Veggie Lasagna

For all you vegetarians out there--this recipe is a great spin off from plain old lasagna.  Omitting the meat saves you calories, allowing you to feel less guilty for all the cheese you consume in lasagna! And who doesn't love cheese??

This dish may not look the prettiest but it is tasy. Just come over to my house and try it (we have 2/3rds of a casserole dish left over). So unless you want to eat lasagna for a week straight, I'd opt for cutting this recipe in half.

It takes a good amount of preparation time (almost 1.5 hrs with cook time). So maybe try it out on a sunday, and then bring leftovers to work for lunch?

Veggie Lasagna

Ingredients:

12 lasagna noodles, cooked
1 15 ounce container part skim ricotta cheese
1 8 ounce bag mozzerella cheese
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 tablespoon oregano
Pinch of garlic salt
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 zucchinis
1 large broccoli head
1 package of sliced mushrooms
1 package of spinach leaves
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Preparation:

1. First get your noodles going. Once ready, lay on wax paper to cool.
2. Start chopping all your veggies. Coarsley chop the broccoli and mushrooms, while dicing the zucchini into very small pieces. You can also coarsley chop the spinach.
3. In a large skillet on medium high heat, add 1/4 cup of butter. Let melt and then add zucchini, mushrooms and broccoli (hold off on spinach for now). While stirring often, add oregano, garlic salt and S&P (from here on out - Salt and Pepper). After veggies are tender firm, reduce heat to medium and add spinach. Cook just until spinach wilts. Remove skillet from heat and set aside.
4. In a small bowl, mix riccotta cheese and eggs thoroughly with a fork. Set aside.
5. Now to make the sauce: In a 2 qt sauce pan, let 1/4 cup of butter melt on medium heat. Then sprinkle 1/4 cup flour over the butter, stirring slowly (it will start to thicken and clump). Add milk slowly, stirring constantly to thin out the sauce. It will thicken and start to bubble when it is ready. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese. Set aside.
6. In a 13x9 glass baking dish, begin to layer the lasagna. Start with 6 noodles lining the bottom of the dish (they will overlap). Add 1/2 of the ricotta cheese mixture, spread evenly. Add 1/2 of the veggie mixture followed by 1/2 of the sauce. Top with 1/2 the bag of mozzerella cheese. Then repeat again: noodles, ricotta, veggies, sauce, mozzerella.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees. The cheese should start to turn a light golden brown. Let cool at least 10 minutes before eating to avoid burning the roof of your mouth. - sorry, Chris :(

** I made this veggie lasagna with zucchini, spinach, broccoli and mushrooms because that is what I had in the fridge. You could pretty substitute any veggies you like and it would still be great!