I love lasagna. But I need more than just the regular pasta, beef and cheese that is in most lasagna recipes. I use it as an excuse to sneak some more vegetables into the pasta sauce and call it a lasagna with a twist. I often use onion and green peppers, but I used zucchini, onion, and Rotel this time. You can add shredded carrots, mushrooms, various peppers, and more as well.
This month, we had a lot of zucchini, so I have more shredded zucchini in the freezer than I know what to do with. My husband didn’t even notice it was in there. We also have 60 pounds of ground deer burger to use up, so I used that instead of beef. It all went together well!
Aromatic Lasagna With a Twist
Ingredients
- 9 noodles lasagna sheets
- 1 pound ground beef (minced beef)
- 1 quart Marinara sauce (tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions – pasta sauce in southern hemisphere for Italian seafood dish)
- 1 cup zucchini - or other vegetables
- 16 ounces Mozzarella cheese - shredded
- 15 ounces cottage cheese
- ½ medium yellow onion
- 1 medium egg - beaten
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic - minced
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon basil
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Brown the beef in a large skillet. Saute onions (and any other vegetables you choose, including mushrooms, green peppers, zucchini, or shredded carrots). Add spices and vegetables to the cooked meat.
- Next, stir in the pasta sauce and Rotel (optional) to the skillet and heat until warm.
- Bring water to a boil and cook lasagna noodles as directed. While they are cooking, mix together the cottage cheese, 8 ounces of mozzarella, and egg.
- When pasta is cooked, the lasagna is ready to assemble. Instead of spraying the pan with cooking spray, I add a thin layer of the pasta sauce to the bottom of the pan and then top with the pasta. Start with placing three lasagna noodles in the pan.
- Add half the cheese mixture and spread on top of the noodles.
- Spread a third of the meat sauce mixture on top of the cheese. Repeat with three more noodles, the remaining cheese mixture and a third of the meat sauce.
- Place the last three noodles, then top with the remainder of the meat sauce. Top with 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella.
- Cover with foil and cook for 35 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove foil and bake for 5 more minutes.
- Enjoy! I always make it the night before, cover and refrigerate, then cook the next day if I make it on a weeknight. You can also freeze it uncooked.