Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Last month, I spoke to a group of teenage girls at a goal setting kick-off activity at church. The name of the activity is New Beginnings-which I love. I need a new beginning quite often, and frankly January first doesn't come often enough. I also love setting goals, which in my opinion is quite different than actually reaching goals, which makes me tired because it sounds like a lot of hard work. Anyway, the theme for the evening was Recipe for Success, and I spoke about the metaphoric connection between creating a recipe and making a success of yourself. People who are much more creative and talented than I am made these adorable little recipe books to hand out. Each girl in attendance created one of her favorite recipes which were printed on little cards and passed out to include in the recipe books. Instead of concentrating on making an intelligent presentation, I started leafing my way through the recipes. This one-Jeni's roasted vegetable lasagna" caught my eye, and not just because it was on flourescent orange paper.

Roasted vegetables, lasagna noodles, homemade tomato sauce, lots of mozzarella--hey wait a minute!-there was no ricotta in this recipe. No bechamel sauce either. I knew I had to try it. It was easy, but time consuming, just like all properly made lasagnas; the silver lining is that it can all be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to bake. If the only thing the girls got out of New Beginnings was this fantastic lasagna recipe, I'd say they got the recipe for success. My talk was fine, but the lasagna is truly divine.

Money Saving Tips:

Only use vegetables that are in season to keep the price down. Asparagus could easily be switched for the zuchinni if you can find some on sale. Chopped, bottled artichokes would also work well without any roasting at all. I also reduced the amount of cheese by 2 cups for health and pecuniary sensibility. Stock up on mozzarella when you catch it on sale; it keeps for a good long time. If you don't have time for homemade sauce, Barilla's tomato basil sauce is nice. You can also use the no boil noodles, but you'll have to cover the lasagna with foil and increase the bake time to 1 hour. This makes a huge lasagna, so either invite friends for dinner or pack up the leftovers for lunch.

Jeni's Roasted Vegetable Lasagna for 12

Estimated Cost: $15.00

Notes: Make a double batch of sauce for spaghetti on another night.

For Tomato Sauce:

cooking spray

1 small onion, chopped

2 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, undrained

6 tablespoons each chopped fresh basil and oregano

(or subsitute 2 tablespoons each dried)

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

For Lasagna:

10 lasagna noodles

1 medium bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

2 small zuchinni, sliced (I left these out)

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

6 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I used 4 cups)

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Coat non stick pot with cooking spray. Cook garlic and onion over medium high heat for two minutes, stirring often. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, boil the water and cook the noodles. Preheat oven to 450. Coat foil lined cookie sheet with no stick cooking spray. Place pepper, onion, zuchinni, and mushrooms on cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper and coat with spray. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Reduce oven temperature to 400 if you are planning to bake your lasagna right away. Coat a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Spread some of tomato sauce on the bottom; top with three noodles, more sauce, vegetables and cheese. Repeat layering two more times. (Can be made up to two days and kept covered and refrigerated until baking time.) Bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes.
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