Veggie Lasagna

I've always found a veggie lasagna to be a tricky thing.  I love lasagna, but I'm not so much a fan of egg plant or chunky tomatoes, and so many veggie lasagnas have that sort of thing.  I do love vegetables though, so I came up with my own variation.

I took an inventory of what I had: spinach, sweet potato, carrots and onion.  They all sounded good to me, so I threw all of it in a pan with a bit of olive oil to soften the mixture, and then I just assembled the lasagna as normal.  It was so good, and the best part of this recipe is that you can substitute whatever you want and add or subtract so easily.  Best of all, it was cheesy and it made a lot, so I was able to freeze it for a lazy day.

Here's what you need:

Image Source

Veggie Lasagna

Easily Feeds 8-10

Ingredients:

1 bag fresh spinach

2 carrots - peeled and shredded

1 large sweet potato - peeled and shredded

1 onion - finely chopped

3 garlic cloves - minced (originally I used garlic scapes, but those are really seasonal and found at farmer's markets.  If you're lucky enough to get some, you should totally add them!)

2 cans of tomato sauce

1/2 box or so of no boil lasagna noodles

1 bag of mozzarella cheese

1 bag of sliced provolone cheese

16 oz. ricotta cheese

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried oregano

handful of fresh basil - sliced

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

Directions:

After your vegetables are prepped and ready to go, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large sauce pan.  Allow it to heat for a minute or so, then add onions, carrots and sweet potato.  Saute on medium heat for 4-5 minutes, then add garlic.  Saute another 2 minutes and finally add spinach until it is just beginning to wilt.  Remove from heat.

For your cheese mixture, add ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, 1 egg, oregano, basil, and salt and pepper to a medium sized bowl.  Mix until the ingredients come together.

Finally, to assemble, grease a 9x13" baking dish.  Pour enough sauce in the bottom to evenly cover up the bottom of the pan.  Set 3-4 lasagna noodles on the bottom - don't be afraid to break the sheets in half to get all the spots covered up!  Add more sauce to cover the noodles.  Add half of your vegetables, then add half of the ricotta mixture.  Make sure both are spread evenly across the noodles.  Sprinkle a little under half of the mozzarella on top, and give it another splash of sauce.

Repeat another layer beginning with the noodles and ending with the splash of the sauce.  Finally, top with one last layer of noodles.  You should have about half a jar of sauce left by this point, so go ahead and pour the rest on.  End by adding the slices of provolone cheese and fill in the "cheese gaps" by using the remainder of the mozzarella cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes... make sure to check the directions on the noodle box since each brand may be different.  Once it's bubbly, you can turn on the broiler for a minute or so to make the top nice and golden brown.

Serve this with a nice salad, and you're all set for a tasty dinner!  I hope you enjoy it!