I have not used store-bought brown sugar in about two years; it gets dry, clumpy and frustrating to work with. I now make my own brown sugar. Homemade brown sugar stays moist, it still clumps a little but since it stays moist the clumps are easy to smooth.

Brown sugar is just a mixture of white sugar and molasses. I love the flavor of molasses so I mix one part molasses to two parts white sugar. This mixture makes “dark brown sugar”. I have heard that light brown sugar is supposed to be about one cup of sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon of molasses. I encourage you to play around with it and find the mixture that you prefer. Once you start mixing the ingredients together large clumps will form.

It does take some work to get the brown sugar to the right consistency, but I promise you will be much more satisfied with the homemade version.

Homemade Brown Sugar

5 Cups White Granulated Sugar

2 ½ Cups Unsulphured Molasses

Mix with a wooden spoon until you reach desired consistency.

Store in an airtight container.

As I have said before, my mom was my first cooking teacher. She cooked every night for our large family, which meant many nights of meals that were quick, easy and could feed an army. One such dish is her “Lazy Day Lasagna”.

She made it often and I loved it! I now make this dish for my family on a regular basis. As with most of Mom’s recipes, I have altered the ingredients to suit my more picky palate. For example, I use a mixture of cottage and ricotta cheeses in my lasagna, Mom uses cottage and mozarella. Enjoy.

Mama’s Lasagna

9 Lasagna Noodles

15 oz Marinara Sauce

1 pound Spicy Italian Sausage

16 oz Cottage Cheese

15 oz Ricotta Cheese

1 Cup Shredded Mozarella Cheese

1 Cup Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Place sausage in a large skillet with about three tablespoons of water. Cook over medium-high heat, turning often, until cooked through, about 12 minutes. Chop into bite sized pieces.

Mix cottage and ricotta cheeses together in a small bowl.

In greased 13×9 inch baking pan, make layers in the following order:

Three noodles, half the cottage/ricotta cheese mixture, one-third of the grated cheeses, half of the italian sausage, one-third of the spaghetti sauce. Repeat.

Top with three lasagna noodles, remaining sauce and grated cheeses.

Bake, covered with foil, at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover, bake for an additional 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.