Lay out a clean kitchen towel. Drain the lasagna noodles and lay them out on the towel to prevent them from sticking. Set those aside and start on the filling.
Grab a large mixing bowl and add the ricotta cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, parmesan, egg, minced garlic, basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper.
If you choose to add meat, cook, crumble & drain the ground meat before adding it to the filling. Stir everything together until evenly combined. Set this aside.