Pesto and Spinach Lasagne

I've been fairly successful with my new plan to eliminate food waste through better menu planning. This week was week two of the two-week cycle of meal planning, so over 75% of my ingredients had to be already in the fridge or in the pantry. Each month, Wegmans releases an issue in the Nature's Marketplace section of the store, a small magazine/newsletter of sorts that includes healthy living ideas and recipes. There was a great article about the variety of ways one can make a lasagne, other than your standard meat and pasta version, and all three were created with healthy living, lots of veggies, and short preparation in mind. A LOVES lasagne, but a standard lasagne is a cumbersome process. This one was significantly easier and took only 35 minutes of prep time. And because I had most of the ingredients in the pantry or the freezer, the only thing I had to purchase was the ricotta cheese. It was significantly lighter than a regular lasagne and much tastier! It was a hit!

You need:

2 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 c. Parmesan cheese (plus extra for sprinkling)
2 small boxes of chopped, frozen spinach (thawed)
1 c. pesto*
1 box no-boil lasagne noodles
2 c. pasta sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the ricotta and 1 c. Parmesan cheese. Add the egg. In a small bowl, blend the spinach (squeezed dry) and pesto. Spread the pasta sauce in a baking dish. Add a layer of noodles. Top with half of the cheese mixture. Top with half of the spinach mixture. Repeat. End with noodles and sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for 35 minutes.

* Pesto can be pricey to purchase ready-made. In the summer, homemade pasta is a breeze, but because herbs are also pricey in the winter, I stock up on Simply Organics pesto mixes. They are easy to prepare and allow me to add pesto to a variety of recipes at half the price.