Vegetable Lasagna

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!  We celebrated Christmas with Tim's family early (on Friday) because his niece was flying to Germany on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with her boyfriend and his  family, and then we celebrated with my family on Saturday so we could avoid the football traffic on Sunday, which left Christmas day to just our little family.  It had already been decided that for breakfast we would have the Caramel Pecan Layer Cake that my son had made as his gift to me.

It was delicious!  Last year he made me a mocha yule log covered in dark chocolate ganache (and decorated to look like an actual log covered in bark), and that has started a lovely Christmas morning tradition for us.

It had also been decided I would make a lasagna for our Christmas Day dinner.  I chose one that, even though it had both pork and beef in it, made me practically drool every time I looked at the picture.  It had a meat sauce that consisted of tomatoes, ground beef, home made Italian pork sausage (because the prepackaged pork sausage is ghastly stuff!), pancetta, and fresh herbs.  Then there was a porcini mushroom cheese sauce, and lots of cooked noodles.  I spent three (3!) hours in the kitchen making this thing and nearly passing out from the lovely fragrance of it cooking in the oven.  I had made baguettes and roasted garlic, and lightly steamed fresh green beans.

It was...meh.  No kidding.  All that work, all that time, and it was just okay.  I'm not a fan of either pork or beef, so the texture threw me off.  But even my family, all of whom do like those meats, suggested that if we find ourselves celebrating Christmas Day with just the four of us again next year, that I make my "regular" lasagna because it has so much more flavor and better texture than this particular one with the amazing picture in the magazine.

So there you have it, my friends.  No need to toil for hours over a lasagna - here is my "regular" lasagna, which was also one of my very first blog posts, and a regular visitor to our dinner table.


Vegetarian Lasagna

serves 9-12

• 9 uncooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 3 - 3 1/2 c (24-28 oz) meatless marinara (either homemade or a good, organic basil and tomato is great)
• 2 large portobello mushroom caps (about 6-8oz), chopped
• 1 12oz jar roasted red peppers, drained, patted dry, and chopped (or your own roasted, in which case you would use 2 peppers)
• 1 10oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 3/4 c grated parmesan cheese, divided
• 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 c shredded provolone cheese
• 1 c shredded fresh mozzarella
• 1 tsp dried oregano (or 1Tbs freshly chopped)

Preheat oven to 350F.

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• In a bowl, combine mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and spinach. In another bowl, combine cottage cheese, 1/2 c paremesan, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. In another bowl, combine the provolone and mozzarella cheeses.

In a 13x9 pan, spread 1/4 of the marinara sauce. Layer 3 uncooked noodles, 1/3 vegetable mixture, 1/3 cottage cheese mixture, 1/3 provolone/mozzarella mixture, 1/4 marinara. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 1/4 c parmesan and oregano.

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• Cover with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes before slicing.  
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• Serve with a simple salad, crusty bread smeared with roasted garlic, and a lovely bottle of wine.
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