Garden-Style Lasagna

I love Cooking Light and got this recipe from their magazine This is one of my all time favorite meals. It's full of veggies and an excellent (low fat) cheese sauce. It's definitely a weekend one though because it takes about an hour of prep and 40 minutes in the oven. It's worth the effort, a tried and true recipe. I got the original from Cooking Light and made a few minor modifications. In the future I'd like to add mushrooms in. Here's the recipe in full with my changes next to it in red. Try this out when you have some time to kill on a Sunday. It's worth it! Make sure to prep all the ingredients before you start cooking, otherwise you'll be in trouble!








Ingredients

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 teaspoon salt, divided
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 (1 1/2 cups fat free ricotta + 1 egg)
2 cups (8 ounces) preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
12 no-boil lasagna noodles

Preparation

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 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; 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.

Yield

12 servings

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 272(27% from fat); FAT 8.3g (sat 4.4g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 18.5g; CHOLESTEROL 20mg; CALCIUM 456mg; SODIUM 589mg; FIBER 3.6g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31.2g