A Sunday in the Kitchen

This weekend brought a variety of activities that kept me running around town.  On Friday night, I taught an interviewing workshop at Wake Correctional for 30+ inmates.  Because my coworker wasn't allowed in by the correctional officer at the gate, I was left alone to teach the class.  The workshop went very well though.  Considering the students had nowhere else that they needed to be, they asked great questions and really paid attention. 

On Saturday, I started my day with a morning run.  Because I've relied so heavily on my YMCA membership over the past few months (and neglected my regular runs), it was quite a challenge to re-introduce my legs to running.  Annie definitely appreciated the outing though!  The rest of Saturday was taken up with seeing my best friend in a wedding dress for the first time (gasp, we really are of the marrying age!), volunteering in Cary, and babysitting until the wee hours of Sunday morning.

By the time I rolled out of bed on Sunday to go to church, I had all kinds of recipes dancing in my head for a relaxing afternoon in the kitchen.  Cookies? Mexican food? Lasagna?  I finally decided to try a recipe from Moosewood Cafe, one of my favorite cookbooks.  Enjoy!

3 things about this recipe:

1. You don't have to pre-cook the noodles, nor do you have to buy the no-cook noodles.  The extra sauce of the recipe cooks the noodles to perfection!
2. With less cheese in this lasagna, this recipe is low fat...347 calories per serving and 8.6g Fat.  Not too shabby!
3. Buy canned whole tomatoes (all the time) instead of crushed or diced tomatoes.  Tomato canning companies use the highest quality tomatoes for canned whole tomatoes and scrape the scraps into the crushed and diced tomato pile.  Plus, it's so fun to crush the tomatoes by hand!

Vegetable Lasagna Bechamel
1 T. canola or other Veg. oil
2 T. unbleached white flour
2 1/2 cups 1% Milk
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped leeks, white and tender green parts

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 cups peeled and diced carrots
1 zucchini, chopped

1/2 cup peeled and diced broccoli stalks

2 1/2 cups broccoli florets

3 cups canned whole tomatoes, 28-oz. can

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

3/4 pound uncooked lasagna noodles

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup grated low fat mozzarella

Warm oil in a small sauce pan and then stir in flour. Slowly whisk in milk, 1/2 cup at a time. Continue to cook, stirring often, until sauce thickens a bit.  Bechamel will not be very thick at the end. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a heavy non-stick skillet, on medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add garlic, leeks, and thyme and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add wine, carrots, and broccoli stalks, cover, and simmer for about 5 min. Add broccoli florets and zucchini, cover and cook for 3-4 min, until all veggies are tender but still firm. Add salt and pepper to taste, and set aside.

Pour canned tomatoes and juice into a bowl and crush tomatoes by hand.  Add fresh basil and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare an 8x12 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Assemble the lasagna. Layer half of tomato-basil mixture on the bottom of the dish, then add a single layer of noodles, half of veggies, a cup of bechamel, 1/4 cup of Parmesan and 2 T. of mozzarella cheese. Top with a second layer of noodles, the rest of the veggies, and bechamel sauce.  Add a third layer of noodles, the rest of tomato-basil mixture of remaining cheeses.

Cover and cook for 50 minutes. Uncover and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Allow the lasagna to rest for 10 minutes before serving.