Vegetable Lasagna

Ready for one of the classic comfort foods filled with goodness and made at least healthier? If so, you've come to the right place! I mixed up a delectable vegetable lasagna, a classic favorite with a few twists to keep it interesting. In this case I experimented with cheeses and veggies while being careful not to mess too much with something that is inherently delicious.

Make a lot at once and take in leftovers to work for lunch each day as I did! I prepared this lasagna in a 13x9 inch pan on a Sunday night when I was dining alone. This gave me enough for dinner, lunch for 5 days, and still some leftovers after all of that. It's going to be heavier than a salad but at least you won't feel guilty at lunchtime since you're still enjoying salt-free tomato sauce, eggplant, and zucchini in the mix.

Vegetable Lasagna
Ingredients:
Eggplant
Zucchini
Mushrooms
Onions
Red Pepper
Garlic
Olive Oil
Tomatoes
Tomato Sauce (no salt added)
Tomato Paste (no salt added)
Basil (fresh or dried)
Italian Seasoning
Oregano (fresh or dried)
Lasagna noodles
Low-fat Mozzarella cheese
Goat cheese
PAM or other cooking spray

There are several steps here that you can tackle at the same time to help speed up your lasagna preparation. These include sauteing your vegetables, boiling the noodles, and making the sauce. I'll list them out one at a time below but feel free to go triple-duty if you can keep an eye on everything. It's a huge time saver! If that's a problem, however, you can always cut back and just go one at a time (and then of course clean dishes and watch tv and have a glass of wine at the same time...)

We'll start by cooking the vegetables. You'll either need a giant frying pan (think the cylindrical kind with straight sides that are quite massive) or a couple to get this done. You can also work in rounds if you prefer. Cut up your eggplant into strips that are about 2 inches long and half an inch wide. Cut the zucchini in slices that are about 1/4 of an inch wide. Cut the red pepper into strips similar to the eggplant. I used 1 red pepper, two zucchini, and 1 eggplant but this produced a LOT of vegetables (which I loved.) You can cut down on a zucchini or even use half an eggplant if you prefer vegetables to just be a part rather than the main focus of your lasagna. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Toss in your vegetables - all of them if they fit but less if you need to. You'll saute them as is for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every couple minutes to avoid burning. As the vegetables cook they will shrink significantly in size (water leaving) and become limp. When they are fully cooked (soft) remove them from the heat. If you sauteed them separately for space reasons you can toss them altogether now if you want although it is not necessary.

While your veggies are cooking put your pasta on to boil. Follow the directions on the box. Keep in mind that if you purchased fresh pasta it probably only needs to boil for 2-3 minutes.

Finally, the third prong of this preparation step is to make your tomato sauce. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Mince your garlic and add it to the pan. (I used 2-3 cloves.) Dice the mushrooms and onions and toss them in as well. Stir to avoid burning but let the garlic/mushroom/onion mixture cook for 5-6 minutes or until the mushrooms and onions are fully cooked. The onions should become translucent, and both should be wilted and soft. I used one package of baby bella mushrooms and about 1/3 of a giant Vidalia onion, but you can experiment with these amounts to taste.

Dice up a tomato and add it to the pan. Turn the heat to medium low. Stir to avoid burning. If you are using fresh basil or fresh oregano dice it up and add it now. If you are using the dried spice version wait until later. Saute for 5 minutes. The tomato should be well mixed with the ingredients already in the pan and the tomato juice should be seeping out some as well. Add 1 can tomato sauce and 1 can tomato paste. (These are both small cans.) Stir until the paste has "melted" and the consistency is even throughout. If you are a big fan of tomato sauce you might want to add another can at this point. Just keep an eye on the total amount of sauce. If you had substituted a can of diced tomatoes for fresh tomatoes though, do NOT add another can here as that will create far more sauce than you need. Diced tomato cans have more sauce in them than comes from a fresh tomato already.

Stir and heat for 2-3 minutes. The sauce does not need cooking at this point so much as warming and mixing to allow the flavors to blend. Add basil, Italian Seasoning, and Oregano (unless you added Basil and Oregano when it said to add the fresh herbs.) Stir well. Cook for another 2 minutes and your sauce is done.

Now it's finally time to assemble your lasagna! Preheat your oven to 375 if you have not done so already. Grease a glass baking dish size 13x9. Place a small amount of sauce in the pan and spread it over so there is an incredibly thin, almost entirely transparent, layer of sauce. This is just to prevent the noodles from sticking to the pan. Lay down three (cooked) lasagna noodles side by side so they cover the pan. Layer 1/3 of the sauce across them. Add 1/3 of the vegetables. If you have not combined them then just add all 3 at this point and spread them out evenly across the noodles. Add 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Add another 3 noodles, 1/3 of sauce, 1/3 of vegetables, and 1/3 of mozzarella cheese. Do this a third time so you have 3 layers and are out of all three. Cut up your goat cheese and place it in teaspoon-sized clumps around the top of the lasagna. I used about 3 oz just to add flavor. This should look like a margharita pizza made with fresh mozzarella balls - just clumps of cheese evenly spread out rather than a covering like you created with the shredded mozzarella.

You're ready to bake! Cover your lasagna with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and hot. Enjoy!