Vegetarian Lasagna

I'm in our Club's Ice show this weekend and we have practice every night so I don't have a lot of energy to post - I hope to blog more about it later. In the mean time --here's the recipe for the lasagna I brought to our practice potluck tonight:

1 can diced tomatoes
About an inch from the tubed tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
2 Cups Red wine
2 cloves garlic
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped fine
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 celery stalks chopped fine
2 carrots grated
Handful of chopped mushrooms
handful of cut up fresh spinach
1/4 cup brown sugar
a few shakes celery salt
Penzeys California Pepper mix
Pepper
Pinch Cayanne pepper
about 1/2 inch tubed basil
dry basil
1/2 tsp dry Penzeys Italian Herbs (or Basil and Oregano)
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
1 Cup Ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp sugar
1/2 Cup real fresh mozzarella, (sold in a white ball) grated
1 Cup regular shredded mozzarella
*Note - fresh mozzarella is the best and if you have the money and the time to grate real mozzarella then use just that and skipped the regular stuff
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan Cheese
6-9 strips lasagna pasta

Preheat Oven 350

Heat your pan - low. Remember - hot pan - cold oil - food won't stick.

Add a couple of tablespoons olive oil. Keep your heat low and add garlic - watch carefully - garlic burns easily. Add onions, peppers and celery and saute until onions are transparent. Add grated carrots. Add a tiny bit of cayenne pepper- just to make it interesting. Add celery salt, pepper and Italian herbs. Shake a little balsamic vinegar -cook that until it evaporates- add 1/4 Cup wine and about an inch of the tubed tomato paste. Stir and saute for awhile until it's thick. Add tomato sauce and the rest of the wine and brown sugar. Simmer for about 20 minutes or so. Add mushrooms last 10 minutes.

Cook pasta according to directions.

In a bowl mix the Ricotta cheese with the egg, about 1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese, 1 tsp sugar and about 1/2 inch from the tubed basil.

Cut the fresh spinach into strips.

Spray a 13 x 9 glass pan (or whatever you have about that size) and layer 3 or 4 (or whatever fits) pasta on the bottom. Spread the Ricotta mixture on the pasta with a spatuala. Layer the fresh spinach on top of that. Layer the tomato mixture on top of that. Add about 1/4 cup grated fresh mozzarella on top of that. Add a layer of 3 or 4 lasagna strips on top of that. Spread about a tsp of plain tomato sauce (not the vegtable mixture) Add the regular mozzarella and the rest of the Parmesan on top of that. Sprinkle with basil leaves. Bake about 30-35 minutes.