Baked Lasagna with Bechamel Sauce

I've been very lax at getting recipes up on this site. So pardon me while I get caught up.

The Not Quite Newlyweds had child #2, Baby B.  I offered to bring them dinner and meet Baby B and they hopped on that offer. 

I wanted to make something Baby B's big brother would eat and was simple, but scrumptious. Lasagna came to mind. I have a few recipes, some take almost all day, and I wanted to try a new one. I rummaged through my recipes and found this one. It was quite tasty and super easy.

I'm not a fan of ricotta cheese so this was the perfect lasagna for me.

Baked Lasagna with béchamel Sauce
Serves 8-10

bolognas sauce (I used my favorite Bolognese sauce that you can find here. I had made some over the weekend so I had some left over for the lasagna.)

• 12-16 fresh egg lasagna sheets or dried lasagna (I can never find fresh lasagna sheets so I used the no cook sheets that are now available).
• 1 c grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 T butter

For the béchamel sauce:

• 3 c milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp nutmeg (the recipe actually calls for mace blades. I had no idea what those were, but Google helped me determine they are part of the nutmeg plant.  I couldn't find mace blades so went for just nutmeg.)
• 1/2 c butter
• 3/4 c flour
• salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the Bolognese sauce per that recipe. Butter a large lasagna pan. 

To make the béchamel sauce:
Gently heat the milk with the bay leave and nutmeg in a saucepan. Melt the butter in a medium heave based saucepan. Add the flour and mix well with a wire whisk. Cook for 2-3 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove the bay leaf from the milk. Slowly pour the milk into the flour mixture and whisk constantly. Bring the sauce to a boil and let it thicken. Cook for another 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Lasagna prep:
Depending on the type of noodles you use, you may need to cook your pasta. I used no-cook noodles so I hopped right into putting the lasagna together.

To assemble:
Spread a large spoonful of Bolognese to bottom of the pan. Spread it evenly.  You may need a second spoon full depending on the size of pan you're using. You're looking for a nice even layer of sauce for the first noodles to rest on.

Arrange a layer of pasta, overlaying the edges.
Spoon over the béchamel sauce over the layer of noodles. Evenly spread the sauce.
Spoon over Bolognese; evenly spread the sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Repeat that another layer or two, depending, again, on the size of your dish. END with Bolognese and Parmesan on the top of the lasagna.

Bake at 400for 20 to 25 minutes, or until it's bubbly. Put it on a cookie sheet though, learn from my mistakes.  Take it out and let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

Sit back and enjoy.