Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Balsamic roasted vegetables layered with a rich hearty meat sauce, this healthy lasagna is flavor packed. {vegetarian, gluten & dairy-free options}

In my flavor-obsessed opinion, this is the crème de la crème of lasagnas. That’s saying a lot because I do not have any personal food allergies and can eat any cheesy covered lasagna that I dang well please. Why may you ask is it so scrumptious? Because of the slow roasted balsamic vegetables that are so good they should be illegal.I developed this recipe for Nate for our first Valentine’s dinner together as a married couple. I wanted to bring together my loves (vegetables) with his (meat) into one MEGA delicious lasagna, and let me tell you folks – I nailed it. Not only this, but I did it gluten and (cow’s milk) dairy free!One of the keys to any excellent lasagna is to use fresh herbs.  I made this mason jar indoor herb garden a few months back and have absolutely LOVED it. It’s so nice to be able to grab a handful of fresh herbs to throw in whatever you are cooking that night, without having to plan a trip to the grocery store!  I made the lovely farmhouse style cedar box they are in from some free scrap wood I found laying around at Home Depot. High five!! It was such a fun project and actually pretty simple to put together. I roughly followed along with this Woodbox DIY tutorial if you are interested in making your own!Regardless of food allergies you should make this recipe. The great thing is that it is super easy to customize! Vegetarian? Take out the meat, no major love lost because you still have amazing flavor packed in by the veggies. I use gluten free noodles and a secret dairy free cheese recipe, which are easy to sub out if you don’t have dairy or gluten allergies. However this lasagna is perfect “as is” and I promise you won’t even miss the ricotta cheese!Since our trip to Italy a few years back, we learned that Nate does not have the same reaction to goat or sheep cheese as he does to cheese made from cow’s milk. While all mammal milks are classified as dairy, they have slightly different compositions, which is why some people may be allergic to cow’s milk but able to tolerate goat or sheep’s milk. In Italy they commonly use a sheep cheese called Pecorino, which was Nate’s first introduction to this “whole new world of cheese”. When we came back from our trip we visited local and specialty grocery stores and learned that there are SO many different types of sheep cheese. One of our favorites that I use in this recipe (along with goat cheese) is Manchengo, which can be found at most local grocery stores. If you are allergic to dairy I urge you to try some of these and see if they work for you! Also, if you know that you cannot have these or any type of dairy cheese, then my recommendation is to use almond or nut cheeses, they seem to have the best flavor. I prefer the Lisanatti Mozzarella Style Almond Shred Cheese for this recipe. For years I only made this lasagna with it and the diary free ricotta (see recipe), and it was just as delicious!A couple of quick tips:

• Use no-boil noodles if possible to save on time, since this recipe is enough work as it is.
• This recipe is fairly time intensive (like most homemade lasagnas). If you are short on time I recommend making the sauce a day ahead. Also, you can make the whole lasagna the day before if you have guests or dinner party – it stays great in the fridge unbaked overnight.
• I recommend making two pans of this lasagna, since it’s a small amount of additional work, and then you have one ready and waiting for you in the freezer. Freeze before or after baking, both work great.

Oh heavenly lasagna. You make the world a better place.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

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Balsamic roasted vegetables layered with a rich hearty meat sauce, this healthy lasagna is flavor packed. {vegetarian, gluten & dairy-free options}

• Author: The Saucy Fig
• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

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Sauce

• 1 jar pasta sauce (I like Bertolli or Classico tomato basil)
• 1 lb. lean ground beef (optional)
• 1 sweet yellow onion, diced
• Italian parsley, basil and oregano to taste (fresh is always better! but dry will work too)

Roasted Vegetables

• 1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped bell peppers (I like to use a mix of colors: red, yellow, orange)
• 1 cup broccoli florets, cut to small, bite size pieces
• 1 cup butternut squash, pealed and diced small (I like to use the bag of pre-chopped from Costco)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoon Italian Herb seasoning*
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Ricotta Cheese Substitute

• 12 oz block Extra Firm Silken Tofu
• 1 teaspoon honey or agave
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
• 1 bag of Mozzarella Style Almond Shred Cheese (or if you can tolerate sheeps milk try 1-2 cups shredded Pecorino or Manchego)
• handful of fresh herbs, chopped (basil, Italian parsley, etc.)

Other Ingredients

• 1 box no boil brown rice lasagna noodles
• 1-2 cups shredded cheese of choice (almond mozzarella, manchego or pecorino)
• Chopped fresh herbs to sprinkle over the top (basil, Italian parsley, rosemary, etc.)

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Sauce: Cook the ground beef in a skillet with diced onion until meat is completely cooked.  Add the marinara sauce and balsamic vinegar to taste.  Season with dry or fresh herbs (or a combo.) Ex: Italian parsley, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Let simmer on low with lid on.
3. Roasted Vegetables: Heat olive oil in a large roasting pan (or cast iron skillet) over medium high heat. Combine all of the chopped veggies, garlic, balsamic vinegar and herbs in the pan and stir to coat the vegetables evenly.  Cook on medium high heat, stirring frequently.  Once they start to brown, reduce heat and continue to cook on medium/low until they are fork tender and have shrunk in size by more than half of what you started with.
4. Ricotta Cheese Substitute: In a small bowl mash the drained tofu with a fork or crumble with your hands.  Mix in the remaining ingredients until well combined. (I add in the Mozzarella Almond Cheese to make it easier instead of sprinkling that on the lasagna separately).
5. Preparing the Lasagna: Spoon 1-2 cups marinara sauce into the bottom of a 13×9 in pan to cover the bottom of the pan.  Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles in the bottom of the pan. Cover evenly with the roasted vegetables, pressing down with a spatula to make a dense, compact layer of veggies.  Top with another layer of noodles and press down. Spread the ricotta cheese mixture evenly over the noddles. Top with another layer of noodles and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese and fresh herbs over the top. You can either use shredded almond mozzarella for a completely dairy free version, or a combination of crumbled goat cheese and/or sheeps cheese (pecorino or manchego for those who are sensitive to cows milk).
6. Bake the lasagna at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until hot and bubbling and the noodles are tender.  Check after 40 minutes to see if the top is browning, if cheese begins to brown too much cover loosely with tin foil.

Notes

*Instead of the Italian Seasoning, you can just use a combination of dried herbs such as Rosemary, marjoram, thyme, savory, sage, oregano and/or basil. Just add in small amounts to taste.

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