Veg Packed Lasagna

I will joyfully seize any opportunity to add more vegetables into a dish. Lasagna in particular lends itself well to this goal. This recipe is a home run. It makes a lot and you never stop hearing rave reviews.

First of all, the base of great lasagna is the sauce. I refuse to use spaghetti sauce out of the jar on principle because of the ridiculous amount of added sugar. Simple tomato sauce made from crushed tomatoes works really well. I slipped in some shredded carrots because, why not?

I am not really a big fan of ricotta. For having such a high calorie count, it just doesn't do anything for me. Cottage cheese is a fairly common substitute for ricotta in lasagna but I went a step further and added crated cauliflower. For richness, I added a little bit of sour cream.

The meat layer I augmented with one of the meatiest greens, collard greens! It truly is a great combination.


Ingredients

• Box of no boil lasagna noodles
• 2 cups of mozzarella cheese
• "Ricotta" layer
• 1 pint of cottage cheese
• 1 grated head of cauliflower
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• Sauce layer
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 onion
• 3+ cloves of garlic
• 1 cup+ shredded carrot
• 1 can of tomato paste
• Meat layer
• 1 lbs or more of Italian bulk sausage
• 1 bunch of collard greens

Instructions

1. Sauce- Heat olive oil. Saute onions for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic for 30 seconds. Pour in crushed tomatoes. Turn down heat. Stir in shredded carrots. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Stir together all ingredients in "ricotta" layer.
3. Meat - Brown Italian sausage in large pot over medium heat. Stir in finely chopped collard greens. Cook until soft. 
4. Layer according to lasagna noodle package instructions. Top with remaining shredded cheese.

I froze the leftovers and they reheated perfectly.