Vegetable Lasagna

Girls night! And I'm still on a zucchini kick, so I decided to make a hearty vegetable lasagna and talked Kelly into it. It is full of zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, and spinach and then layered with ricotta and mozzarella cheese and a tomato basil sauce.

Fairly fast dinner, takes about an hour with 20 minutes waiting for eggplant prep, 20 in the oven and 20 actively cooking and assembling.

You can also sub in other veggies or add in more veg. Others could include mushrooms, peppers, onions....

 

Chop up the veggies to about the same size and thickness. They will be sauteed and baked so about 1/4 inch.

I also salted the eggplant and let it sit in the strainer for about half hour to let the bitter out of it.

Heat oil and spices (oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder) for a minute. When pan is hot add in veggies. Toss around in the oil. After about 4-5 minutes, when veggies are still al dente, wilt in spinach and chopped fresh basil.

Layering begins! I put down some sauce in the bottom of the pan, then some veggie mix, then pasta sheets. Not really sure why I put the veggies on the bottom, a little sauce would have been good... but it didn't really make a difference with the veggies. Anyways, a dollop of ricotta cheese, some tomato sauce, more veggies, a handful of mozzarella cheese, then more pasta sheets!

Layering in action!

 Cover dish with foil and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. I cook it for a shorter time because the veggies are already hot. Take foil off and broil for another 5 minutes. Keep an eye on it though, it gets brown fast!

Golden cheesey topping!!

 

 Let it cool a minute or two, then cut and serve. Tender veggies in every bite!

 It was soo tasty. Highly recommend this and will make again!

Vegetable Lasagna
Makes 4 servings

olive oil
1/2 tsp each of oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder
1/2 a zucchini, a squash, a eggplant; sliced and quartered (approx 1 cup or a little more of each)
1/2 of a 6 oz bag of spinach (could add more though)
1/4 cup basil leaves
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
12 oz jar of tomato sauce (I used tomato basil flavor)

Slice veggies
Salt eggplant and let sit for about half hour, then rinse

In frying pan add a tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Add zucchini, squash and eggplant, cook about 5 minutes
Wilt in spinach and basil leaves

Put some sauce in the bottom of the pan
Add some of the cooked veggie mix
Put down the pasta sheet... then Ricotta cheese, Sauce, Veggies, Mozzarella cheese then another sheet of pasta. Continue another 2-3 times ending with mozzarella cheese.

Cover with foil, cook 20 minutes at 350 degrees
Cook additional 5 minutes under broiler - but keep an eye on it!