Not sure why but I can't get the last lasagna I made out of my head. Perhaps I liked it so much because it was veggie so it felt slightly healthier (as healthy as a lasagna full of cheese can be) or perhaps it was the pasta sauce I used. Or perhaps I was just really hungry. I'd like to share, if only to put it where I can find it again before I forget how I made it.
12 no-bake lasagna noodles (I used Barilla oven ready lasagne noodles)
chopped spinach (2 cups fresh or 1 bag frozen)
1-2 cups mushrooms (sliced)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 jar pasta sauce (I used Newman's Sockarooni)
2-3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 egg
chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 1/2 - 2 cups cottage cheese
parmesano reggiono (enough to sprinkle on top)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Make the veggie filling by sauteing the onion and garlic, then add the mushrooms and finally the spinach (if you use frozen, thaw first and squeeze out the extra liquid). Season w/ salt and pepper to taste.
Beat the egg and stir in cottage cheese, parsley and a little salt & pepper.
Layering:
Spread 1/4th a cup of pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 dish
Add a layer of lasagna noodles (I fit 4 to a layer in my pan)
Spread 1/3rd of veggie filling
Spread 1/3rd of the cottage cheese mixture
Sprinkle on 1/3rd of the mozzarella cheese
Spread 1 cup of the pasta sauce on the cheese
Start over with a layer of noodles and continue the process until you have 3 layers. Add a final layer of noodles, completely cover with them w/ the remaining pasta sauce and sprinkle parmesano reggionao over the top.
Cover tightly with foil and cook for 50-60 minutes (make sure the noodles are soft). Uncover and cook another 15 minutes until the cheese starts to brown.
Notes:
Adjust these quantities as necessary; I just used what I had. If I remember correctly I had a little too much cheese and sauce. I saved the extra cheese for later but used all the sauce because I figured the noodles could use the extra liquid.
Here are a few handy shortcuts I used (I was really busy the day I made it!):
I used my Cuisinart food processor to grate the parmesan. It took maybe 20 seconds.
I used my mini Cuisinart food prep to chop the onions and the parsley.
I used frozen spinach (but next time I'm going to use fresh!)
I used pre-sliced mushrooms. So easy!
If only I'd taken a photo...
[edited 6/30/2010 to add in the veggie filling layer which I left out of the layering process in my original post. How I managed to follow this recipe about 5 times without noticing this omission is kind of funny, really.]




Oooh have you tried Barilla's portabello mushroon amd merlot? MMMM!
Yum! Just put this together, with a few modifications......can't wait for it to come out of the oven!!