It's a vegetarian lasagna!
Now, I'm not vegetarian. Nor is DH. Sometimes, though, I just don't feel like eating meat. It's not a huge part of what I normally want to eat, and it sometimes it even upsets my stomach. I really could live without it, but I don't exactly cook for just myself; there's other people in this house that have to eat, and they like meat!
Tonight, however, is my night to cook, and I'm making a Healthified Kale and Portobello Lasagna, courtesy of the Food Network. It also gave me a chance to use my new mini food processor my mother gave me for Christmas. I can't wait to taste it! It's baking right now and it smells divine. I'm copied the recipe below:
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| Photo from The Food Network of what it "should" look like. |
Ingredients
1 cup coarsely chopped drained jarred red peppers (these were a little difficult to find in Superstore, but I finally found them. They look like this, or some variation. I purchased the President's Choice ones.)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
One 28-ounce can no-salt whole plum tomatoes
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1/4 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups grated part-skim fresh mozzarella cheese
2 large egg whites
One 15-ounce container part-skim ricotta cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
4 portobello mushrooms, stems discarded, caps sliced 1/4-thick
1 small bunch kale, stems discarded, leaves coarsely chopped (I found that 3 large and 1 small branch or whatever you call it worked.)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Nonstick cooking spray
9 sheets no-boil lasagna noodles
2 tbsp coarsly chopped fresh parsley
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Puree the peppers, oregano, tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and the sugar in a food processor or blender until smooth and set aside. Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese with the egg whites and ricotta cheese in a medium bowl
2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they have released their liquid and are tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the kale, in batches, and as it wilts add the pepper flakes, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt and continue to cook until the kale is wilted and bright green, an additional 5 minutes.
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| All 3 fillings just before I assemble the lasagna. Don't they look yummy? |
5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the noodles are tender and the sauce is bubbling around the edges of the pan, about 50 minutes.
6. Uncover, sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup grated mozzarella and continue to bake until melted, about 5 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes, sprinkle with parsley and serve.
