Sunday, January 27, 2013

Pumpkin Lasagna

Yes, more pumpkin! I had this little guy sitting on my front porch




and he looked too yummy to let him be decoration any longer! I roasted the whole thing, chopped up half of it into cubes for the lasagna and stuck the other half in the fridge.

Ingredients:
*1/2 small pumpkin, cubed
*nine strips of lasagna noodles (I cheated and used "oven ready" noodles from HEB, and they turned out well)
*crushed tomatoes (about 1/2 of a 28oz can)
*tomato sauce (about 1.5 cups)
*1 small onion, diced
*2 Italian "sausages" (I like lightlife), cut in half and sliced
*1 8oz package of button mushrooms (I chose them for their "meaty" quality), sliced
*Mozzarella (about 1.5 cups), grated
*Parmesan (about .5 cups), grated and mixed with mozzarella
*Salt & Pepper to taste


Roast pumpkin at 425 for about 30 minutes or until you can easily stick a fork in the side.

While the pumpkin is roasting, dice the onion and cook over medium heat in a large skillet (everything except the noodles, crushed tomatoes, and cheese will end up in here). When onions start to look translucent, add mushrooms, salt, pepper, and cook until mushrooms are almost done. Last, add the Italian "sausage," pumpkin, and tomato sauce.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large casserole dish, start layering the lasagna in this order: a thin layer of crushed tomatoes, noodles, vegetable filling, cheese, noodles, crushed tomato, filling, cheese, noodles, crushed tomatoes, and cheese. Be sure to cover each noodle layer with crushed tomatoes, since the liquid helps the noodles cook.

Cover dish with a aluminum foil tent and place in oven for 20 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and cook for 10 more minutes, or until you can stick a fork through the noodles.

No pictures of the food this time. It was so delicious it got eaten up quickly!