Lasagna... What a mess, but worth it?

I found this recipe on Pinterest a week or so ago. Since I have two boxes of lasagna noodles in my cabinet and usually have the produce needed on hand I decided to put it in my menu plan for this week.

Like all lasagna, this requires a considerable amount of prep, the thing I hate most about lasagna. The blog about this recipe touts it as a great left over recipe, it probably is but I never have these items cooked and left over.

See here...http://thekitchykitchen.blogspot.com/2012/02/roasted-butternut-squash-sauteed.html

So my prep began. I used her recipe as a guide, I changed quantities to make for the three of us.

-1 purple onion sliced thin, sautéed in olive oil until caramelized
1/2 a package of baby Bella mushrooms chopped, sautéed with onions

Sautéed above, added mushrooms after onions were almost done. Pressed 1 garlic clove into pan, added salt and pepper and dried italian seasoning then added spinach. Cover until wilted. Mix together. Set aside.

While that was going I peeled and chopped my squash. I reserved 1/2 of it for another meal and roasted the other half with olive oil and salt and pepper at 400 for 45 minutes.

Mixed my Ricotta until smooth (note: I hate Ricotta, so I bought a local, organic Ricotta at Whole Foods--- if I'm gonna make myself try it again I'm going from broke here!). I got about 1/2 pound of local Ricotta and mixed dried Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Get your fresh Mozzarella cheese. I got 2 medium size balls. Slice thin, tip put them in the freezer for 5 minutes first.

Finally make a basic béchamel sauce and stir in parmesan cheese at the end.

Time to layer! I used a 9x9 glass dish and no boil flat lasagna noodles.

Spray your pan with olive oil (invest in a misto bottle, get rid of that spray Pam!) place a layer of noodles, I used 2. Top with 1/3 of Riccota, 1/3 of veggies, a few slices of motz, about 1/4 of your sauce. Repeat 2 more times

Top with remaining sauce and cheese. Grate Parmesan on top.

Put in a 325 oven covered with foil for 35 minutes. Test noodles, if soft broil top til golden. Let stand 5 minutes and devour!

Note: my method above made 4 healthy portions. Only thing I would change is double the squash to a whole squash.

Also, deemed too cheesy for my 12 month old, she ate some filling and left overs.

Final verdict: 3 thumbs up!