Vegetable Lasagna

It's Blogger's Choice time again! I love these swaps hosted by the blog Taste of Home Cooking. This time I was given the blog Life and Kitchen, and really enjoyed browsing through all of the recipes.

Fifteen years ago I first started working after college... actually, it's 16 years ago now! Wow. Anyway, for lunch I'd often buy a frozen Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna. Yea...I wasn't into cooking back then. I can't even count how many times I had that for lunch! But almost every day a group of us would get together in the lunchroom, eat lunch, chat, and laugh. I worked with such a great group of people at that company - I really do miss those times!

Once I got into cooking I only made a vegetable lasagna once, and it was one with a red sauce. So this White Vegetable Lasagna recipe immediately caught my eye and took me back to those days sitting in the lunchroom.

This was a pretty easy lasagna to put together, and I LOVE using the no-boil noodles - less mess and you don't have to deal with those fragile, hot, cooked noodles. For veggies I used frozen peas, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, chopped broccoli, red pepper, and green pepper. I didn't make any major changes to the recipe (very minor changes based on ingredients I had, noted in italics), but next time will use less butter to start the sauce as it was just a touch greasy. But overall, it was creamy, hearty, had great texture, and was simply delicious. And yes, MUCH better than a frozen lasagna! 

The Sauce

• 1 large onion, diced (I only had a 1/2 so I used onion and shallots)
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic (I used 3 larges cloves)
• 2 cups heavy cream (I used light cream)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, cook the butter and onion (and shallot) for about 10 minutes, until the onion is soft (I did this over medium heat). Add in the garlic, cream, milk, and cheese and stir over low heat until the cheese is melted and everything is combined, about 5 minutes.

The Lasagna

• 1 box of lasagna pasta (I use the no-boil kind, just make sure there is plenty of moisture covering them or else the noodles can end up dry)
• 1 15-16 oz container of ricotta cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 egg
• 4 cups mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried Italian spices
• 6 cups of chopped or thinly sliced vegetables, such as peppers, peas, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan, egg, 2 cups of mozzarella, and the spices.

Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and put a ladle of cream sauce to lightly cover the bottom.

Add a layer of pasta, then smear on a layer of the ricotta mixture as evenly as possible. Cover with vegetables, sprinkle with mozzarella, and then evenly ladle on another layer of cream sauce. Then repeat approximately 4 times until you have used all of the ingredients, making the last layer end with a topping of mozzarella.

Bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Tent the foil so that it isn’t touching the cheese. Then bake uncovered for another 10 minutes. Let rest at least 10-15 minutes before slicing!!