Frou-Frou Family Meals: Vegetable Lasagna with White Cream Sauce, Fried Squash, and Ground Beef

This lasagna is not the traditional lasagna with tomato sauce, parmesan, ricotta, and so on. This one is unique. It has many vegetables prepared in different ways to add great flavor and texture. It uses up those items in the fridge and cabinets that you know are on their way to becoming bad, but have no idea on how to pair those certain items together.

The basis of this recipe was created a few years ago when dinner time was approaching, but options in the kitchen were limited. This, my friends, was when creativity was needed. With the help of Jesus and adding a little bit of this and that, dinner came out beautifully. And my oh my, really good.

This lasagna recipe is again, unique, so please keep an open mind. It's not for everyone and does take some work to make, but it is a treat meal a.k.a. a Frou-Frou Family Meal!

Featured in this dish:

-Green Lentil Lasagna Sheets (No boiling required)

-Chickpea Ricotta

-Breaded and Fried Yellow Squash

-Creamy White Sauce

Still interested?

Please read on...

*Note about recipe

This recipe is a gist recipe. I don't remember everything I put in it, so this will be an outline. I know, I know, I definitely need to do better in this area, but trust me, it will still be delicious and give you an idea on what to do.

MAIN EQUIPMENT NEEDED

-Food Processor

-Blender

INGREDIENTS

-Green lentil lasagna sheets (no boiling required), you can also use yellow lentil lasagna sheets, as well

FOR ITALIAN HERB GROUND BEEF

-Farm-fresh ground beef, preferably lean, so there's not so much extra oil

-Green peppers, sliced thin

-Red onion, I used enough, but depends on preference

-Garlic cloves, smashed and cut in half

-Italian Seasoning

-Garlic & Herb Seasoning

-Garlic Powder

-Onion Powder

-Couple dashes of paprika

-Teaspoon of brown sugar (to add balance to the dish, since the other components are savory)

-Salt + Pepper

FOR BREADED AND FRIED YELLOW SQUASH

-Yellow squash, I fried some pieces and and left some raw

-1 egg or more if you have a lot of squash you need to coat

-Einkorn or unbleached all-purpose flour

-Garlic and Herb Seasoning

-Italian Seasoning

-Salt + Pepper

FOR CHICKPEA RICOTTA

I used Ela Vegan's Vegan Ricotta recipe and made some tweaks.

I used 1 1/2 cans of chickpeas. I added more garlic cloves. I used almond milk. I used more nutritional yeast. I used no almond flour.

My mom bought us a new food processor and I LOVE IT! So effortless and smooth it was!

FOR WHITE CREAM SAUCE

This is an interesting sauce base, I know, but try it and you will thank me later.

I used The Spruce Eats Creamy Salad Dressing with Sour Cream for the base sauce and of course, made some tweaks.

I would've doubled this recipe for the sauce, which I highly suggest, but I ran out of sour cream! WHY?!!!

I used apple cider vinegar for the recipe, next time, I will use white wine vinegar. Try adding some sauteed, golden garlic cloves to the dressing for an added depth of flavor that is delicious. I used avocado oil, instead of vegetable oil. If you so happen to run out of sour cream like me, add whole milk and a little oil gradually to your dressing (at this point, shake the dressing in the blender cup), so the consistency still has some substance, but gives you more dressing to work with for the lasagna.

FOR BROCCOLI

-Organic, frozen broccoli

-Water

INSTRUCTIONS

Grease a nice, size rectangle pan with avocado oil. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

FOR ITALIAN HERB GROUND BEEF

Sautee green peppers, onions, and garlic in a preheated cast-iron pan over medium heat. When halfway soft, add your rinsed and dried ground beef to the pan and break apart until it's crumbly. When ground beef is almost done (not a lot of red meat visible), add your seasonings! Mix well until fully incorporated and once done, drain excess liquid. Set aside.

FOR CHICKPEA RICOTTA

Follow instructions above on chickpea ricotta via the link and use my tweaks as a suggestion or follow to the tee!

FOR SOUR CREAM DRESSING (CREAMY WHITE SAUCE)

Go to link for ingredients list and place all ingredients in a blender, blending just until combined. Keep that creamy consistency by not overblending. It's okay if the garlic cloves aren't completely blended.

FOR BREADED AND FRIED YELLOW SQUASH

Beat one egg or more depending on how many yellow squash you need to coat. Set aside. In a separate bowl, place enough flour to coat your squash slices. Set aside. Take your squash slices, one by one, dipping in the egg, then place slice on a plate to season both sides, then dip in flour. Heat small cast-iron pan, then once hot, add your avocado oil (add enough oil to not only cover pan, but to almost cover yellow squash slices). When oil is hot, add your slices, frying until golden brown on both sides. I ate a couple slices, I believe, and they were good!

FOR BROCCOLI

This is the simplest component. Boil broccoli in small pan, until cooked. Drain water and voilà! I kept the broccoli simple, because of the many components and also, wanted to add a green to the dish.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

This is the order to follow when putting your lasagna together. Get your glass baking dish ready!

1. Place layer of cream white sauce on bottom of pan, make sure it's enough.

2. Green lentil lasagna sheets to cover bottom.

3. Meat.

4. Yellow squash assortment, raw slices + fried slices.

5. Broccoli.

6. White cream sauce.

7. Repeat until ingredients run out.

Place into oven with aluminum foil on top, leaving foil on until lasagna sheets are nicely cooked through. The foil also helps with preventing the lasagna from drying out and cooking unevenly. Once cooked through, take off aluminum foil and let brown a little (if you'd like). Take out of oven and let cool for around 15-30 minutes. I don't think my mom and I could wait that long... Waiting a little should suffice...

Well, sometimes.

Pair this meal with a side salad with a classic balsamic dressing.

Enjoy and God bless.

Hannah

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