Vegetable Lasagna Bake

This is a recipe that I do either in the crock pot or the oven depending on how much time I have. If I know I will be out all day I will get this prepared the evening before in my crock pot insert, stick it in, and leave it on for 5-6 hours on high. All of the ingredients go in uncooked, but the come out amazing. Cooking this dish in the oven takes a while. If you go easy on the prep by using raw meat and veggies the bake is going to take between 1 hour and 1 hour 40 minutes. Just like a normal lasagna, the resting period is important. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes. It gives you time to make a salad.  In this recipe I used eggplant and summer squash, (plus some roasted veggies we had left over from grilling). The beautiful thing is that you can pretty much use whatever your family likes. Sliced zucchini is excellent for layering. Roasted red peppers are a great layer. Chopped spinach or Swiss chard can be added to the ricotta layer too. Make it your own, and use what you have

Vegetable Lasagna Bake

Ingredients:

1 eggplant sliced
1 medium summer squash sliced
2 tomatoes sliced
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 eggs
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup Parmesan grated
1 lb ground meat (beef, sausage, turkey or a combination)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 cups (1 jar) tomato sauce
Olive oil
salt & pepper
Dried oregano

Directions:

1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare the ricotta cheese layer: in a small bowl combine ricotta cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, 2 eggs and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside for later.

2. In your crock pot or baking pan, pour 1 cup of tomato sauce. Arrange half of the eggplant in one layer on top of the sauce, and sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Crumble the raw ground meat onto the layered eggplant. Sprinkle the meat with garlic, onions, 1 cup mozzarella, salt and pepper. Next, layer the sliced summer squash on top of the meat. When the layer is finished, gently press down to flatten the meat layer. Sprinkle the squash with salt, pepper & oregano, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly on top of the summer squash. Layer the other half of the eggplant on top of the ricotta mixture. Cover with the remaining 1 cup of sauce, and top with 1 cup of mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan. (if you are making this in the crock pot leave the cheese off the top until you are almost ready to serve. Add the cheese about 5 minutes before and let it just melt. If the cheese is on top for the whole time it will turn into one big brown rubbery mess)

3. Bake at 400 for 1 hour and up to 1 hour, 30 minutes, or until the veggies are all soft and the sauce is bubbling rapidly. I usually test this by piercing the middle with a steak knife. Let the Bake rest for 30 minutes to set before you serve.