I could NEVER be a food blogger.
I make fabulous meals. I cook very tasty food. My family devours most things I put on their plates. However, I do not follow a recipe.
I recently made my first ever homemade lasagna. In this instance, I had THREE recipes I was working with and random substitutions of vegetables. It was honestly one of the most delicious foods I have ever baked.
I shared a picture on Facebook and was met with requests for the recipe. Here is what my wonderfully patient and loving friends received:
*DISCLAIMER: I don’t follow recipes well. I don’t ever make the exact same dish twice, because I don’t write down what I did…This is the best I can do from memory.
I used a 9x13 glass pan.
I set the oven at 350.
Bottom of pan was just tomato sauce -- pureed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic pepper, and tomato paste. I used three fresh tomatoes, a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste.
Then a layer of oven-ready lasagna noodles.
Veggie mix:
So separately, in a frying pan, I heated a capful of olive oil and sautéed a small onion (minced) and minced garlic plus liquid from the garlic jar. Once onions were clear, I added minced sweet orange pepper, white eggplant and a whole head of minced rainbow chard. (I minced all the veggies so they wouldn't really be so noticeable.) Then I added pureed tomatoes until the veggies actually looked like a spaghetti sauce - one can, two fresh and then a can of tomato paste and water.
I brought sauce to a boil then simmered while I made cheese sauce.
If you started with a spaghetti sauce you liked and just added minced veggies, the recipe might be easier. LOL I just had tomatoes I needed to use up. The original recipe called for squash and mushrooms and pepper, but I seem to have developed an allergy to squash and/or mushrooms, so I used veggies I had on hand (eggplant and chard). You could use spinach or broccoli or whatever. I think any veggie would suffice, because they are minced.
Cheese sauce:
1 tub (15 oz) of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup or so of parmesan (I used that green can stuff, but actually cheese would probably be better).
1 egg
Mix in bowl with fork until smooth.
Turn off veggies.
So, back to the lasagna making...
On top of the layer of noodles, I put a layer of cheese sauce and then sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. Then a layer of veggie mix. Then a made a layer of noodles. Then a layer of cheese, then sauce, then noodles. I topped with veggies that were left and baked for about 50 minutes.
I then doused with mozzarella cheese and baked until melted.
Remove pan from oven and let sit at least five minutes before cutting.
My kids each ate two bowls!!
