Spinach Lasagna
Spinach Lasagna
Every time I make this lasagna, I’m reminded how much I love it! It is meatless, but man, is it “meaty”. That means it’s loaded with hearty vegetables and cheesy filling that you don’t even miss the meat. Of course, like a lot of meatless recipes you can adapt by adding your own lean meat and/or sausage to “beef” it up, but I’m telling you right now, give this recipe a try before adding more to it.
Eating meatless means being conscientious enough to bulk up on vegetables and healthy grains to make up for the missing proteins. It might be tempting to add more cheese, but that sort of defeats the purpose of going meatless, and that is to reduce fat content especially saturated fats. You can be as creative as you want with your choice of vegetables. This recipe calls for onions, mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes and spinach, but you might consider adding grated carrot, sliced zucchini, chopped broccoli for example to really load up. Either way you win with this tasty Italian favorite.
Spinach Lasagna
- Spinach Lasagna
- Cooking spray
- 8 ounces (9) lasagna noodles
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can Italian-seasoned ready-cut stewed tomatoes
- 1 (26-ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (I prefer Classico Traditional Sweet Basil)
- 3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp dried basil leaves
- 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
- 1 tsp dried rosemary leaves
- 1/2 tsp each sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained thoroughly
- 1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cups low-fat 2% cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Cook noodles according to package directions until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water to prevent sticking.
- For the Sauce: Heat olive oil in a large skillet placed over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms; saute until vegetables are soft and onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, sauce and seasonings, stirring to combine. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- For the Filling: Combine spinach, ricotta, cottage and Parmesan cheeses in a medium bowl, stirring to blend.
- Assemble ingredients by spooning about 1/3 cup of sauce in bottom of prepared baking dish. Arrange 1/3 (3) lasagna noodles over the sauce. Top with 1/2 of filling mixture, spreading to cover the noodles. Spoon 1/3 sauce over the filling. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients, ending with sauce. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese over sauce. Cover with foil and bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove foil and let bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
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