There are many different great recipes available out there, ranging from cookies to steak and more. One old favorite classic remains popular today: Lasagna. The great thing about lasagna is that it is plenty customizable, retaining an ability to change ingredients to suit the chef’s taste, without losing the classic base recipe that is lasagna. This particular recipe is for a vegetable based lasagna, but remember that if anything is not a preferred food item, it can be omitted from the recipe. However, as far as healthy lasagna recipes go, this is among the best.
The following is a list of necessary ingredients:
- Yellow onion
- Minced garlic cloves
- Zucchini
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 16 oz can of undrained tomatoes
- Two 6 oz cans tomato paste
- 15 oz cottage cheese, fat free
- Package of drained spinach
- Box of uncooked lasagna
- Fat free mozzarella
- Parmesan cheese
- Italian seasoning
- Sugar
- Pepper
- Salt
Sautéing
Now that that is out of the way, let’s get to the fun cooking part. First and foremost will come sautéing the veggies to give them that crisp bite. Take about a quarter cup of water and put it into a pan. While on low heat, throw in the chopped onion, the minced garlic, a cup of sliced zucchini, and the package of sliced mushrooms. If any of these vegetables sound unappealing, take them off the list or replace them with something else. Anything goes. Remember to season to taste the water in the pan with the salt or with a salt substitute.
While getting the sautéing done, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the lasagna goes in, it will be in there for about half an hour, so start thinking up an activity to pass the time as well!
If it is so desired, consider adding a pinch or two of sugar – or a substitute – to the paste to give it a bit of a bittersweet taste. This can enhance the overall flavor some, but adding too much sugar and make it too sweet and deplete the flavor altogether. A good amount of sugar to add to this particular amount of tomato paste should be about two teaspoons. When it all tastes good, then proceed to add the tomatoes and the tomato paste into the pan when the mixture of vegetables begins to feel tender. Remember to keep the heat low. After twenty minutes, the sauce should boil and be good to take off the stove.
Pre-baking Preparation
Take out a bowl and put in the fat free cottage cheese along with the package of spinach. Put it to the side when finished and prepare for the baking by spraying a rectangular pan with nonstick cooking spray. A good size for the baking pan should be 9×12 for best results.
Now comes the stacking part. Other recipes may call for precooking the lasagna before reaching this step, but it is not really necessary since it will cook perfectly fine in the oven, baking in the sauce. Go ahead and put a layer of uncooked lasagna on the bottom of the 9×12 pan so that it completely covers the bottom. Follow that layer by putting about a third of the vegetable sauce mixture onto it, spreading it evenly with a spatula.
The next layer should be the fat free cottage cheese and spinach mixture. Put about half of it on the sauce layer, following with another layer of lasagna. Repeat the process, but putting most of the remainder of the sauce on top of the lasagna, followed by the remainder of the cottage cheese and spinach mixture. Put the final layer of lasagna on top of all of that.
Leftover should be a small amount of vegetable sauce. Put it on top of the lasagna and get the mozzarella. If it has not been done yet, either grate the cheese or finely slice it, depending on how the cheese on top is desired to come out. When finished chopping or grating the cheese, put it on top of the vegetable sauce.
Bake, bake, bake!
By now, the oven should be preheated, so go ahead and put the lasagna into the oven, covering it with aluminum foil. The rest is fairly straightforward from here on out; let the lasagna bake for about 25 minutes before uncovering it, leaving it in there for another ten minutes to allow the cheese to melt. Keep it in longer to brown the cheese if desired, adding somewhat of an extra crisp to the first bites.
After the cheese has either melted or browned, take it out and let it sit on a cooling rack for another ten minutes. The lasagna should still be hot without potential for burning by the time it is ready to be eaten. This should be enough to provide eight to ten delicious servings of vegetable lasagna!
Alternative Ingredients
Not everyone is up to eating vegetables in their lasagna. If this is the case, omit the vegetables entirely. Or, if eating vegetables still sounds tasty but lacking, and if vegetarianism is not something to look out for, add some ground beef in the mixture. Alternatively, add some ground chicken or ground turkey to make it a bit healthier and protein filled. Whatever meat may be added, make sure it is fully cooked before putting it into the lasagna.