Thursday, August 13, 2009

The No Eggplant Veggie Lasagna

Summer vacation is winding to an end and I'll be back to teaching at the end of September (quarters - aren't I lucky?). For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some posts & recipes from friends. First up is Lisa. I've tried this lasagna and it's awesome!:



Let me just say I am not a fan of eggplant. Sorry if you love it, but I can't make myself enjoy it. And have you noticed how so many vegetarian options in a restraunt include eggplant? (Or portabello mushrooms - another thing I don't like, I like my mushrooms small). I know, I am picky. So I have to make up my own recipes. And I'll be honest, they're probably less healthy.

I find most non-meat lasagnas are either made with way too much cooked spinach or eggplant. So I made up this recipe. You can change it if you like, substituting which vegetables you want. I pretty much feel like I am busy all the time, so most of my 'recipes' are made with easy ingredients. Meaning no sauce from scratch.



Lisa's No Eggplant Veggie Lasagna

Ingredients:

1/2 box of lsagna noodles

Est. veggies (I am guessing because I just dumped it in until I was happy)
1-1/2 cup frozen white corn
4 oz frozen spinach in a bag (I use it frozen so the bag is easier to separate than that frozen brick)

2 jars Francesco Rinaldi Marinara Sauce (you can use whatever marinara sauce you like)
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
4 cups of shredded mozzerella
1/2 cup of parmesean cheese (I use the one at trader joes)
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large bowl combine ricotta cheese, 3 1/2 cups of mozzerella (saving 1/2 cup for later), parmesean cheese and eggs. Cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain and separate. While the noodles are cooking, heat up 1 1/2 jars of sauce with the corn and the spinach in a sauce pan.

Spray a 13x9 dish with nonstick spray. Spread 3/4 marinara sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place 4 lasagna noodles over the bottom, slightly overlapping. Spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles. Then cover with 1/2 the veggie sauce. Repeat layer. Cover last layer with noodles and remaining marinara sauce.

Sprinkle with mozzerella cheese. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

6 comments:

  1. Sounds very good, but I might add some egg plant back in (just because I have some growing at the moment).

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  2. Sounds great. I'm looking forward to Sept. My kids go back to work before I do so I'll have a few weeks to get things done.

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  3. Lisa: Since it's true confession time, I must agree that I have always found Portobello mushrooms terrifying. They remind me of that Japanese movie where the people who ate them turned into them.

    Great recipe idea!

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  4. I love Lisa's part-time food blog!

    Bec: you've been teaching all summer with fine recipes. I bet you can't wait to get back to teaching at Culinary school in Sept.

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  6. Corn makes everything better! I wouldn't have thought to put corn in a lasagna, but that sounds fantastic. My favorite veggie lasagna recipe that I've adapted adds the spinach to the cheese mixture (it's very pretty that way). I wouldn't have thought to add it to the sauce. Good idea for hiding all kinds of veggies! You could even add little mushrooms to it. =)

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