early preparation means an easy dinner

*Breakfast: Slow-cooked oatmeal with a sprinkling of raspberries on top.

*Lunch: Kalamata tofu sandwich (courtesy another fill-in day at the Co-op), chips and onion dip

*Dinner: Vegetarian lasagna

I really like this lasagna recipe, despite the fact that it takes about an hour to prep and another hour and a half to cook. At first, it needed some help in the flavors department (more garlic, more cheese, more spices), but now that we've used it quite a few times, we've gotten a lot of the kinks out. I like that it uses spinach and zucchini as its main veggies. I've also substituted kale for the spinach.

Vegetable Lasagna Recipe
10 ounces spinach, chopped
12 ounces low-fat cottage cheese
2 egg whites, beaten
2 teaspoons oil
¾ cup onion, minced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
14.5 ounces tomatoes, chopped (2 cans diced tomatoes)
¼ cup fresh parsley, minced (or 1tsp dried)
¼ cup burgundy or dry red wine
¼ cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons basil
1½ teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
6 lasagna noodles, uncooked
5 cups zucchini, thinly sliced (approx. 1 large zucchini, or 2 small)
5 ounces mozzarella, shredded (at least)
2 tablespoon parmesan, grated (at least)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine spinach, cottage cheese, and egg whites in a large bowl. Stir well and set aside.

Add oil to a large saucepan and place over medium high heat. Sauté onion until tender, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic, and sauté another 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, parsley, wine, tomato paste, basil, oregano, brown sugar, pepper, and salt. Stir well. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 10 minutes. Don't let it get too dry. Remove from heat and set aside.

Coat A 12 X 8 X2 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon ⅓ tomato mixture into baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles lengthwise in a single layer over mixture. Top with half the spinach mixture. Layer half the zucchini over spinach. Sprinkle with ½ cup mozzarella (and some parmesan for more cheesiness). Repeat layers. Top with remaining tomato mixture.

Bake uncovered for 90 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup mozzarella and parmesan. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.