Backpacker's Lazy Lasagna
Get ready to tantalize your taste buds with this "lazy" lasagna recipe - and no, it's not actually lazy, but it is delish. We like to call it lazy because it's deconstructed, which basically means you can skip crafting an aesthetic casserole - just dig in and enjoy. Meat? Check. Cheese? Check. Spices? Check. So roll up your sleeves, let's get cooking!COOKING METHOD: Dehydrating
Notable Equipment
- 1 Dehydrator
Ingredients
Raw ingredients needed (measurements before dehydrating):
- ¾ cup broad egg noodles
- ½ cup lean ground beef
- ¼ cup dry curd or regular cottage cheese, see notes
- ¼ small red onion
- ⅓ cup tomato sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp dried parsley
- ⅛ tsp dried oregano
- ⅛ tsp fennel seed or ground fennel
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Ingredient measurements for final recipe (once ingredients above dehydrated)
- ¾ cup broad egg noodles
- ⅓ cup dehydrated ground beef
- 1.5 tbsp dehydrated cottage cheese
- 1 1 tbsp dehydrated red onion
- 1 tray dehydrated tomato sauce (⅓ cup wet) about 9 grams dry
- 1-2 tsp sugar optional
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp dried parsley
- ⅛ tsp dried oregano
- ⅛ tsp fennel seed or ground fennel
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- 1. Slice onion into ¼" thick rounds (use a mandolin if possible) and disperse on a mesh lined dehydrator tray
- 2. Pour ⅓ cup tomato sauce into fruit leather tray. Put tomato sauce and onions in the dehydrator and dehydrate at 135℉ for about 5 hours. **See notes
- 3. Disperse cheese curds on mesh lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 125℉ for approx 5 hours. **See notes if using wet/regular cottage cheese
- 4. While cheese is dehydrating, pan fry the ground beef. Avoid using any oils in the pan. Once cooked, drain oil/fat and, if needed, use a paper towel to pat and absorb excess fats (excess oil increases drying time and decreases shelf life). Set aside in fridge.
- 5. Disperse cooked ground beef on mesh lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 165℉ for approx 4 hours
- 6. Combine all dehydrated ingredients with egg noodles and spices in a sealable container. See below for rehydrating instructions.
Notes
- Dehydrator tray sizes vary so you may need to adjust the amount of sauce you put in your tray. You want a thin, even layer (1/16" - 1/8" thick or 2-3mm). If you need to use more or less than 1/3 cup on each tray and you don't have a weight scale, you'll need to guestimate how much dehydrated sauce equals about 1/3 wet. For reference, mine are x" x x" squares.
- If using wet/regular cottage cheese, you'll need to rinse as the liquid/brine off the curds. Put cheese in a fine mesh strainer and rinse - lightly shake and allow time for liquids to strain out.
- You can make your own dried herbs if preferred (dry fresh herbs at 95°F; times vary)
- The raw ingredients needed (measurements before dehydrating) are simply the minimum amount of raw ingredients needed for this recipe. You can always make dehydrated ingredients in bulk and use them in various recipes.
- Incase you missed the storage instructions, click here.
Nutrition
Serving: 1gCalories: 444kcalCarbohydrates: 41.5gProtein: 37.6gFat: 14.3gSaturated Fat: 5.3gCholesterol: 106.2mgSodium: 437.1mgFiber: 3.3gSugar: 7.2g
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