No Noodle Veggie Lasagna

[crystalintville 66]

I don't remember where I got the original recipe, but I love it. It takes about 2 hrs including baking time.

In deep pot on medium, melt 1 tsp butter and sautee 2 diced onions. Towards the end add 1 container of washed diced mushrooms. I've also added finely diced carrots and celery. I dislike peppers, but if you like them, I'd add them here. Cook until done then remove to bowl. Add 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of ground beef or turkey. Cook until done and if ground beef drain & rinse.

Add veggies back to pot and 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. If you have some time add a can of tomatoes (I like the italian ones) and let the sauce reduce. If not, ignore the canned tomatoes.

In a 9x13 (minimum) pan (or the Rachel Ray Bubble set, it makes 1 lg & 1 sm dish), add 1/2 your meat sauce. Slice up 3 to 4 zucchini, squash, or eggplant lengthwise. I've tried making the lasagna 2 ways, adding raw and sweating on the pancake skillet first. I prefer sweating them as I don't like as much crunch and the raw adds more moisture to the dish which has to be drained off so one step for another. Anyways...layer your veggie covering all the meat sauce.

Mix up 1 container ricotta cheese with 1 egg and 1 tsp+ italian seasoning. I go heavy on seasoning. Add the whole ricotta mix to the layered veggies and spread it out.

Next add 1/2 a bag of fresh spinach. It cooks down. You could use frozen, I haven't tried it though. Next add the rest of the meat sauce.

Cover with 1/2 container of shredded parm cheese. Add 3/4 to entire pack of shredded mozz cheese and spread out. Top with remaining parm cheese. Sprinkle with italian seasoning.

Preheat oven to 350. Cover lasagna with foil and bake 45 minutes. Remove from oven, scoop out any excess liquid (from the veggies), and bake 15 more minutes. I hit it on broil for a minute or so to brown the cheese.

I don't know the calorie count per serving but 4 oz fills me up for a LLLOONNNGG time and it is delicious and has a lot of Protein goodness (spinach, meat, ricotta, parm, mozz cheese).