vegetarian lasagna

This was actually part of an ad for Glad containers in the Martha Stewart magazine "Everyday Food" (Oct. 2007).

olive oil
2 medium yellow squash, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, large diced
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 10-ounce bag spinach
1 15-oz jar marinara sauce
1 15-0z container ricotta cheese
coarse salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, chopped
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles

1. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add squash in batches and cook until just tender. Transfer to a plate and put in the refrigerator to cool.

2. Heat another tsp olive oil in the skillet. Cook onion, bell pepper, garlic, and salt to taste. Cook until softened. Then add spinach a handful at a time and cook until just wilted. Transfer to a bowl and put in the refrigerator to cool.

3. At this point, the directions say to let the vegetables cool overnight - I didn't do that. I just put them in the freezer while I was getting the next stuff prepped.

4. Combine ricotta, basil, and salt to taste.

5. Put half of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Layer 1: 3 noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, the squash. Layer 2: 3 noodles, 1/3 ricotta, half of the spinach veggie mix. Layer 3: Same as layer 2. Layer 4: 3 noodles, the rest of the sauce over the top, mozzarella on top of everything.

6. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for about 50 minutes. When it's done, let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Extra notes:
1. Instead of 2 squashes, I used 1 squash and 1 zucchini just because I felt like it.

2. I didn't use fresh basil - I used dried and didn't measure it.

3. I do not use marinara sauce from a jar. I make my own. I'll put directions for that in the next post - it's really easy.

4. The marinara sauce is only on the bottom and the top. If you want sauce throughout, double the amount of sauce and add it with each layer. I thought it tasted fine the way it was - you didn't drown all the flavors of the various vegetables in tomato sauce. But it was a little dry, and Adam likes more sauce. So next time I'll add a little bit in the layers but not much.

This was a new recipe that I made tonight for dinner with the missionaries. 1 for 50 on the year.