze either prior to or after baking.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• 2  lbs lean ground beef
• 1  lb Italian sausage, casing removed and crumbled
• 2  onions, chopped
• 2  stalks celery, finely chopped
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (15 ounce) cans tomatoes (diced or crushed)
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 3  teaspoons salt (approximately)
• 1  teaspoon pepper
• 2  tablespoons sugar
• 2  tablespoons  dried Italian seasoning
• 2  bay leaves
• 1⁄4 cup parsley, minced
• 4  ounces cream cheese, diced
• 3 -4  cups  shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 -2  cup  shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1⁄2-1  cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1  lb  lasagna noodle, prepared according to package directions and drained

Directions

1. Fry together ground beef and Italian sausage until no longer pink; drain.
2. Add onion, celery and garlic; cook about 5 minutes.
3. Add to meat mixture the remaining 8 ingredients; cook covered for 30-45 minutes, adding small amounts of water if necessary and stirring frequently. Mixture should be relatively thick. Remove from heat and stir in minced parsley.
4. Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease lasagna baking pan.
5. Layer a small amount of meat sauce in bottom of baking pan (about 1 cup), topping with about 5 noodles, overlapping slightly. Top lasagna noodles with more sauce, several pieces of cream cheese and the 3 cheeses all equally divided between remaining layers. Repeat until sauce, noodles and cheese are used up.
6. Cover baking pan with foil (can grease underside of foil, too) and bake 40 minutes; remove foil from pan and return to oven, baking an additional 10 minutes or until bubbly.
7. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.