Vegetable Lasagna

I've made this dish multiple times and it always turns out really good. The best part of this is that you don't have to pre-cook the noodles. They cook right in the sauce. It might seem complicated but it's really easy and quick to put together. If you are a lasagna lover like me and want some variety, I highly recommend this.

Ingredients:
9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
29 ounces of Alfredo Sauce (about 3/12 cups or a little less than 2 jars)
1/4 cup of skim milk
10 oz of frozen chopped spinach
1 pint (16 oz) of low fat cottage cheese (ricotta cheese if fine too, but I like using cottage cheese here-less fat. Buy the Daisy brand if your grocery store has it because there are just a few simple ingredients and no preservatives)
1 egg, lightly beaten
8 ounces shredded carrots
8 ounces of mushrooms, sliced
1/2 Tbsp of dried parsley, plus more for topping if desired
1/4 tsp of pepper
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 and coat pan with cooking spray (recipe I adapted this from said to use a 10x15 but I only had 9x13 and that worked fine). Place spinach in medium microwavable safe bowl and microwave on high for 4 minutes. Mix in ricotta and egg.

In another bowl, combine alfredo sauce with milk and whisk together. Spread about 1/2 cup of sauce to cover bottom of pan (I used a little more since my pan was bigger). Place 3 uncooked noodles into pan on top of the sauce. Spread about half of the spinach mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle with half of the mushrooms and half of the carrots.

Place 3 more noodles on top of vegetables. Pour about 1 1/2 cups sauce over the noodles. Spread the remaining spinach mixture over the sauce, followed by layers of the remaining mushrooms and carrots. .Place 3 more noodles over the vegetables. Pour remaining sauce evenly on top. Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.

Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, spray side down. Bake for approximately 45 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover, and spoon some sauce over any exposed top noodles. Sprinkle with additional dried parsley. Tip: it will come out easier if you let it sit a few minutes before cutting.




Recipe source: adapted from Juanita Peek via allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-spinach-lasagna-with-white-sauce/detail.aspx