Sarah's vegetable lasagna

This has been one of my most successful dishes. It takes a while to prepare, but I think the results are worth it. I wanted to create a lasagna that included red sauce but not meat, and I quickly found out why most vegetable lasagnas use a cream sauce -- it takes a big punch of vegetables to stand up to the flavor of tomato sauce.

Ingredients

• Lasagna noodles to make three 9x13 layers (usually 9)
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (fresh mozzarella is really nice)

Cheese Mixture

• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• pinch nutmeg

Vegetable Mixture

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 green bell peppers, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 large zucchini, grated
• 2 loosely-packed cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 2 tsp salt

Sauce

• 2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• (or replace both above ingredients with 24 oz. tomato passata)
• 2 tsp parsley
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 bay leaves

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Mix all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan, and place over low to medium heat until the rest of the preparation is finished. Be sure to remove the bay leaves before using the sauce.

Saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper in olive oil until the onion is cooked. Add water and wine. Add carrot, zucchini, spinach, and salt. Simmer over medium heat for about five minutes, until the spinach is wilted and lots of liquid has been produced. Drain the excess liquid.

Mix ricotta, cottage, and parmesan cheeses with salt and pepper to form the cheese mixture.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13 glass pan with non-stick spray, and spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Lay down one layer of noodles. Spread half of the cheese mixture, then half of the vegetable mixture, and then about one-third of the remaining sauce on top. Add another layer of noodles, all of the remaining cheese mixture, almost all of the remaining vegetable mixture (reserve about 1/2 cup for the top), and half of the remaining sauce. Add one more layer of noodles, the reserved vegetables, and all of the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella cheese over the top.

In other words, from the bottom up: non-stick spray, thin sauce layer, noodles, cheese, vegetables, sauce, noodles, cheese, vegetables, sauce, noodles, a few vegetables, sauce, mozzarella cheese.

Cut a piece of aluminum foil to fit the pan, and spray one side of the foil thoroughly with non-stick spray. Wrap the foil, spray-side down, tightly around the pan. Bake 35-40 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling well. Remove the foil and bake 5-10 additional minutes, to melt the mozzarella cheese. You may wish to reduce baking times if you are using a metal pan instead of glass.