
Vegetable Ricotta Lasagna
Pasta is one of my favourite things to eat and lasagna tops the charts for pasta dishes in my books! I usually make my lasagna with ground chicken or turkey, but I decided to try out a full on vegetable ricotta lasagna for a change. Okay, who am I kidding… I, once again, had a boat load of vegetables in my fridge that I needed to use up in a hurry! I seem to over shop for vegetables, forgetting I am only cooking for two and constantly end up needing to find ways to use them up before they go to waste. This isn’t such a bad thing when it comes to trying to think of ideas for the blog, plus I get my vegetables in my diet!
This time I had a whole butternut squash, a huge bag of mushrooms and a few bell peppers to use up. I also had a tub of ricotta cheese that was nearing it’s expiry date, so enter vegetable ricotta lasagna!
Vegetable Ricotta Lasagna
To start out, I needed to pre-bake my butternut squash, so I skinned it and peeled it into thin slices. I put the slices on a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and drizzled olive oil all over and added salt and pepper generously over all the slices. I popped them into the oven and let them roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
While the squash was roasting I got a pot of water boiling and put the lasagna noodles into the water. Next I sliced up all of the mushrooms and peppers and set them aside.
Next I grated about 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, and set it aside until I was ready for it.
I scooped 2 cups of ricotta cheese into a bowl, added a beaten egg, 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and about 1 Tbsp. of Italian seasoning, and mixed everything well.
By now my lasagna noodles were done and ready to be strained and rinsed with cold water. As well, my squash was roasted, so I removed it from the oven.
Time for the assembly of the lasagna! I sprayed non-stick spray to a 9 x 13 deep casserole dish and started the layering. Everyone I think has a different method to lasagna making and I have no idea if I am doing this wrong, but it seems to really work!
Layer 1 – lasagna noodles
Layer 2 – roasted squash
Layer 3 – mushroom slices and bell pepper slices
Layer 4 – pasta sauce (I used Hunts, Thick and Rich Traditional – if it wasn’t a week night, I probably would have made my own from scratch, however a can or a jar of sauce will do the trick as well!)
Layer 5 – lasagna noodles
Layer 6 – ricotta cheese mixture
Layer 7 – lasagna noodles
Layer 8 – grated cheese
Bake the lasagna in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, until cooked and cheese is a nice and melted and starting to brown. Serve hot on it’s own, or with a side salad and garlic toast!

Vegetable Ricotta Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1/2 box of whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 1 cup sliced butternut squash
- Olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 cup sliced button mushrooms
- 2 bell peppers sliced
- 2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup each grated cheddar and mozzarella cheese
- 1 can or jar of your favourite pasta sauce
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Place butternut squash slices on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil all over and sprinkle salt and pepper generously over all the slices. Roast in oven for 30 minutes.
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Meanwhile, cook lasagna as per package directions.
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Scoop the ricotta cheese into a bowl, add the beaten egg, 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and 1 Tbsp. of Italian seasoning, and mix everything well.
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Strain cooked lasagna noodles and rinse under cold water. Remove squash from oven and start assembling the lasagna.
Spray a non-stick spray to a 9 x 13 deep casserole dish and layer lasagna as follows
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Layer 1 - lasagna noodles
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Layer 2 - roasted squash
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Layer 3 - mushroom slices and bell pepper slices
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Layer 4 - pasta sauce
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Layer 5 - lasagna noodles
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Layer 6 - ricotta cheese mixture
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Layer 7 - lasagna noodles
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Layer 8 - grated cheese
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Put lasagna in oven and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Do you save the cheesy top of the lasagna last because it’s the best part?!?