Spinach & Mushroom Lasagna

Lately I've been in the mood for lasagna, but since my husband isn't home for dinner, and Henry and I can't really make much of a dent ourselves, I haven't made one recently.  Luckily, tonight my friend Michal was coming for dinner with her daughters, so I finally had an excuse to make lasagna.

I have a wonderful lasagna recipe from my "second mom" growing up - Janie.  It's such a great recipe because aside from tasting good, you also don't need to cook the lasagna noodles first - and this was before "no-boil" lasagna noodles.  As per usual, I was short on some ingredients and had some others I wanted to add, so I modified the recipe a bit.  The main changes I made were adding mushrooms, cutting back on some tomato sauce, and adding Trader Joe's Eggplant Spread to the recipe.

It still came out great.  Henry not only had a full piece before our friends came over, but proceeded to have a few more bites once they were here.  It was a hit!

Janie's Famous Lasagna (slightly modified)
1 15-ounce container part-skim ricotta cheese
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 egg
2 cups frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/3 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups jarred tomato sauce
12 lasagna noodles, not cooked
1/4 cup Trader Joe's Eggplant Garlic Spread
1 cup water

1.  Preheat oven to 350.

2.  Combine ricotta, 1-1/4 cups mozzarella, egg, spinach, mushrooms, salt, oregano, and pepper.  Set aside.

3.  Pour a 1/4 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Layer 4 noodles on top.  Spread half the eggplant spread on top, and then half the ricotta mixture over that.  Top with 3/4 cup tomato sauce.  Repeat with 4 noodles, eggplant spread, ricotta mixture, and sauce.  Finish with 4 more lasagna noodles, a 1/4 cup tomato sauce, and 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella.  Pour 1 cup of water around the edges of the lasagna and cover tightly with foil.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Happy and (mostly) healthy eating!