With all the traveling I've been doing back and forth to NY, I've really lacked in the cooking department. But with a quiet week and a half, I was able to get some cooking in and one thing I did cook was an awesome lasagna. I have never been a big lasagna person, but for some reason, that's what I needed. I also needed my lasagna to be loaded with veggies, and made with whole wheat noodles-not something I've ever done before! In fact, I have always thought it was quite rude to ruin pasta with whole wheat noodles, but I can now say I am a firm believer in whole wheat lasagna. I hate to admit this, but this recipe was not a kid pleaser. We were able to convince Dovy that all the vegetables would help his muscles grow, so he took a few bites, assessed his muscle growth, and then said he was done. Dr. Husband and I enjoyed the leftovers though!
Vegetable Lasagna (with my adaptations)
1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles (about 12 noodles used)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion
4 garlic cloves (I used frozen cubed garlic)
1 red bell pepper diced
24 oz chopped white mushrooms (I could only fit 12 oz in my frying pan with all the other veggies)
2 yellow squash diced
2 green zucchini diced
1 can (28oz) whole tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine (I used white cooking wine)
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
30 oz ricotta cheese (I used whole milk ricotta)
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 lb thinly sliced mozzarella cheese (I used shredded)
extra Parmesan for sprinkling
*I did not boil my noodles before: the vegetable sauce will add a lot of liquid to the pan, add some extra water until the pan appears to be full of liquid-there will not be room to add more! My noodles were not specifically no bake noodles either-just cover the lasagna, bake at 350 for about an hour and a half, or until easily cut, and then uncover to continue baking for 5-10 minutes. Let it sit for about 10 minutes after removing from the oven.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet-and when I say large, I mean large! Like, special order on Amazon large! Add in the onions and garlic and cook for a minute, and then add in the red peppers for another minute. Then add the squash, zucchini, and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes more. Add the wine, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and stir to combine.
Pour in the liquid from the tomato can, and then gently squeeze each whole tomato releasing the liquid, and add in the smushed tomatoes.
Combine the ricotta, eggs, Parmesan, salt and pepper.
The vegetable sauce should go first into the bottom of the pan. Then layer: four noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, veggies. Repeat this two more times for a total of three layers. Finish the vegetables on the last layer and sprinkle with Parmesan.
I definitely enjoyed this lasagna, although it can't take the place of the comfort lasagna, it definitely packed a good punch and I definitely plan on making this again!
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