Flexi-Veggie Lasagna

I was really excited to have fellow Health Coach Marissa Costonis join me in the Cucina this week! She came up with this AWESOME veggie lasagna recipe that can literally be tailored to WHATEVER you like or have on hand! And it doesn’t take long to put together - we pretty much do it in real time in the video! WHAT!? Yea, definitely all together in under an hour!

Like me, Marissa received her training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and her company and book is called Change Bites - which I love! The double entendre of the name is great - if we’re being honest, change, does in fact, bite! But if you do it in small steps, small bites, it’s totally manageable! Her book provides readers with a step-by-step guide for how to change eating habits and health regardless of eating style, including vegan, paleo, gluten-free, and keto diets.

Now to that lasagna! I will not lie - I thought the woman was bananas when she told me we were making dairy-free, gluten-free lasagna. I could almost feel my grandmothers turning in their graves. I was wrong (I often am). This thing is DELICIOUS! And LOADED with fresh veggies AND flavor. We whipped up a quick and simple sauce like this one. Then browned some turkey sausage (you can use whatever you like, or none at all, as always, your food is YOURS!) Then we sautéed up some fresh veggies using the fat from the sausage! And here’s the beauty of this recipe - ANY vegetables will work! Literally whatever is left in your fridge at the end of the week, whatever is about to turn, that little piece of something that to save your life, you can’t think of what to do with it, or that partially full bag of chopped veggies in the freezer - all of that. Use it! But if you’re a stickler for a recipe - we’ve got you covered down below.

Another great tip from this recipe is to make extra small pans and trays that you can freeze and use as a healthy grab and go lunch during the week! OR, if there’s extra veggie mixture - top it with chicken stock and make a soup! Or maybe you mix the extra veggie mix with any extra sauce and top some other pasta with it as a “primavera”style. You just got THREE MEALS out of this one dish! That’s meal prepping at it’s finest!

You can get Marissa’s book here.
Check out her website here.
And follow her here.

Then watch our video below and try her lasagna recipe this week!

Flexi-Veggie Lasagna:
Makes 1, 11x14 pan

4 C. mixed chopped veggies - onion, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini - cut all around the same size
3 links turkey sausage (2 sweet, 1 hot), casings removed (omit for vegan/vegetarian)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella OR vegan cheese
1/4 C. grated pecorino romano, or vegan parmesan
4 C. marinara sauce
1 package gluten free lasagna sheets (we used these)
20 leaves fresh basil
Onion powder
Garlic powder
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a large saute’ pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the sausage and start breaking it up with a wooden spoon. When the sausage is completely cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to a plate and set aside.

Leave the fat from the sausage in the pan, heat again over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrots (or any root vegetables that will take longer to cook). Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add remaining veggies. Season with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder - to taste (that means however much YOU like). Continue cooking for another 5-6 minutes until the veggies start to become soft. Add the sausage back to the pan, mix and remove from the heat.

In an 11x14 baking pan, add some marinara sauce, enough to coat the bottom. Layer in sheets of pasta to cover the sauce. Spoon some of your veggie mixture on top. Sprinkle a layer of mozzarella on top of that. Add more sauce and repeat with the next layers of pasta, veggies, cheese and sauce until you reach the top of the pan. Finish with a layer of sauce and top the lasagna with a sprinkle of pecorino romano or parmesan.

Cover lasagna with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes or until the top gets brown and bubbly.

Serve warm or allow to cool completely before wrapping and freezing for later.