Vegetable Lasagna

Every so often I crave the classic lasagna with meat sauce and layers of cheese, but sometimes I want the dish without the heaviness. Here is where the vegetable lasagna steps in. Sauteed eggplant, mushroom, and zucchini are layered between lasagna noodles, ricotta, home made marinara sauce, and topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese to give you a lighter but equally delicious lasagna.

Vegetable Lasagna

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Cooking time: 2 hours

Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients

Marinara sauce:

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion

1/2 tbsp sugar

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

42 oz canned crushed tomatoes

1 lb eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

1/2 lb button mushrooms, 1/4 inch slices

3 zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

salt and pepper

1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese

12 no boil-lasagna noodles

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tbsp chopped parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. To make the marinara sauce, heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion to the pan and saute for 4 minutes. Add the sugar - fennel seeds and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the vinegar and cook 30 seconds. Add the canned tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cover over low heat for 55 minutes or until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. 
3. Meanwhile, prepare your vegetables. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the zucchini and season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Saute for about 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove and set aside. In the same pan, add the zucchini. Season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper Saute just until softened, about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside. Add the mushrooms in the same pan. Season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Saute just until cooked, about 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.
4. Coat a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Spread about 1/4 cup of the marinara sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer with 4 lasagna noodles, half of the ricotta cheese mixture, half of the vegetables, and a third of the pasta sauce. Repeat. Top with the remaining 4 noodles and the pasta sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese. 
5. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer or until the edges are bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving : 255 calories, 9.7g fat (4.5g saturated, 0.5g polyunsaturated, 1.5g monounsaturated), 30.0g carbohydrates, 5g fiber, 13.6g protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

This recipe can be time consuming if you don't plan ahead. Make sure to start with the marinara sauce since that takes the longest. While that is cooking, slice your vegetables and saute them. It's okay if the vegetables cool down while the sauce is cooking since they will be reheated in the oven. 

You will find that the quantity for the sauce is more than you will need for the lasagna. Freeze the leftovers or use it as a base for another pasta sauce. 

For a neater presentation, you can slice the vegetables horizontally so you have long slices of the zucchini and eggplant; however, I found it was harder to cut into the lasagna when you are eating it. (I know the recipe says to have sliced rounds of the zucchini and eggplant but I went with half rounds. Next time I will do sliced whole rounds to have a neater look.)

The great thing about this dish is that it uses no boil lasagna noodles. This really saves you time since all you do is take them out of the box directly to your baking dish and you're ready to start layering. When you lay the noodles, they may slightly overlap. 

The order of the layers doesn't matter as much, just as long as you have a layer of sauce followed by the noodles. You need the liquid from the sauce to cook the noodles in the oven. The original recipe had a layer of mozzarella cheese inside the lasagna as well as the top which you are more than welcome to do. I wanted less cheese to make it healthier so I only sprinkled the cheese on top. 

Cover and bake in the oven. About 1 hour later your lasagna should be ready to be consumed!

What's great about this meal is that you have your starch and vegetables all in one bite so you don't really need a side dish, whereas classic lasagnas are quite heavy, requiring some type of vegetable side dish. The lightness and flavor of all of the ingredients are all able to shine through in this lasagna. This is one dish where carnivores won't be searching for their meat!