I grew up with vegetarian lasagna. My mom always kept it simple with a classic cheese version or occasionally a spinach twist. My meat eating husband has a hard time understanding why any meal would ever go green so I often work to make some sort of compromise sneaking in extra veggies while not eliminating the meat. My newest take on a classic lasagna featured a smoky andouille sausage and eggplant base with a spinach laden cheese layer and my favorite whole wheat no boil noodles by DeLallo. The result was a super rich and thick lasagna that didn’t make me feel like I also needed to serve a veggie on the side.
DeLallo 100% Whole Wheat No Boil Lasagna Noodles
1 jar of pasta sauce
1 160z package of shredded mozzarella
1 8 oz container of ricotta
Shredded Parmesan
1 egg
1 frozen spinach, defrosted and drained of access water
1 eggplant
3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 mushrooms (I used crimini)
½ zucchini
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 pork andouille sausages
2 tbs EVOO
Peal and chop eggplant, mushrooms and zucchini. Heat EVOO in a large saute pan, add garlic, Italian seasoning and vegetables to the pan. Add the sausage (without the casing) and saute for 5-10 min or until the eggplant has browned and broken down and the sausage is cooked. In a small bowl mix together ricotta, ¼ c Parmesan, egg and spinach and set aside. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with a thin layer of sauce, place one layer of noodles on top of the sauce, cover noodles with the spinach and cheese mixture, then a layer of the eggplant and sausage mixture and a layer of mozzarella. Start the process over again and finish with a layer of noodles, sauce and a mix of mozzarella mixed with extra Parmesan.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 min covered and another 20 min uncovered.
