Tofu Tuesday #25

Brought to you by...
Kaci@Ellyphant & Kelli@Gohn Crazy

Tofu Tuesday is the place to share all of your vegetarian secrets. If you have a great recipe to share, a product to rave or rant about, or anything that has made being a vegetarian easier for you please share it. (And vegans, please jump in too!!) Feel free to grab the little button over there to the right. After you post come back here and link up down there with MckLinky. Make sure to link to your Tofu Tuesday post and not to your main blog address. I'm looking forward to reading all your posts!

Veggie Lasagna



Recipe Found HERE

Vegetable lasagna recipes (click for larger image) often require you to make a bechamel (white) sauce. Not this one. It is easy, because you just saute the vegetables, then stir in jarred or spaghetti sauce.

Serve this vegetable lasagna with caesar salad and garlic bread.

Ingredients:

* 2 Tbsp. olive oil
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup diced green pepper
* 1/2 cup diced red pepper
* 1/2 cup diced zucchini
* 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
* 2 26 oz. jars spaghetti sauce or 6 cups homemade spaghetti sauce
* kosher salt and black pepper to taste
* 15 oz. part-skim ricotta cheese
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 cup shredded asiago cheese
* 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 12 oven-ready lasagna noodles, such as Ronzoni or Barilla
* 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Heat olive oil in a large (12- or 14-inch) skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and peppers. Saute several minutes until vegetables start to soften.

3. Add zucchini and mushrooms. Saute 2-3 more minutes until the vegetables have released most of their water. Stir in spaghetti sauce.

4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let the sauce simmer about 7-10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

5. In a medium bowl, mix ricotta cheese, eggs and asiago cheese together. Set aside.

6. Spoon about 3/4 cup of the vegetable sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

7. Top with four lasagna noodles, going crosswise. It's okay if they overlap.

8. Top with 1/2 of the ricotta mixture, the Parmesan cheese and 1/3 of the sauce.

9. Top with four more lasagna noodles, the remaining ricotta mixture, 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella cheese and 1/3 of the sauce.

10. Top with the remaining lasagna noodles and remaining spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the spaghetti sauce.

11. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil, and bake another 10-20 minutes until golden and bubbly.

12. Let rest 15 minutes before cutting.

This is the first lasagna that I've made which hasn't used my old trusty recipe (that I absolutely love!) and I must say that I'll make it again. It was really really good. I was looking for something that my kids would eat, and seriously looking down that list of ingredients I wasn't sure that it was going to sale. But look...

He didn't eat a ton, but he ate some and for me that is a pass. He didn't yuck it like he typically does. K-Girl on the other hand snubbed her nose at it and settled to pick out and wipe off all the noodles. *insert eye roll here* ;) Eh you can't please 'em all.

The only modifications that I made for this recipe was that I did not use a full 8oz of mushrooms - I personally am not a fan, but I want to expand my horizons so I'm trying - that and I chopped all the veggies up very well so that there were no big pieces to give them away for the most part. I'm learning that, for the kids, it's all about what they can pick out. The smaller the veggie is the easier it is to blend. But otherwise I followed the directions and I'm very pleased. I love that it's the no-cook noodles because my recipe that I always use doesn't require cooking the noodles. Less prep = less time. So I definitely recommend you giving this one a try. Enjoy!!