Recipe: Vegetable Lasagna

Last night, I decided that I needed to clear a few things out of my pantry and fridge.  I found half of a box of lasagna noodles, half of a red bell pepper, half of an orange bell pepper, 1 zucchini, a red onion, and one bunch of kale.  After seeing these ingredients, I thought, "Why not try a vegetable lasagna?"  I gave it my best try, and I'm glad I did.  The result was a creamy, cheesy, vegetable-y lasagna that really hit the spot.  I hope that you and your family will enjoy this recipe as much and my family and I did!

Vegetable Lasagna

6 lasagna noodles
1 bunch of kale (stems removed and roughly chopped into pieces)
1 bell pepper (red, orange, yellow, green....or a combination of 2.....diced)
1 red onion (diced)
1 zucchini (diced)
3 tablespoons of butter or butter substitute (Smart Balance)
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
3 cups of skim milk
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 cups of low fat cottage cheese
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
8 ounce package of low fat mozzarella (shredded)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan
Kosher salt to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil and more for drizzling

1.  Boil the noodles in liberally salted water for the amount of time stated on the box.  Once cooked, drizzle a little bit of olive oil on the noodles to prevent sticking and set aside for later use.
2.  Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot.  Add the kale, bell pepper, red onion, and zucchini.  Salt to taste.  Saute until soft.  Remove the vegetables from the pot and set aside for later use.
3.  In the same pot that you used for cooking the vegetables, heat the butter.  After the butter has melted, add the flour and stir.  Cook the flour for about 1-2 minutes just to get the raw flour taste out.  Whisk in the milk and garlic.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.  Salt to taste.  After the sauce has thickened to a nice gravy consistency, add the 1/4 cup of Parmesan and stir until combined.  Set aside for later use.
4.  In a small bowl, combine the cottage cheese, egg, dried oregano, and dried basil.  Mix until combined.  Set aside for later use.
5.  In an 8x8 glass casserole dish, begin layering the lasagna.  Start with a ladle full of sauce.  Then, put a layer of noodles (cut the noodles to size....you should be able to use only 2 noodles per layer).  Top the noodles with half of the cottage cheese mixture.  On top of that, sprinkle a third of the shredded mozzarella.  Spread half of the veggie mixture for the next layer.  Spread a third of the remaining white sauce on top of the vegetables.  Repeat for the second set of layers.  End with a layer of noodles.  On top of the last layer of noodles, spread the last third of the white sauce.  Sprinkle the top with the remaining mozzarella and the 1 tablespoon of Parmesan.
6.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Serve once the lasagna has had a chance to cool a bit.