Thursday, January 22, 2009

Vegetarian Lasagna


A good way to get rid of the spinach you bought at Costco and never use because maybe you don't eat as many salads as you should. I obviously need to stop going to Costco.

2 big handfuls of spinach, chopped
1 jar of alfredo sauce--I use Classico sun-dried tomato (or you can make your own)
1/2 cup milk (sometimes I don't add milk--depends on how runny I want it)
1 (8 ounce) package lasagna noodles
1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
8 ounces shredded carrots
8 ounces fresh mushrooms sliced or broccoli or artichoke hearts or zucchini (get crazy with it)
A lot of shredded mozzarella cheese and some parmesan too (or whatever italiany cheese you have on hand)

First:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 10x15 inch lasagna pan with cooking spray.
Soak the noodles in hot water while you assemble the other stuff.
Place the spinach in a medium bowl. Mix in ricotta. Beat the egg with a wire whisk, and add it to the spinach and ricotta. Stir well to blend.
Combine pasta sauce with milk in a medium bowl. Mix well.
Then I saute the vegetables with some garlic. You don't have to do this. You can just add them in raw but I like to make things difficult plus I bought that big garlic thing at Costco. I know, I know.

Now layer and you can do it however you want but here's one way:
Spread about 1/2 cup pasta sauce mixture evenly in the bottom of the dish.
Place 3 softened noodles over the sauce.
Spread half of the spinach mixture over the noodles.
Sprinkle with half of the carrots and half of the mushrooms.
Sprinkle the cheese.
Place 3 more noodles over the cheese.
Pour 1 1/2 cups sauce over the noodles.
Spread the remaining spinach mixture over the sauce, followed by layers of the remaining carrots and mushrooms and then some cheese.
Place 3 more noodles over the vegetables.
Pour remaining sauce evenly on top.
Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, spray side down.

Now:
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Turn the oven off and take off the foil (I'm not sure why this step is necessary and I don't really do it), and place the uncovered dish back into the warm oven for 15 more minutes. Serve at once, or let rest until ready to serve.

3 comments:

Hawke said...

I always do that with Costco Spinach too!! Looks yummy. Thanks

MediocreMama said...

Thank you...I'll make this for Megan on Tuesday.

MediocreMama said...

Made this last night with some homemade artisan bread....whoooooa it was good. I will definitely make this regularly.