Vegetable Lasagna

This is a vegetarian lasagna worth making and eating tonight! The lasagna's step of roasting the vegetables with copious amounts of garlic really brings out everything wonderful about eggplant and summer squash. The original Cook's Illustrated recipe leaves out the traditional layer of creamy ricotta—I put it back in because it just adds so much. This lasagna was supposed to have 3 layers of traditional noodles, however, I ran out of them. I substituted penne in the top layer, and I must say, the crunchy, nutty taste of it was intoxicating—like eating a slice of baked ziti (mmm...baked ziti). This makes 8 slices in a deep lasagna dish.

Penne Alla Vodka

This delicious pasta dish has subtle creamy flavor and richness. In the original recipe by Lidia Bastianich, she uses whole cream, however, a marvelous substitute for cream in sauces such as this is to blend nonfat cottage cheese and a little milk (depending on how thick you want your "cream") in a food processor. When you add the blended cottage cheese to the hot pan, it will separate a bit, but with heat, the cottage cheese should melt into the sauce. This dish is wonderful on its own, but if you wish to make this a complete meal, grill some garlic chicken (recipe to follow) and serve with a side salad.

Green Pasta Soup

This is a great hearty vegetarian soup. This soup is probably more suited for wintertime, but I couldn't resist the gorgeous greens at the market today. The recipe calls for a Parmigiano Reggiano rind. It's quite important to the overall flavor of the soup, so, hopefully, you can find it at your market.

Creamy Tomato Pasta

This is a vegetarian dish that can be made full-vegan, however, cheese-like nutritional yeast flakes act like MSG to which I am sensitive. Instead, I've made it with Parmigiano Reggiano. This sauce is so incredibly easy because most of it is made in a food processor.

No-Boil, Veggie-Tastic Lasagna

This gorgeous and absolutely addictive lasagna is wonderful because you can use any kind of lasagna noodle and not have to boil it first. The secret is just adding more liquid to the sauce and pressing the noodles firmly into the sauce. This recipe was originally a vegetarian entreé, however, my husband demanded a meaty lasagna. Make it vegetarian by taking out the meat and increasing the mushrooms to 3-4 grated mushrooms. Look below the recipe for my solution to garlic bread.

Hidden Veggie Spaghetti

My version of spaghetti sauce is absolutely packed to the brim with nutrients. All of the vegetables are pureed so that it's impossible for even the most picky eaters to identify individual veggie flavors. Note that this could easily be a vegetarian dish by substituting the ground turkey for diced mushrooms. To puree the vegetables, check out my Guide to Purees.

Turkey Stroganoff

Believe it or not, I get those occasional cravings for Hamburger Helper. I think we've all gone through the Hamburger Helper phase, and some of us may still be there. Well, you can have the convenience of a one-pot-meal-in-a-box without all of the preservatives and extra fat.