vegetable lasagna.

...healthy recipe #4! sara was home this past weekend and I completely enjoyed took advantage of the opportunity to cook with her. katie & rob were here for dinner saturday (and the weekend - whew! that's why I'm feeling so far behind right now!). both my girls are vegetarians, but the guys demand something filling and a healthy lasagna seemed like it would satisfy everyone.

I started with a spinach lasagna recipe I got years ago from a cookbook called connecticut cooks (sorry, I can't find a link with a photo to know if it's the right one...it was years ago!) my favorite thing about the recipe is that it doesn't call for cooked noodles. you add water to the bottom of the pan when you assemble the layers, and cover the whole thing with foil for the first 45 minutes of cooking. it works. and it is so easy.

for saturday's dinner, I wanted to pump up the vegetables so we started with eggplant and zucchini, roasted.

then added the roasted vegetables to the sauce (I use a jar of "good" sauce, but of course it would be delicious if you made your own).

the cheese layer is fat free cottage cheese and frozen spinach (thawed).

and there's a little bit of grated parmesan for the top.

three piles of cheese = 2 lasagnas + yummy dip for bread

we started layering with a watered down sauce, then added noodles.

then sauce, cheese, more noodles. sauce, cheese, sauce.

and parmesan. cover with foil. bake.

lasagna #2...in the freezer!

(set the table, serve snacks, chat about wedding plans, catch up on college basketball, open a bottle of wine... really, it bakes for over an hour - it's plenty of time!)

serve and enjoy.

of course I forgot to take a picture of the cooked lasagna. we were all hungry and ready to eat! but it's delicious. I really can't tell that the noodles aren't precooked and I love that having an extra piece is fine. almost no fat, plenty of vegetables and it tastes good!

here's the recipe:
(serves 4-6 - note that in all the photos above we have double the ingredients - we made two lasagnas)
1 32 oz jar of "good" marinara sauce (feel free to add garlic, basil, oregano if you like)
1 medium eggplant
2 small zucchini
16 oz fat free cottage cheese
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 pound whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
1/3 c coarsely grated parmesan cheese

peel and chop the eggplant into 1/2" cubes. chop the zucchini into 1/2" cubes. toss the zucchini and eggplant in a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper and roast at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until soft. add the roasted vegetables to the marinara (this is the "sauce"). mix the cottage cheese and spinach (this is the "cheese").

grease a 9x13 pan and start layering:
1/2 c water mixed with about 1/2 c sauce.
1/2 the noodles.
1/3 the remaining sauce.
1/2 the cheese.
1/2 the noodles.
1/2 the remaining sauce.
the remaining cheese.
the remaining sauce.
sprinkle the grated parmesan on top.
cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. remove the foil and bake 20 minutes more. let set about 10 minutes before cutting to serve.