Vegetarian Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those dishes that I always think takes a lot of time … until I actually make one and wonder why I don't do it more often.  While there seems to be quite a few ingredients involved in lasagna making, it really is an easy meal to whip up and is great to freeze for hot lunches or weekday meals.

This time I opted for a vegetarian version. Super tasty but doesn't feel as heavy as lasagna with the beasties in it. The flavours really come together well and it's also a great way to use up all those veggies in your fridge!

1 tbsp oil (I use grapeseed)
1 medium white onion - diced
5 large mushrooms - diced
2 medium carrots - peeled and diced finely
1 medium zucchini - finely diced
1 cup roasted-red peppers - diced
1 can (680mL) tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 (500g) container of cottage cheese (2 cups)
1 egg
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tsp dried parsley
lasagna noodles (oven ready) (approx. 8-10 noodles)
2 cups marble cheese (or mozzarella), shredded

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, mushrooms and carrots and cook until onions are translucent.  Add zucchini and continue cooking for 3 minutes.  Add roasted red peppers.

Add tomato sauce, water, basil, oregano, pepper and salt.  Mix well. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer.

Meanwhile, add the cottage cheese to a medium bowl. If desired, use a pastry cutter and smash the cottage cheese into smaller bits.  Add egg, Parmesan cheese (fresh or the canned stuff) and dried parsley.  Mix well.

In a 9x13-inch baking pan (I use glass), ladle some of the sauce, followed by enough of the oven-ready lasagna noodles to cover the sauce (break pieces if you have to).  Layer with more sauce followed by the cottage cheese layer. Spread the cottage cheese mixture to the edges.  Top with more noodles and the remaining sauce.

Note: You may have extra sauce leftover. Just cool it, put it in a freezer bag, label it and freeze for a later meal.

Grease some tin foil with a bit of oil (to prevent the cheese from sticking to it) and cover the lasagna.  Place baking pan onto a baking sheet with edges (it may overflow while baking) and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes to brown the cheese a bit.

Serve immediately, or what I like to do is cool the lasagna, then reheat it for 45 minutes at 375F for the next day's meal.  Extras can be portioned off and frozen for up to 2 months for great weekday lunches.