White Veggie Lasagna

Adam's been asking for a while for a white veggie lasagna... and earlier this week I stumbled upon this recipe from Kate @ Cooking During Stolen Moments. It looks delicious and I loved how many veggies the recipe used. So, we tried it, and tweaked it for our liking -- and loved it!

White Veggie Lasagna - Modified from Kate

There are three parts: (1) Filling, (2) Ricotta Cheese mixture and (3) White Sauce.

(1) Veggie Filling
1 T olive oil
1-2 T minced onion
1 medium green pepper, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
5-6 garlic cloves
1/2 bag (80z) broccoli cuts, thawed
1 bag frozen spinach, thawed, (or in our case, we used Green Giant Frozen Spinach and heated it before adding it to the mix)
1/4-1/8 tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

(2) Ricotta Mixture
15oz Ricotta Cheese
1 egg
1/4 C Parmesan cheese, grated

(3) White Sauce
2 T butter
3 T flour
1 C milk
1/2 C chicken broth
2 oz light cream cheese
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste


Topping: grated mozzarella, parm or cheddar cheeses!

(1)Veggie Filling
In a large pan, saute onion, green pepper and celery in oil for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, zucchini and garlic cloves and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add broccoli and spinach and cook until tender. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper, to taste and allow veggies to steam over low heat, covered, while you prepare the other parts.


(2) Ricotta Mixture
Combine Ricotta cheese with 1 egg (lightly beaten), and 1/4 C Parmesan cheese, and set aside.

(3) White Sauce
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, combine 1 C of milk with 3 T of flour and whisk well until flour is mixed in. Add to the melted butter and add chicken broth; cook and stir until the mix thickens. When thick, add cream cheese, Parmesean, salt and pepper and stir until cheeses are melted.

To assemble:
Layer -- 1/4 C white sauce, 3 unbaked lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture, 1/3 of the veggie mixture, 1/3 of the white sauce, and 3 more noodles. Repeat layers 2 more times, starting with ricotta mixture. End with white sauce on top. Top with grated cheeses.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover lasagna and bake until cheese is browned, for an additional 15 minutes. Allow to sit and "set" for 10-15 minutes before serving.




*It's excellent with Tomato Basil Bread.