I started out with the notion that cooking vegetarian meals was going to be convoluted and a lot of trouble. Turns out it isn’t. What I quickly realized was that I could adapt all our old favourites by eliminating the meat and sometimes, if the recipe needs it, I’ll substitute with a lentil/bean mixture or tofu. It’s been amazing actually from 7 layer dinner to shephard’s pie, to burgers to lasagna to quiche.
This recipe for vegetarian lasagna was a result of several experiments with two recipes, mine and one that my sister’s friend, Yvonne, shared.
Vegetarian Lasagna
Ingredients:
1/4 cups Parmesan cheese
1 tub cottage cheese
1 egg
4 cups mozzarella cheese
1 pk oven-ready noodle
Vegetables
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 chopped onion
1 cup chopped peppers (red, yellow, green)
1 cup cooked carrot
1 cup cooked cauliflower
1 bag frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
1 small zucchini (diced)
1 pk mushrooms (diced)
Sauce – Slow Method
2 cans tomato paste
1 (7oz) can tomato sauce
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
½ cup water
1 tsp salt & pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp garlic
4 bay leaves
Fast Method
2 can pasta sauce
1/4 can water
Directions
Cook garlic, onions and peppers in large skillet. Stir in tomatoes, paste, sauce and water. Add sugar, seasonings and spices and sir. Simmer 1 1/2 hours; remove bay leaves. Cook remaining vegetables until crisp tender and add to the sauce.
In 11x15x2 pan, spread a layer of sauce (1 1/2 cups) on bottom. Then add a single layer of noodles. Mix the egg and cottage cheese and spread evenly over the noodles. Add another layer of noodles followed by 1 1/2 cups of sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over the sauce. Layer 1/3 of the mozzeralla cheese over Parmesan. Add the final layer of noodles and top with 1 1/2 cups of the sauce. Spread the remaining mozeralla over the sauce and sprinkle remaining Parmesan over top.
Cover with foil wrap and bake 30 minutes in moderate oven (350°). remove the foil and continue baking an additional 15 minutes. Allow the lasagna to rest 15 minutes prior to serving.
TIPS:
This meal goes great with a Caesar Salad and garlic bread.
If you are in a hurry and no time to make the sauce from scratch, just use 2 cans of pasta sauce. My grandchildren preferred it this way as that’s what they were used to growing up. Ah, but I still like the original recipe best! I make the sauce in bulk and bottle it.
