Get your skillet hot over medium-high heat. Toss in the ground beef and break it up as it cooks. Takes about 3-4 minutes.
Throw in the diced onion. Cook it with the meat for another 5 minutes till it gets soft.
Add the garlic and let it cook for a minute. You'll smell it when it's ready. Drain off the extra grease.
Pour in your marinara, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and water. Add the seasonings and stir.
Turn the heat down and let it simmer for 15 minutes. While that's going on, work on the cheese.
Grab a bowl and mix your ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, 1.5 cups of mozzarella, Parmesan, fresh herbs, and garlic powder. Mix till it's smooth.
Heat your oven to 375°F.
Put about 1.5 cups of that meat sauce in the bottom of your 9x13 pan.
Start layering: noodles first, then half your cheese mix, then some meat sauce on top.
Do it again: more noodles, the rest of the cheese, more sauce.
Last layer is noodles, whatever sauce you have left, and dump that remaining cup of mozzarella on top.
Cover it tightly with foil. Bake for 50 minutes.
Pull the foil off. Bake another 15-20 minutes till you see the cheese getting brown and bubbly.
Let it sit for 15 minutes when you take it out. Don't cut into it right away, or it'll be a mess.