It was time to go food shopping, so the question was, “What are we going to have for dinner?” There was eggplant, spinach, and sauce in the refrigerator. Then I remembered I had some ricotta cheese and lasagna noodles. I immediately thought vegetable lasagna. Most recipes use zucchini and spinach. Eggplant seemed like a good substitute for zucchini. My son loves meat lasagna, but would he eat one made with vegetables?
I wasn’t sure how it was going to taste. It came out way better than I had expected and my son told me it was a home run. He also asked if there would be some left for the next day. It was really delicious! I actually enjoyed the vegetable lasagna more than meat lasagna.
INGREDIENTS – VEGETABLE LASAGNA
- box of gluten free dairy free lasagna noodles
- gluten free sauce
- bag of spinach
- 1 large eggplant
- 2 teaspoons almond milk
- 8 oz containers gluten free dairy free ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup gluten free dairy free Parmesan cheese
- gluten free dairy free mozzarella cheese
- 2 eggs
- salt
- pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Making vegetable lasagna is easier than you may think.
First, peel and slice the eggplant. Lay the eggplant out on a cutting board and salt it to draw out the moisture. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then dry it off.
While the eggplant sits you can make the ricotta cheese mixture. Start by mixing the ricotta cheese, eggs, milk, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients until blended and set aside.
Heat a pan with olive oil and saute the eggplant for about 6 minutes, or until it is soft. Remove the eggplant and set it aside. Next, add a little more olive oil to the pan. Add the spinach, garlic and salt. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, until spinach has wilted. Remove the spinach from the pan and set aside.
Get the pan ready for the vegetable lasagna. Start by putting a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Next, put a layer of noodles, ricotta cheese mixture, eggplant, spinach, then mozzarella. Repeat this process until you cannot fit another layer.
Put the vegetable lasagna into the oven. Make sure your oven rack is in the middle of the oven so it cooks evenly. Cook for 30 minutes. Take the lasagna out and let it rest for about 30 minutes to let it set.