Summary: Healthy eating is the thing now. I have quite a few requests for vegetarian entrees for the events I cater. One of the most popular requests is Vegetable Lasagna. I worked on the following receipe for a while to get the true Italian taste in a lower calorie mouth watering dish. Give it a try….the markets are over flowing with fresh vegetables and herbs right now. Let me know how you like it.
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles, ready to bake noodles can be used as well as dairy case prepared noodles
- 1-1/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups green, red and yellow or orange peppers, chopped (mixing the colored peppers makes a great presentation)
- 1 medium zuchinni squash, chopped small
- 1 medium yellow summer squash, chopped small
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 3-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil (olive oil prefered)
- 26 ounces of fresh made pasta sauce (you may use 2-1/2 jars of prepared pasta sauce)
- 8-10 fresh basil leaves, julienned (cut into thin strips) or 3 teaspoons of dried basil
- 10-12 sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped fine, or 3 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1/2-1 teaspoon of fresh oregano, chopped or 1/2-1 teaspoon dried
- 16 ounce container of ricotta cheese, low fat or whole milk
- 5-6 cups mozzarella cheese, low moisture or whole milk shredded
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 3/4 cup good quality Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
- Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- If using ready to use no boil noodles skip this step
- Cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse with cold water, and drain.
- In a large saucepan or skillet, add oil allow oil to heat up for about 2 minutes on medium high heat.
- Add the mushrooms, peppers, onion, garlic and squash.
- Salt and pepper to taste, do not over do it with the salt as the sauce has salt in it as well as the Parmesan cheese.
- Stir in tomato sauce, basil, parsley and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Taste for seasoning. This is the step you would add more seasoning to your taste.
- In a medium bowl mix together ricotta, half the shredded mozeralla, nutmeg and eggs.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce into the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch baking dish. Layer 1/2 each, lasagna noodles, ricotta mixture, sauce, and Parmesan cheese,. Repeat layering, and top with the remaining shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake uncovered, for 40 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
Quick notes
The amounts of seasonings you use are to your taste. You may want to add more herbs which can be done in step 4. You can serve this with a fresh crisp green salad dressed with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. This tastes even better the next day after all the flavors meld together.
Variations
You can also use whole wheat pasta to make it even more nutritious.
Preparation time: 25 minute(s)
Cooking time: 1 hour(s)
Diet type: Vegetarian
Diet tags: Low calorie
Number of servings (yield): 12
Culinary tradition: Italian
Calories: 449
Fat: 12g
Protein: 22g
