Microwave Lasagna

This is my mom's recipe that has morphed out of other recipes she has used over the years. It was one of my favorite meals growing up and has found a prevalent home in our repertoire of meals lately.

Ingredients:
8 oz of lasagna noodles (My mom is particular about the kind she uses (American Beauty) - but they should at least be the traditional kind, not the oven-ready kind)
2 lb Ground Beef
26.5 oz Spaghetti Sauce (Again, my mom is specific - she uses the Hunt's Traditional flavor)
16 oz Cottage Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
16 oz Mozzarella Cheese

This is a dish that you prepare all the elements, throw them together, then let them cook.
Cook the noodles as directed. Cook the ground beef seasoning it to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic powder/cloves as desired. Add the entire can of spaghetti sauce to the beef. Open the cottage cheese container and pour Parmesan cheese into it (this will look like a big mountain peak of Parmesan cheese sitting on the cottage cheese - the measurement is not precise, but use as much as you think you can stir into the cottage cheese without making a HUGE mess) stir together. Shred all 16 oz of Mozzarella Cheese.

At this point you are ready to assemble the lasagna. Spray a 9 x 13 pan. Layer 1/2 of the noodles, followed by 1/2 of the meat, then 1/2 of the cottage/Parmesan mixture (this you want to do by dotting it around on the meat and trying to spread it, recognizing that it will not form one solid layer), top with 1/2 of the grated mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers in the same order.

Now it is time to throw it in the microwave. Cook at regular power. My mom used to cook it 20 minutes in our old microwave, but finds that each microwave is different - we do about 17 minutes in our microwave. After that time is up, it's ready to serve! It only takes about 30 minutes from start to the table!