Lighter Vegetable Lasagna

This delicious vegetable lasagna is an easy, healthy way to get the whole family to eat more veggies. Swapping out ricotta for cottage cheese is just as flavorful with less fat and calories.

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1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Prepare the veggies. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Once shimmering, add the chopped carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, yellow onion, and salt. Cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until the veggies are golden on the edges, about 10-12 minutes.
3. Add a few large handfuls of baby spinach. Cook, stirring frequently until the spinach has wilted. Repeat this step with the remaining spinach and cook until all of the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat, drain excess water, and set veggies aside.
4. Pour 1 cup of the cottage cheese into your blender and blend it until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.
5. Transfer your cooked veggies and spinach mixture to the blender. Pulse in your blender until they are more finely chopped (but not puréed!), about 5 to 7 times, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Transfer the mixture to the bowl with the whipped cottage cheese. Top with the remaining cup of cottage cheese, then add ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt (to taste) and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine. Now it’s lasagna assembly time!
6. Spread ½ cup tomato sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9” by 9” baking dish. Layer 3 lasagna noodles on top (snap off their ends to fit, and/or overlap their edges as necessary). Spread half of the vegetable cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Top with ¾ cup tomato sauce, then sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top.
7. Top with 3 more noodles, followed by the remaining blended vegetable cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese on top.
8. Top with 3 more noodles, then spread ¾ cup tomato sauce over the top and evenly cover the noodles. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.
9. Wrap with foil around the top of the lasagna. Bake, covered, for 18-20 minutes, then remove the cover, rotate the pan by 180°, and continue cooking for about 10-12 more minutes, until the top is turning spotty brown.
10.  Remove from the oven and let the lasagna cool for 15-20 minutes, so it has time to set and cool down. Slice and serve!

Recipe developed by Alexa Carter.