Easy mid-week meals that can be cooked effortlessly are my kind of meals. This Skillet Lasagna recipe takes the intensive labor out of traditional baked lasagna and yet it’s filled with the classic flavors we all love.
I’m back with another recipe that is sure to be a winner in your kitchen. I recently shared my Oven Roasted Lemon Rosemary Chicken Recipe as part of my partnership with Wolf. Together, we hope to inspire you to reclaim your kitchen and make more homemade meals.
Hundreds of you commented on the post and shared your love for recipes that keep on giving. I also received dozens of emails asking me about what it’s like to cook in the middle of the bewitching hour, with kids that are hungry, managing homework from the kitchen, and how I stay motivated each day to continue cooking meals for my family.
When I first got married, I wasn’t a very good cook. I was hesitant to make meals outside my comfort zone for us and I wasn’t very creative when it came to food. My mother-in-law is an exceptional home cook; so I used to take the opportunity to ask questions about her methods whenever we went to eat at their house.
I wanted to become a better cook for my husband, my future kids, and for my own health. I’ve always known that fresh and real ingredients are best; I just didn’t know how to cook a variety of meals that wouldn’t be repetitive on our newlywed budget.
I also didn’t want to spend an eternity in the kitchen making our meals from scratch. Unfortunately, at the time, the Internet wasn’t filled with recipes and YouTube videos showing me how to cook a recipe. Like below. You can click and learn how to make this recipe in less than 3 minutes!
Eventually, I learned my way around the kitchen enough that I began planning out our meals. Furthermore, I began to enjoy planning our meals and cooking!
While this was over a decade ago, I haven’t forgotten where I started. Making recipes as easy as possible for my readers is something I think about constantly. I feel privileged to partner with brands, like Wolf, to bring some of that creativity to fruition and work on campaigns that will help my readers cook more for their families.
This series of posts are just that. Wolf and I want to encourage you to Reclaim your Kitchen, try new recipes for your family, and get the inspiration you need to make it happen in the midst of your busy every day life.
Being able to cook homemade meals every day while working full time can be tough to do. I know many of you struggle with that as well. The ability to pull it off really depends on our commitment to plan ahead.
I typically sit down for ten minutes once a week and write down on a notepad the meals I plan on cooking. I also look at our schedule and tailor the recipes to the amount of time needed for cooking. Monday night, our busiest night, the crockpot comes to the rescue.
Most of the time, however, I make 30-minute meals like this skillet lasagna or my Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe.
My awesome large skillet does all the cooking and I know the quality of the ingredients that go into it. Served with a fresh salad, this is one meal your family will love.
If you need a place to start, head over to Wolf’s Reclaim the Kitchen website and browse through their recipes and resources. Regardless of where you are in your cooking journey, a little inspiration goes a long way!
Where did you learn how to cook? Where do you find your inspiration for your weeknight meals? Do you have any favorite family meals you can whip up in a hurry?
Skillet Lasagna Recipe – Quick Weeknight Meal
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Scale
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil*
- 1 pound Italian sausage, removed from casings
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 24 ounces tomato sauce (omit seasonings below if sauce is seasoned)
- 1 ½ teaspoons oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons basil
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces farfalle pasta (bowties)*
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese (more for serving)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
Instructions
- In a large (5 quart/ 12 inch) skillet over medium-high heat, add coconut oil and Italian sausage. Cook until sausage is nearly browned and cooked through, then add minced garlic. Finish cooking the sausage with the garlic.
- Stir in tomato sauce and seasonings (if sauce isn’t seasoned) to the cooked sausage. Add in 2 cups of water and pasta to the skillet and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook until pasta is tender, about 12 additional minutes (this will vary depending on the pasta you use).
- When pasta is cooked, remove from heat. Stir in mozzarella and combine. Top with small mounds of ricotta cheese and Parmesan, cover and wait a couple of minutes for ricotta to heat and melt in.
- Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.
Notes
I personally use coconut oil but you can use your favorite cooking oil. Use bowtie pasta or whatever shape you have in your pantry. This recipe doesn’t work well with spaghetti or angel hair pasta. You can use gluten-free pasta as well. Cooking times will vary so please check your box.
From time to time, I work with awesome companies to develop recipes for this website. Today’s post was brought to you by SocialMoms and Sub-Zero Wolf Blogging Program. All opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that encourage my creativity.
I find inspiration everyday. Like Laura, I am always looking for new recipes for my family. I can not always please 5 people but I try. Today I was chatting with a friend and she told me about her favorite Moroccan chicken. And even more recently I found inspiration on this email! Thanks!!!
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I learned to cook somehow – I do not really know. I know I had free-reign of the kitchen since I was old enough to stand in a chair to reach the top of the stove. My mother worked & then worked on the farm in the evenings. She also had no real interest in cooking other than out of necessity. So, I just cooked. I cooked a lot of southern Appalachian food that my family grew & killed & put up. Once I moved away, I learned to cook food to enhance the food’s natural flavor – and with a lot less frying & breading.
