Simple Vegetable Lasagna

**If you would prefer this recipe be vegan, then substitute vegan cheese for the cheese, and substitute a smashed firm tofu, salted with nutritional yeast, basil, olive oil, and a smidge of sugar in place of the ricotta. I have decided I much prefer real, organic, dairy to processed vegan "dairy" but the vegan route of this recipe is delicious too!

What you will need:
Two+ cups of marinara sauce (see my homemade recipe, previous to this one)
Olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 eggplant, peeled and diced
1 cup of spinach, washed
1 10 ounce package of gluten free lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cups of ricotta (I prefer full fat, organic ricotta-- I think being satisfied with my meals what keeps me lean, personally)
1 handful of fresh basil, minced
Black pepper
Salt
1/4 cup of shredded parmesan
1 cup of shredded asiago, romano, mozzarella, and parmesan (use whatever combination makes you happy)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and begin your lasagna making ritual by having your sauce ready-- in my case I prepare mine right before making this recipe.
Then, boil ten quart pot of water for your lasagna noodles.
This is the kind I buy when I don't feel like making pasta from scratch:

While the water is boiling, saute the onion, in a pan on medium high in a scant amount of olive oil, until it becomes translucent. Add garlic and diced eggplant. Add a bit of broth or water if the eggplant begins to stick. Cook until the eggplant is soft, about 7 minutes.

Once your eggplant is soft, add your spinach, and a pinch of salt for taste. And remove from heat. The spinach will wilt on its own between being with the warm eggplant and once it goes into the oven to bake in the lasagna.

If the water is boiling at this point, add your lasagna noodles and keep a timer-- you want them al dente as they will continue to get soft in the oven once they are baking.

Add your ricotta cheese to a bowl with a pinch of pepper, the minced fresh basil as well as fresh grated parmesan.

Drain your lasgana noodles when they are ready and rinse they gently with cold water to keep them from sticking to one another.

Grate your cheese--- on this occasion I used a mixture of asiago, mozzarella and parmesan. You can use any combination or single cheese that you would like.

Now you can start your lasagna, on this evening I was making two small lasagnas, so I used two 8x8" baking dishes. Normally you can use a 13x9" or so rectangular baking dish.

You don't need to grease it, instead put a layer of marinara sauce down FIRST to keep things from sticking :) then add an even layer of noodles.

Then add a layer of evenly placed ricotta mixture and a sprinkle of cheese.

Add another layer of noodles and then a thin layer of cheese (remember the cheese is what binds this whole recipe together, having a little cheese on every layer will make it more manageable to serve!) vegetables and a smidgen of marinara sauce.

Depending on how much filling you have, repeat until you have enough noodles for a final top layer, then add a generous amount of sauce and finish your grated cheese.

 In this particular case I was able to make two small 8x8 three-layer lasagnas.

Bake, covered with aluminum foil at 350 for 30 minutes.

:) Enjoy xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxo