Vegetable Lasagna

I have not made lasagna for a while. It was fun to make it again. It was nice way to use a lot of vegetables. I figured I had used about 5 vegetables, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, and crook neck squash, That made me really happy. You could put in even more. :) I threw in a small amount of meat to make my son happy. Which it did. He really liked it, he had 2 big servings. That was a success. I have made vegetable lasagna before. I liked this version with the vegetables shredded and added into the sauce. It blended together well. The whole family was happy with the results. I don't cook the noodles ahead of time. The sauce just gets absorbed into the noodles and they cook while you bake it. It was a great meal! The leftovers made a wonderful lunch too. :) Here is another version of lasagna with homemade ricotta!

Ingredients:

favorite spaghetti sauce (I made some with Roma tomatoes, herbs, garlic, onions, and fire roasted tomatoes. I let cook for together for about 4-5 hours. I made extra and froze some of it for a quick meal later.)
1/3 lb lean ground beef browned and added to the sauce * optional
1 zucchini shredded
3 carrots shredded
1 crook neck squash
1 24 0z cottage cheese
1 pkg lasagna noodles
grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Directions: heat oven to 350

1. Prepare spaghetti sauce if you make homemade. The longer it cooks on low the better the flavor. Add a lot of yummy herbs like, oregano, basil, garlic, rosemary, marjoram, thyme etc.

2. Mix all the vegetables and meat with the sauce. Let them cook together for a few minutes.

3. Pour some sauce at the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. (My sauce was not really thick, some of the water gets cooked when it cooks into the noodles. I used stoneware and loved how it cooked) then place some noodles on top of it. (one layer).

4. Then put on another layer of sauce and then a layer with the cottage cheese.

5. Then the noodles again. Put the noodles in a different direction than you did the first time. Vertical or horizontal. Then put on another layer of sauce. Then I grated on some fresh Parmesan.

6. Cover the pan with foil and let bake about an hour, or until the noodles are soft. In preheated oven. Let cool a few minutes and serve. The combination of all the flavors was fantastic. Happy Eating!


* Great way to use our summer squash. We are loving it!