Worlds Best Lasagna!

Note: This takes about 3 hours to make...so give yourself some time!

Here is what you need:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
3/4 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
12 lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Here is what you do with it:

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

My after dinner comments: I loved this! I didn't have any ground meat. (i usually don't use ground beef for anything, i use all ground turkey) so i eliminated that element, and i only had one can of tomato past and one can of sauce, so i added a can of tomaoto soup...kind of thick like the paste, kind of saucey like th sauce... =) . The pan i used was not deep enough for all the noodles and sauce and everything but i managed to cram it all in. Then, ofcourse, it overflowed into the oven. Luckly, the oven that i use has many recipe overflows in the bottom of it, so it blended. At one point in the cooking time, you have to take off the foil from the dish, so i just flipped it upside down adn layed it on the lower rack so that it could catch the droppings from the lasagna. I know...i'm smart! The dish turned out wonderful! I shoudl have let it cool longer, but it was great anyways! I think this would be best if made the day before it was needed. Cause everyone knows lasagna is best the second time around! Oh...and i didn't have any mozzarella slices to i used provalone instead. No difference! It's cheese, it's yummy, it improves any dish!

Would i make this again? Yes...only do it the day before!