Vegetable Lasagna

There is this restaurant down the street that has heavenly vegetable lasagna. I mean heavenly. I've never made lasagna, but it has been sounding sooooo good, AND Carl has been requesting it for weeks. So I scoured the interwebs until I found one that sounded good. I modified it a bit to fit my taste, and I'm glad I did. The presentation was...well....lacking. I did say this was my FIRST time making lasagna. It looked good in the pan, but just messy on the plate. Didn't matter, it tasted delicious! I'm not a fan of meat in pasta (i.e. beef lasagna, meat filled ravioli, etc.) but you could easily add that if you really wanted to...I suppose.

I cut everything roughly in half, and also added some frozen cauliflower and broccoli to the sauteed vegetables about half way through their cooking process. I also added thawed, drained frozen spinach to the ricotta/mozzarella mixture. By roughly cutting it in half, it made enough easily for 4 people...maybe 6.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles
* 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
* 3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
* 3/4 cup chopped onion
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 (26 ounce) jars pasta sauce
* 1 teaspoon dried basil
* 1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
* 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse with cold water, and drain.
2. In a large saucepan, cook and stir mushrooms, green peppers, onion, and garlic in oil. Stir in pasta sauce and basil; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Mix together ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, and eggs.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread 1 cup tomato sauce into the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer 1/2 each, lasagna noodles, ricotta mix, sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Repeat layering, and top with remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese.
5. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.