Vegetable lasagna

So, here it is...my first post on my "foodie blog." After being in a serious cooking "slump" over the holidays, I'm back in business in the kitchen and enjoying it. Hence, the idea for a food blog. I think about food a lot. It's a big part of my life and I'm constantly learning more about it. I thought this blog would be a good way for me to keep track of things I've made. And I'll be honest here as well. If I've made something that wasn't all that great, I'll keep it real and let you know. I'll most likely focus most of my health and weight loss posts here as well. I may play around with both blogs for awhile before I figure out what will work best, so hang on for the ride.

For dinner tonight, I made the vegetable lasagna from Cooking Light, Oct. 2007 issue, (pg. 173). If you're googling it, it's probably under "Colorful Vegetable Lasagna." I got crazy and even made the huge batch of homemade marinara sauce that it calls for. I made that around lunchtime while the boys were at school, and let me tell you, my entire house smelled like Heaven. It was amazing! I ended up using about 3 cups of the sauce for the lasagna and froze the rest for future meals. I'm glad I did because I was able to store about 8 cups in the freezer. I'll definitely be using that for my baked penne pasta in the future.



I used whole wheat lasagna noodles for this recipe. I always use something other than just plain white pasta. I feel so guilty using the white stuff and to me, the whole wheat pastas, or even quinoa pasta taste just as good or even better than the over-processed pastas.
The recipe also packed colorful bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini.


The recipe called for fat free ricotta, but I tend to stay away from fat free items. I opt for the part-skim.

It turned out great! I also served it with a tossed salad topped with pears and TJ's candied pecans, and toasted whole wheat sourdough bread (also from TJ's).
Yes folks, our bellies are full tonight. And there's tons of leftovers. We should have had people over for dinner to help us eat it!

As a special dessert (especially for the boys), we had cupcake sundaes. I picked up a pack of 4 chocolate cupcakes from the frozen section of TJ's. Cut each one in half, topped it with vanilla ice cream, cherries, and let the boys go to town with the sprinkles.
What I loved about this meal was the process of making it. I've always loved making Italian food. There's something soothing to me to sauté garlic and onions in a pot, add the tomatoes, spices, and let it simmer. The smells are amazing.