This Italian style lasagna fills a 9″X13″ pan
10-12 Servings

Ingredients:
(24 oz) thick sliced bacon, diced
2 pounds Italian sausage (removed from casings)
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 (28 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles
2 pints part-skim ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup milk
8 slices provolone cheese
6 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Sauce Directions:
1. Brown bacon and onion in a large pan over medium heat. Stir in fennel seed, 1 teaspoon oregano, Italian seasoning, and tomato sauce. Cover, and simmer on low for 4 to 6 hours, or until thick.

Lasagna Directions:

1. Brown the sausage in a large skillet. Drain on paper towels. Cut into 1 inch pieces.
2. Mix together ricotta cheese, egg, milk, parsley, and 1 teaspoon oregano in a medium bowl.
3. Layer 1 cup of sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Layer with 1/3 uncooked lasagna noodles, 1/2 ricotta cheese mixture, 1/2 sausage pieces, 1/3 mozzarella, and 1/2 provolone cheese. Top with 1/3 sauce. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 1/3 noodles. Spread remaining sauce over the top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/3 mozzarella cheese.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 1/2 hours.

This delicious lasagna was prepared for us early in 2015 by our brother-in-law, Jim. The recipe originally called for 9 slices of thick sliced bacon, but since I was dicing the bacon, I diced all 24 ounces of it, and he incorporated all of it into the dish! We did, by the way, reserve the bacon fat for a later use. One other deviation from the recipe; when we tasted the finished sauce, it seemed like it could use just a little more salt, so we added a top coating of parmesan cheese. While the top browned a little more than we might have desired, the resulting flavors were excellent!