Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

My dear friend, Tiffany was in town for a quick visit and I wanted to make her a healthy but tasty meal. I made this lasagna a few weeks ago for some other friends and it was a big hit so I decided to make it again. Tiffany really loved it and so did my husband and I. Both of my kids ate it but didn't LOVE it - that's okay, more for me. It was a cool afternoon so I roasted the veggies which gives the lasagna such an amazing flavor. I used all the veggies I had on hand in the refrigerator. I also used leftover mushroom marinara but your favorite jar of marinara would work great too. I would have used fresh basil but my plant didn't survive my vacation so I used dried instead. I really, really loved making this dish, not only because I knew it would be tasty, but also because it was fun to make.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna:
Recipe and photo by For the Love of Cooking

• 8 oz button mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 red onion, quartered
• 2-3 orange, red or yellow baby bell peppers, sliced
• Broccoli florets
• 1 small handful of shredded carrots
• 6 cloves of garlic, leave the skins on for roasting
• 1 green zucchini, sliced
• 1 yellow squash, sliced
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Dried basil
• Dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil (for quick and easy clean up) then coat the tin foil lined baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Clean and slice the veggies and layer all but the zucchini and yellow squash on the sheet. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top, season with sea salt, cracked pepper, basil and oregano to taste. Toss to coat and place in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the zucchini and yellow squash to the roasted veggies, toss and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Once the garlic cloves cool down, carefully peel the skin off and slice. Add sliced garlic back in with the rest of the veggies.

Ricotta mixture:

• 1 16 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese
• 3-4 tbsp mozzarella cheese, grated
• 3-4 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 egg
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Dried oregano, to taste
• Dried basil, to taste
• Dash of nutmeg

Combine all the ingredients and mix thouroughly. Taste and re-season if needed.

Other ingredients:

• Lasagna noodles (I used no cook noodles - love them)
• Mushroom marinara (or your favorite jar of marinara)
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Parmesan cheese, grated
• Dried basil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a large glass baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Pour a bit of marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish then place a few lasagna noodles down to completely cover the bottom of pan. Add half of the ricotta mixture and spread evenly over the noodles. Next add half of the roasted veggie mixture. Cover the veggies with lasagna noodles then sauce. Add the last of the ricotta mixture then the remaining veggies. Cover with lasagna noodles, more sauce then sprinkle the top with mozzarella, parmesan and dried basil. Bake covered for 30 minutes; remove the cover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown. Cool for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - For the Love of Cooking.net