Nestie Recipe Swap : Italian

When I found out that this weeks Recipe Swap was for Italian, I was thrilled!

My.  Favorite.  Food.  Ever.

My recipe was from Melissa (mtrometer) from Fried Ice and Donut Holes, for Vegetable Lasagna with red sauce.  I spruced up the sauce a little bit in order to use up some of the things in my fridge and to add garlic, my favorite addition in the world. 

Vegetable Lasagna with Red Sauce

You'll Need:

• 10-12 Lasagna Noodles  ( I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest wheat lasagna noodles and they worked GREAT!)
• Pasta Sauce (I used a 24oz jar...probably could have used more)
• 1 Red Bell Pepper
• 1 Yellow Bell Pepper
• 1 package Sliced Mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
• 1 medium onion - chopped (I added)
• 3 cloves garlic - minced  (I added)
• Baby Spinach  (I used just a bag of baby spinach leaves that I had left from salads earlier in the week...prob about 1/2 the bag)
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzerella Cheese (I used fat free) 
• 1 cup part skim ricotta cheese (I added)
• Handful Shredded Parmesan Cheese (I omitted because I added ricotta to the layering) 
• 1/4 cup parsley leaves - chopped  (added by me)
• 1 tsp EVOO (I added for the sauce I made)

Sauce

I added the EVOO to a nonstick skillet and cooked the onion until soft.  Added the minced garlic and was careful not to burn. Added a 24oz jar of pasta sauce to the pan and let simmer while noodles cooked.  I recommend maybe using more sauce if you like your lasagna "saucy" so to speak because mine prob could have used a bit more!

Onward to the layering!

Boil the noodles (unless you use no boil sheets). 

In a sprayed 9x13 pan, spread a ladleful of pasta sauce. Put a layer of pasta, spinach leaves, mushrooms, and both kinds of peppers. Sprinkle a little cheese and top with another ladleful of pasta sauce, spread to cover the ingredients. Add another layer of pasta and repeat the rest of the ingredients. Before adding the pasta sauce in each layer, I spread 1/2 cup ricotta on top of the noodles just to add a little more cheese and to use up some I had in the house!

  

When all of the pasta and vegetables have been used, top the lasagna with more sauce and some cheese. To the top, add the handful of parmesan. (I made 2 layers of ingredients, 3 layers of noodles). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Allow lasagna to cool beore cutting into squares and serving.

Here is a pic of before I cooked it out on my patio since I've heard you can get better pics that way...too bad it was already dark outside by the time it came out of the oven.  Boo :(

This one is definitely a keeper!  FI usually stays away from things if they don't have some type of chicken or turkey in them because he is convinced it won't fill him up, but even he loved this!  It was quick, easy and delicious!  Thanks, Melissa for a great recipe!