Garden-Style Lasagna


Tonight Lisa made this labor-intensive lasagna based on a Cooking Light recipe, and added extra spices and mushrooms. I’m usually a bigger fan of tomato-sauce based lasagna, but this one hit the spot with its variety in textures and sheer number of sauteed vegetables.

Chris says:

Wow you’re on a roll with these Cooking Light recipes. Good picks.

Lisa says:

This one is delicious — and actually has portion sizes that are relatively generous for a “light” recipe…

Chris says:

I heart this lasagna.

Lisa says:

Me too! I still can’t believe it’s low fat.

Chris says:

I love that we have enough leftovers for like three more meals.

Lisa says:

Good thing we liked it, then!

Garden-Style Lasagna
——————–
Cooking spray
2 cups chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 cups chopped zucchini (about 8 ounces)
2 cups chopped yellow squash (about 8 ounces)
2 cups thinly sliced carrot (about 8 ounces)
2 cups chopped broccoli (about 6 ounces)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 tsp oregano
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
3 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of nutmeg
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 1/2 cups 1% low-fat cottage cheese
2 cups (8 ounces) preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
12 precooked lasagna noodles, divided

Preheat oven to 375°.
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Spoon onion mixture into a large bowl. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add zucchini, mushrooms, and yellow squash; sauté 4 minutes or until tender and just beginning to brown. Add to onion mixture. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced carrot; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add chopped broccoli; sauté 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add to onion mixture. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and oregano; toss well to combine.
Place flour in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg; stir until smooth. Stir in spinach.
Combine cottage cheese and 1 1/2 cups mozzarella; stir well. Spread 1/2 cup spinach mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 noodles over spinach mixture in dish; top with half of cottage cheese mixture (about 1 1/2 cups), half of vegetable mixture (about 2 1/2 cups), and about 1 cup spinach mixture. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining spinach mixture over noodles; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella.
Cover and bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

12 Servings


10 responses to “Garden-Style Lasagna”

  1. Oh wow. That looks really good! I’m usually a bigger fan for tomato sauce, so to hear that it was good with out from a tomato sauce fan makes me want to try it out :]

  2. Hi Chris & Lisa,
    It appears that we have similar tastes! I did the Garden Lasagna sometime last year- it’s on my RecipeGirl.com site (not my blog). It was a very good lasagna. I like the idea of adding more mushrooms to it too.

  3. The veggies involved in this could lend itself to great improvisational cooking. The veggies dripping out look delicious!

  4. beleive it or not, i’ve never seen a lasagne like this before – veg-based ones here in the uk seems to always be tomatoe based – this really looks great. Good Work!

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