Adventures of a Young Foodie: Back to the Grind and Vegetable Lasagna

So today was my first day of classes of my last semester of my second year of college!! Boy I feel old! Well, I guess technically it still is my first day of classes because I have one more class from 6-8. It's storytelling for film and television and it's kind of just meant to be a fun class! See...I was originally minoring in business because I thought it would look good and be useful and I like math and accounting stuff. But I soon realized that it was going to be A LOT of work for something I don't need at all and it wasn't even the stuff I liked and it was like 77 credit hours (slight exaggeration). So case in point..(or is the expression "case and point"? hmmm) I decided to take everyone's advice and let my minor be something fun that I will enjoy. So.....MOVIES! AND TV! YAY! The end.

While I am kind of glad to be back, I just hate the leaving my mother behind part. I mean really...parents should get free housing so they can live near their children and do their laundry and watch TV with them and COOK FOR THEM! It especially sucks because now there's no big, dumb dog following her around all over the house anymore to keep her company. So she needs a new dog! They are wonderful companions and also keep you safer. Except for Skipper...he mostly just slept on the couch and ignored any strange sounds. But anyway, I had a dream she got a husky puppy. Of course I was still in high school during this dream and I know she would definitely not get a puppy, but still... I also miss my kitchen. A lot. But here is the last meal I made before returning to the wonderful city of Boston. I'm rather famous (among friends and family) for my vegetable lasagna. And my mother always makes me cook it before I leave so she can freeze the rest and keep eating it all during the semester. It's like I'm not even gone! So hear it is ladies and gentlemen, my famous Vegetable Lasagna!

VEGETABLE LASAGNA

INGREDIENTS

Olive oil
Any and all vegetables you have on hand that you would like to get rid of. (I used 1 green pepper, 1 onion, 1 container of mushrooms, a handful of fresh spinach, about 1/2 cup of leftover brocolli and a few chopped up carrots)
3-4 cloves of garlic
15 oz container ricotta cheese
1/2-1 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 egg
A ball of fresh mozzarella sliced in thin circles
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 box oven-ready (no-boil) lasagna noodles

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop up all your veggies into bite-sized pieces and sautee them in olive oil until tender. You may need to do this in a few batches, especially if you use A LOT of vegetables like me!

2. While the veggies are cooking, combine garlic, ricotta, parmesan, spices, egg, and salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl, reserving some of the parmesan cheese to sprinkle on the top at then end.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and cover bottom with enough marinara sauce to coat. Layer 4 lasagna noodles (or as many will fit across) on top of the sauce.

5. Next add half of the vegetable mixture and top with half of the ricotta mixture. Top with 4 more lasagna noodles.

6. Add enough sauce to cover the noodles and add half of the mozzarella slices. Top with remaining vegetables.

7. Add another layer of sauce and 4 more lasagna noodles. Top with remaining ricotta mixture and 4 more noodles.

8. Cover in sauce and remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle reserved parmesan over top to cover.

9. Cover with aluminum foil (sprayed with non-stick spray on the side that will be touching the lasagna) and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. With about ten minutes to go, remove the aluminum foil to brown the cheeses on top.

10. Enjoy! Without guilt! I mean come on...look how delicious that looks!!
**Disclaimer: it gets less healthy the more servings you shovel into your mouth. Unfortunately.