While growing up on canned, boxed and frozen foods, I learned cooking by osmosis during the 70s and 80s by watching PBS! We didn’t have cable, and the Food Network didn’t exist yet, so my teachers were Julia Child, who taught me not to take cooking so seriously and to enjoy my time in the kitchen, and Martin Yan (“If Yan can cook, so can YOU!”) who taught me everything I know about chopping, dicing and slicing. I learned to be adventurous with my seasonings with The Cajun Cook and Paul Prudhomme, and I learned tools and technique from the Frugal Gourmet. I learned all about Italian food from Lidia Bastianich and Mary Ann Esposito. And I still have a huge chef-crush on Ming Tsai, who taught me how to fuse cultures and flavors in a single recipe.
Once I was out of college, I joined a cookbook club and read cookbooks like they were novels, rarely cooking the recipes, but remembering the tastes, techniques and ideas I found interesting. Somehow, all of the information in my head managed to gel and I was able to improvise in the kitchen and create dishes that my husband and I thrived on in our first years of marriage.
My inspiration is my huge appetite, lol! 🙂 I love food – it’s just so delicious! So whatever my taste buds are craving (coupled with whatever is on sale at the store or leftover in the fridge) points me in the direction of what’s for dinner.
Our quick go-to dinner (which we had tonight!) was very similar to yours! But with four kids and a husband who all have issues (allergies, aversions, intolerances, we’ve got them all) I set up a pasta bar and let everyone build their own perfect dinner. Farfalle with olive oil, salt and pepper in one bowl, crumbled Italian turkey sausage in another, steamed broccoli on the side, our favorite natural jarred tomato sauce in one gravy boat and a quick homemade alfredo in another. Everyone left the table happy! I do the same thing with asian flavors; plain noodles, stir fried or steamed veggies, and diced leftover meat with two or three simple sauces on the side. Each person builds what they like and I can eat dinner with no one crying – everyone wins!
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I am not a good cook and really don’t like to cook. However, I have 3 precious little boys (5, 4 and 1) and a hungry husband so I attempt to cook delicious meals. Some turn out ok and others are not good at all. I judge if it’s a good meal by the amount of hot sauce my husband puts on his food. If it’s a little amount then he likes it but if it’s a lot then it’s not good and I usually don’t make that one again. Then my parents and a friend told me about momables. You are amazing and helped changed my outlook in the kitchen. I am now learning about healthier ways to feed my family and I’m starting to enjoy it more. Thanks Laura!!!
I leaned to cook from my mom. She Doesn’t really like to cook but she always had a hot meal for us and she tried really hard.
Our favorite go-to meal is burritos. Some sort of seasoned meat, plus beans, cheese, veggies, hopefully avocado for me, or whatever is in the fridge. It’s flexible enough to accommodate different tastes, but easy to make sure we include some veggies. (I love sauteed squash, with black beans and mozzarella.)
I learned to cook mostly by having countless generations of cooks before me and also my Mom taught me some smart things. Our go to meal is fried potatoes, cottage cheese, and green onions. Sometimes we’ll put some canned meat in a pan and fry it to go with our potatoes. YUM!!!
I learned to cook from my mother in law. When my husband and I were first married I couldn’t boil water, so once a week my mother in law would have me over and we would cook a meal together. It was amazing because I learned to cook meals that my husband loved and I also got hands on experience from a great cook!
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I taught myself to cook by trial and error. I am always looking at websites magazine’s and cookbooks for new recipes. My go to meal is spaghetti because it is super easy!
I’m still learning! My way is definitely by trial and error and my family are the guinea pigs. I don’t know why but I have a hard time following recipes. I tend to think, “this would be good with some cumin, even though it’s not on the list,” and just start adding things. Not all meals are winners, but we make it work!
Not all meals are winners for me either Stephanie… especially when I “test” ingredients. my kids can nearly always feel when it’s a recipe I made on a whim. ha!
Thank you for the delicious recipe!
I learned to cook from my mother. I still remember the first dish I got to try on my own – pancakes 🙂
I learned to cook from my mother (who is German and cooked everything from scratch – something I still can’t do!)
My kids are my inspiration now that they are obsessed with all those competitive cooking shows and are constantly asking “what’s for dinner” (and of course rating me… gah! the pressure! 🙂
Family meals: roasted salmon broccoli and rice, shrimp and pasta, and of course tacos
Most of my inspiration comes from blogs and pinterest!
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I learned to cook at a young age…my mom would have me start things before she would get home from work so slowly I began to learn how to cook and over the years have learned many things from both parents to this day! I love to make people happy through cooking and baking!
I learned to cook from my mom, grandmas, and doing a lot of experimenting on my own. I get inspiration from various places, this site, cookbooks I’ve come across, cookbooks that have been passed down. Our eating habits have changed and evolved over the years. At the moment our go to recipe is a Mexican hamburger/ pasta hotdish. The kids love it and it is quick to make. We also like to do chicken stir fry with whatever veggies we have on hand. It’s a great, fun way to get the kids to eat their veggies.
this looks sooooo delicious!!! i wish i could eat it. upon this post, an idea popped into my little wandering mind. i’ve recently discovered i’m severely sensitive to night shades. would you perhaps ever be inclined to create some nightshade-free recipes? or some recipes that you already have made now, put a “night-shade free” tag in?? thanks for all the great, detailed recipes!
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