Vegetarian Lasagna

This is my friend Annie’s recipe for vegetarian lasagne. She’s not even vegetarian and she’s developed an amazing recipe! Whenever she brings this dish to work the smell of garlic fills the building after she warms it in the microwave. It’s a wonderful thing, and what’s more wonderful is that she shares! I had to ask her for this recipe. My favourite part of this recipe is that you don’t have to cook the noodles before hand!!! I hate having to deal with those sticky noodles! The recipe itself is always changing and evolving, so I made a few changes of my own and it turned out wonderfully.

Ingredients

• 1-2 package of uncooked lasagne noodles
• 1 10 oz package chopped frozen spinach (thawed)
• 16 oz Ricotta cheese
• 1-1 1/2 cups shaved Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 cups (~1lb/16oz/453grams) of grated mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 large onion, chopped thinly
• 1 (6oz) can tomato paste
• 1 (10oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 3-5 cloves of garlic (although, honestly Annie and I put in more, like 7 cloves, so you decide!)
• 2 zucchini
• 1/2 butternut squash
• 12 oz cremini mushrooms
• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to broil;

Slice zucchini and butternut squash 1/4 inch thick. Lay evenly on cooking sheet. Spray lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil in oven until lightly brown (about 5 min). Slice red bell pepper into 6 slices and broil with skin side up for 5-10 minutes until skin blackens. Once the peppers cool, peel off the skin and roughly chop. Roughly chop the zucchini and butternut squash. Preheat oven to 350F.

Meanwhile in a medium saucepan saute onion with olive oil until translucent. Add tomato sauce, paste, oregano, basil, thyme, paprika and water. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Add the sliced mushrooms, garlic and roasted vegetables to the tomato sauce.

In a medium bowl beat together eggs and add the ricotta cheese. Mix in 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, salt and thawed spinach.

In 9×13′ pan add some sauce to just coat bottom of the pan. Place uncooked lasagne noodles on top of sauce about 1/2-1 inch apart. On top of noodle add layer of ricotta cheese mixture and spread evenly. Top with mozzarella cheese. Place more uncooked lasagne noodles over cheese. Then repeat with tomato sauce layer. The top layer should be sauce sprinkled lightly with mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese to desired.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.

Let sit for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!