What's for dinner tonight?

I am back for the holidays in Ottawa which means I am in the mood to cook! Since my last vegetable lasagna turned out so well and this being my husband’s favourite meal (minus the meat), I decided to make it again.

I fried sliced mushrooms and crushed garlic in oil then turned up the heat and added a little red wine and salt & pepper (and set aside).

I fried some diced onion, thinly sliced eggplant, zucchini and then added the mushrooms back in and added a jar of tomato sauce.  If you’re not going to make your own sauce I would highly recommend buying a good quality sauce. Once cooked through (do not overcook the vegetables!), I turned up the heat, added a little more red wine and some fresh basil, chili flakes and salt & pepper.

I layered it in a casserole dish, starting with the vegetable and tomato mixture on the bottom, then cooked whole wheat lasagna noodles, a layer of light ricotta cheese then a mixture of part skim mozzarella/cheddar and parmesan cheese.  I repeated the layers two more times.

I baked the lasagna for 40 minutes at 350F and let cool for approximately 10 minutes.

The end result … quite delicious! And I’m sure it will taste better today.

Vegetable lasagna is easy to make and a great way to pump up your vegetable intake by incorporating your favourite veggies while endulging yourself in a satisfying meal.  The best part … you don’t miss the meat! Serve with a green salad and you are set.

Tip of the day: Using whole wheat lasagna noodles increases your intake of fibre and in my opinion tastes the same.

Adequate Intakes for fibre:

Women	Men	Children	Pregnancy
9-18 years 26g/day	9-13 years 31g/day	1-3 years 19g/day	28/day
19-50 years 25g/day	14-50 years 28g/day	4-8 years 25g/day	Lactation 29g/day
51 years and over  21g/day	51 years and over 30g/day	Infants n/a

References: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/reference/table/ref_macronutr_tbl-eng.php