Lasagna is one of those meals in which it is possible to hide many things that my boys will not normally eat. This time I added some zucchini and spinach. Ha ha! It's great when they don't even know they are eating veggies.
I love homemade pasta and while it is some extra work, if I have the time it is worth it. This time I tried spinach noodles and don't you love this picture of the dough? It looks Shrek-ish.
I don't have any pasta making equipment (though I wouldn't mind if I did!) so I made these the old fashioned way with a rolling pin and pizza cutter.
While my second-born was averse to the lasagna as a whole he really liked the pasta. Maybe next time I will make a little extra and cut it into thin strips for a bowlful for him.
(By the way, that is not a hair in the lasagna, that is my scratched up dish! Waa.)
I found the pasta recipe here, but I am including it in this post with my alterations to make it whole wheat. The lasagna recipe is altered from the back of a Ronzoni lasagna pasta box.
Whole Wheat Spinach Lasagna Pasta
Yield: 12 noodles (serving size: 1 noodle)
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten flour
3 Tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry, or fresh chopped spinach
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons milk
Preparation
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Place flour, spinach, and salt in a food processor; pulse 3 times or until blended. With processor on, slowly pour oil, milk, and eggs through food chute; process until dough forms a ball. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Or put dough into a bread maker or other machine with a dough hook and knead by machine. Dust dough lightly with flour; let stand 10 minutes.
Divide dough into 4 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, pass the dough through smooth rollers of the pasta machine on the widest setting. Continue moving width gauge to narrower settings; pass dough through rollers once at each setting, dusting with flour, if needed. Repeat procedure with remaining dough. Or roll out with a rolling pin. Cut each pasta sheet into 3 (11 x 2-inch) strips. Hang pasta on a wooden drying rack for 10 minutes. Cook pasta in boiling water 4 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Spinach Lasagna
Ingredients
1-1 1/2 pounds ground beef or sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
26 oz. jar favorite spaghetti sauce
1 can tomatoes or 15-20 oz fresh tomatoes, skins removed and seed slime squoze out (I used tomatoes from our garden that I had frozen.)
1-1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen shredded zucchini
2-3 teaspoons beef base
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons sugar
16 oz. ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh parsley (optional--I didn't add this because I'm scared of fresh parsley but it might be good!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
9-12 lasagna pasta sheets, cooked
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown meat and onion, adding garlic in at the end of browning. Drain off excess fat. Puree tomatoes and zucchini until smooth (this is a necessary step for us because texture is unwelcome by certain young ones, but you may only want to chop, grate, crush, whatever, to get your desired texture). Add tomatoes, zucchini, spaghetti sauce, beef base, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, and sugar to the meat and onion. Season to taste and simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce has reached desired thickness.
While sauce is simmering, in a medium bowl stir together ricotta cheese, half of the mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt, and pepper. (I skipped the cheese filling this time because I didn't have any ricotta on hand, but it's better with it, of course!)
When sauce is thickened, spread 1 cup on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Arrange 3-4 cooked pasta sheets lengthwise over the sauce; cover with 1 cup of sauce (or more if needed). Sprinkle 1 cup of the chopped spinach on top of sauce. Spread one-half of cheese filling over spinach. Repeat layers of pasta, sauce, spinach, and cheese filling. Top with layer of pasta and remaining sauce: sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and a little more Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes uncovered or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 12 servings.
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