Lisa Corrado, a long-time resident of New Canaan, is the owner of Lisa Corrado Nutrition and author of a Moment in a Busy Life blog. This week, she shares a veggie-packed lasagna sure to be a crowd pleaser. No need for a side salad with this lasagna! It freezes beautifully and there’s no need to cook your lasagna noodles first, just make sure they’re covered in sauce. Note: Lisa give you the option to keep it vegetarian or the Flex-Able options to add one pound of very lean ground meat, cooked.
Serves 8
Flex·Able option: 1 pound very lean ground meat, cooked
- 2 pounds eggplant, cut into chunks
- 3 medium zucchini, cut into chunks
- 2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and quartered
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into chunks
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 (28 ounce) can chunky tomato sauce
- 1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 ½ cups part-skim ricotta
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 2 egg whites
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 9 whole wheat lasagna noodles (no need to cook)
- 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 400º
Scatter eggplant, zucchini, peppers and onion on cookie sheets; spray with olive oil and lightly season with salt & pepper. Cut off the top of the garlic bulb, lightly spray with olive oil, and wrap in foil. Roast the vegetables until tender and browned, about 30 – 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Roast garlic until softened, about 45 minutes. Let vegetables cool slightly.
Pour both tomato sauces into a food processor. Squeeze the garlic cloves in as well, plus the roasted vegetables. Process for about 15 – 20 seconds, until smoother, but still with some definition.
In a bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan cheese, basil, egg whites and ground pepper.
Spread a thin layer of the vegetable mixture in the bottom of a 13” x 9” baking dish, top with 3 lasagna noodles. Top with half of the cheese mixture, half the cooked meat (if using) then about 1 cup of the vegetable mixture. Top with 3 more lasagna noodles. Top with remaining cheese mixture, remaining cooked meat, then about 1 cup vegetable mixture, then remaining 3 noodles. Top with remaining vegetable mixture and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese.
Cover tightly with foil and bake until bubbly and a knife inserted indicates that the noodles are tender, about 1 hour. Remove foil and brown cheese under broiler for 30 – 60 seconds.