Day Before Lasagna

This is my Mom's recipe, she made it for Thanksgiving last year and it turned out amazing. This is how she makes it in her own words:

I always make sauce the day before to let the flavors blend together better. Then use it cold in the recipe the next day. This recipe makes one 9x12 pan. When I make it, I double or triple the recipe.

Sauce (Day Before):

Ingredients:

2 tbs. olive oil
1 celery heart – 5-6 small stalks
¾ - 1 cup chopped onion
½ cup bell pepper
1 clove fresh garlic or 1 tsp., minced
30 oz. or so of tomato sauce(use more if you like a saucy lasagna)
2 tbs. parsley flakes
2 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano

Directions:
- Dice celery, onion, bell pepper & garlic and saute in olive oil for 10 minutes on low in large pot.
- Add tomato sauce and the rest of the ingredients and cook on low.
- Stir sauce every 5-10 minutes. For 1-2 hours. The longer you cook it, the more the flavors will marry.
- You must stay close by and stir regularly or the sauce will burn on the bottom.
- Remove from heat and cool before putting in the fridge to store overnight.

Lasagna (Next Day):

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. sweet Italian or any type sausage you like
3 cups ricotta cheese
½ - 1 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup mozzarella
½ cup provolone
½ cup Romano
1 - 8 oz. pkg. lasagna noodles

Directions:

- Put lasagna noodles on in large pot of salted water with a little olive oil.
- Cook on low, just boiling so you have less chance of noodles breaking apart.
- Cook only to Al Dante – not hard in the center, 10 minutes or so (they will cook more in the oven).
- Drain in a large colander.
- Return to pot and pour cool water over noodles.
- Drain again. This removes excess starch so they won’t stick together.
- In a large sauce pan, cook ground beef and sausage, breaking it apart as you go cook.

Assemble Lasagna:

- In a large flat baking dish, approximately 9x12, start layering all of your ingredients.
- You start with sauce, then the noodles, ground meat, cheeses.
- Continue layering until you run out of noodles.
- Ideally, you should have 3-4 layers when you are finished.
- Finish with noodles, sauce, then cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour then check every 15 minutes until it is golden brown on top and sauce is bubbling.
- Make sure you let it rest and cool down for 15 minutes to ½ hour before serving or it will break apart when you serve it.
- Enjoy!