Garden Style Lasagna

photo from Cooking Light

This lasagna is so delicious!!!! I can't emphasize how good it was! I found the recipe in Cooking Light magazine, I've been getting this magazine for years but have never tried any recipes. I was a little hesitant at first because I've had the occasional vegi lasagna that has an over powering spinach taste or that just tastes bland, but this met and exceeded my every expectation. I did make a few changes to the recipe, for example it called for cottage cheese for the filling but I used ricotta cheese. I'm sure cottage cheese would've been "lighter" but I wanted to go with the more traditional lasagna filling.

This recipe does have a lot of steps and did take some time, but the end result is worth all the hard work you'll put into it. One tip, prep all your vegetables before you start cooking. It will allow for a much smoother cooking process!

Ingredients:

Serves 8

• 1 chopped onion
  
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
  
• EVOO
  
• 1 chopped zucchini
  
• 1 chopped yellow squash
  
• 3 thinly sliced carrot
  
• 1 bunch of broccoli chopped
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 2 cups low-fat milk
  
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  
• Dash of nutmeg (optional)
  
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
  
• 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
  
• 2 cups preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
  
• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles, divided
• S&P
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with 1 tablespoons of EVOO. Add onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Spoon onion mixture into a large bowl.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in the same pan over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and yellow squash; sauté 4 minutes or until tender and just beginning to brown. Add to onion mixture.
4. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in the same pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced carrot; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add chopped broccoli; sauté 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add to onion mixture. Sprinkle with salt; toss well to combine.
5. Place flour in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan, S&P, and nutmeg; stir until smooth. Stir in spinach.
6. Combine ricotta cheese and 1 1/2 cups mozzarella; stir well. Spread 1/2 cup spinach mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 noodles over spinach mixture in dish; top with half of ricotta cheese mixture (about 1 1/2 cups), half of vegetable mixture (about 2 1/2 cups), and about 1 cup spinach mixture. Repeat layers. Spread remaining spinach mixture over noodles; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella.
7. Cover and bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.