Great recipe, benefitted by some spice!
I compiled many of the suggestions here and came up with a version that I think tastes great.
1. I cook the zucchini separately from the rest of the veggies so they can have their own layer in the lasagna.
2. I heavily seasoned all the veggies with several big shakes of basil and oregano, salt (several large pinches), pepper and garlic. I added ~5 cloves to kick it up. I also threw in a few shakes of crushed red pepper.
3. I added garlic powder to the white/parmesan sauce. Butter would richen it up, but I wanted to try to keep it somewhat healthy.
4. I added some tomato slices to the top of the pile, then smothered it in mozz + parm cheese. It adds a nice flavor, and is a nice visual touch in my opinion...
5. I cook mine for about 45-50 minutes, uncovered, in order for the top to brown.
This is an overall good recipe. I was skeptical about cooking it at first because of the previous reviews stating that it was bland and time consuming. However you have to simply know your own taste when preparing any foods. As for the kitchen novice no excuses! I am a 21 year old college student who is just learning how to cook! As for complaints about the spinach mixture you must like spinach enoungh to withstand the bitter taste. I love spinach but still used more than enough pepper to hide the taste. I will agree that this does take longer than listed. But the max time it took me was approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. If you think about it it actually takes 60-90 mins to cook a store bought lasagna. Also I took the advice of some reviewers. I did add diced tomatoes added butter to the flour mixture to prevent the taste of flour reduced the amount of ricotta/cottage cheese used and increased the amount of parmesean. Now I ran short on veggies and cheese because the recipe does not state how many layers are suppose to be made. But the recipe still came out good having been my first time to cook lasagna and I do not mind eating what I have cooked for the next coupla days until it is gone!!!
I make a similar lasagna if you want to make it more flavorful substitute the sauce by adding a can of cream of celery soup to the ricotta cheese mixture you will love it!
The only problem I had with the recipe was the fact that it did not specify how many layers to make. I made two. I used 32 ounces in ricotta rather than using any cottage cheese. I substituted a cup of pesto for the spinach to give it a little more flavor. In addition I julienned the carrots and zucchini rather than slicing them with a mandoline. I also used 4 tablespoons of butter melting it in the saucepan before adding the flour. The flour has to cook a little with the butter to get rid of the "flour-y" flavor.
I was drawn to this recipe as it did not use marinara sauce. However I would caution anyone who is thinking about making it that it is extremely time consuming and bland. DEFINITELY ADD SOME SPICES!!
This was really good. I rated it 4 stars because it really could have used a hint of tomato somewhere maybe even chopped or diced and added to the layers. I made a healthier version by using all reduced fat cheeses and it was still really good. If you're vegetarian or a healthy eater you'll love this one.
I doubled the sauce in this recipe and it still wasn't really enough...kind of a dry lasagna but very very tasty!! I added more veggies...broccoli yellow squash zucchini onion carrots fresh mushrooms garlic and plenty of parmesan cheese too!!
We served this to over 200 people after I had tried it at home a few times and got many compliments. Make sure you saute the vegetables especially the carrots and then cook the appropriate amount of time. Thanks Rachel this was wonderful.
I love lasagna and this as as good as the tomato version! I made this recipe but used frozen vegetables instead of fresh to save time and added basil to the spinach mixture. I'll definitely make this again and again!!! April
