Mmmm, there’s something about a lasagna baking in the oven that brightens your day. I had a lot of fun making this, since it was a way to use up some produce in my fridge and make my own marinara sauce. Paired with no boil lasagna noodles from Trader Joe’s and my fridge produce, this Veggie Lasagna was delicious and super easy. Mixing veggies directly into the ricotta mixture and using less cheese lightens up this lasagna, while still keeping all of the flavors. I made the marinara sauce, while I sliced the zucchini and peppers, minced the cauliflower and mixed together the ricotta. Then you layer everything, bake it and anxiously wait for it to be done.
Ingredients (serves 6-8).
- 2½ c basil marinara sauce
- 12 uncooked/no boil lasagna noodles
- 1 c ricotta
- 1 egg
- 1/8 t salt
- 1/2 c pumpkin purée *
- 1 c roasted cauliflower, finely minced *
- 1-2 T unsweetened almond milk
- 1½ zucchini, mandolin sliced
- 1/3 orange bell pepper
- 1/8 to 1/3 c freshly grated parmesan
- Torn basil for serving
- Red pepper flakes
* I had leftover pumpkin from a slow cooker chili and then roasted cauliflower from curry cauliflower bowls. Cauliflower was lightly sprayed with coconut cooking spray, dusted with garlic and salt, and then roasted at 425° F until tender.
Directions.
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- In a bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, salt, pumpkin and minced cauliflower. If too dry, add milk by the tablespoon to help thin the ricotta. Set aside.
- In bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, spoon about 1/4 c marinara sauce or until bottom of the pan is well coated.
- Top with 4 lasagna noodles, then 1/2 of the ricotta mixture. It’s easiest to drop the ricotta by the spoonful and then spread the areas together with the back of the spoon. You may also need to break some noodles to ensure the noodles reach edge to edge of the pan.
- Add half of zucchini slices so they are well distributed over the ricotta. Top with half of the sliced bell peppers. Top with about 1 c marinara, using the back of a large spoon to help spread the sauce edge to edge.
- Repeat steps 4 & 5.
- End with the last 4 noodles topped with about 1/4 c marinara to top.
- Cover with foil and bake for about 25-30. In the last 5-8 min, remove foil and top with parmesan cheese and bake until browned. (I ran out of foil, which is why my pasta edges curled and browned — oops! I also used closer to 1/8 c and would recommend using 1/4-1/3 c of parmesan.)
- Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Cut into 6 or 8 pieces. Serve with torn basil, red pepper flakes and extra parmesan.
- Dish up and enjoy!
Adapted from my Spaghetti Squash Lasagna.
Nutrition for 1/6 of lasagna.
282 calories • 7.7 g fat (25%) • 39.7 g carbs (57%) • 12.7 g protein (18%) • 6.3 g fiber • 8.7 g sugar
* These are estimates based off specific products I used and how I entered ingredients in a fitness tracker. This is completely subjective and used to give a rough nutritional estimate.
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