July 23, 2009

As promised...

The lasagna recipe!

Cheesy Vegetable Lasagna

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick, I think)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups of your preferred milk (I used soy)
small block of Parmesan, grated
2 cups mozzarella, also grated
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp superfine ground mustard (the powder, not the yellow goo kind)

1 medium yellow squash, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced
3 carrots, diced
1 yellow onion, diced

1 cup low fat cottage cheese, undrained
1 cup part skim ricotta
1 box lasagna noodles (we used whole wheat, YUM)

(whatever other veg content you want, really)

SAUCE
Melt the butter over medium heat in a big saucepan. Add the flour, whisking constantly, until it's totally incorporated. Keep on whisking for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is golden brown. Add your milk and keep on whisking! It'll get thick, so don't worry, that's normal. :) (congrats, you made a basic white sauce!) Turn the heat down a little, to medium low, then add your salt, pepper and mustard, keep whisking!!! Add all but half a cup of your Parmesan and about 1/3 of your mozz. You might wanna switch to a spoon at this point, this is getting really thick... Take a little taste and see how it's doing spice-wise. Don't be afraid to add more spices if you think it needs it. Once the cheese is all melty-melty, turn the heat off and take this sucker off the heat so you don't burn the bottom.

VEG
In another pan (even while you're doing the sauce, as long as you have a minion to man this other pan), heat up some olive oil to saute your veg content, except for the cucumbers. Add the onions, some s&p action, the carrots, then the squashes. Soft, but not total squish. You're just making things easier on yourself for the baking.

RICOTTAGE©
In a medium bowl, mix your cottage and ricotta together, to form Ricottage©. (Zach and I coined the term "Ricottage©", so be a pal and don't steal it. LOL)

ASSEMBLY
Okay, you're ready to put this badboy together.
In a 9x9 baking dish, plop down some cheese sauce. Spread it around, then put some noodles on top. I know, they're not presoftened, but it's okay. Spread some Ricottage© love on those noodles, then sprinkle a mix of the remaining cheese. Layer about half your soft veg and springy cucumbers over that. Then, more sauce, noodles, Ricottage©, cheese, rest of the veg, then another layer of sauce. End with final noodle layer, last of the Ricottage©, then rest of the sauce, and all the grated cheese left. Carefully cover the pan with foil, then bake this gorgeous beast for 45 minutes with the foil on. Then, take the foil off and bake for another 10-15 to brown the cheese. :)

Oh, mama, is it tasty!!!

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