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Someone asked me not long ago what type of food I like to cook best.  The southerner in me should probably say something like “fried chicken, of course!” but my absolute favorite is probably Italian.  I’m a pasta, cheese and sauce fanatic and there are about a million different things you can do with all three of those and not eat the same thing twice for a while.  Who doesn’t love a big ole pan of lasagna?!  This is missing a few of the standard elements of traditional lasagna, but it’s definitely not lacking in taste.  I replaced the noodles with slices of grilled eggplant and since ya’ll know I’m not much of a meat eater these days, I kept the veggieness going with spinach and mushrooms.  You could always add in other veggies as well to really step it up, but I went pretty basic.  This was absolutely delicious!  And by that I mean I ate it for lunch and dinner until the whole pan was gone.  This is another great dish to make, split and freeze the other half for later.
Enjoy!
Eggplant Lasagna
serves 12
2 large eggplants
1 box of frozen spinach
1 10 oz package of fresh sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
9 slices of swiss cheese (low fat is fine, it’s what I use)
9 slices of provolone cheese
1 1/2 cups of part skim mozzarella
1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 15 oz container of part skim ricotta cheese
1 cup of cottage cheese, low fat
2 eggs
2 tsp of italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
Thaw the spinach and squeeze most of the liquid out.  In a medium saute pan, heat up a couple teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Brown the mushrooms, remove to a bowl and set aside.  Saute the chopped onion until softened.  Add the garlic and about 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Add the mushrooms and spinach and allow the spinach to get hot.  Set this mixture aside.
Brush a grill pan with with olive oil and heat to medium high.  Slice the eggplant longways.  Grill each slice for a minute or two on each side.
In another bowl, combine the ricotta, cottage cheese, eggs, Italian seasoning, 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper together.
In a 9×13 baking dish, spread a little sauce on the bottom.  Line the bottom with eggplant slices, top with a little of the ricotta mixture, add a veggie layer, sauce layer and then swiss, provolone and mozzarella.  Repeat until all ingredients are used ending with a sauce layer.  Sprinkle with mozzarella and fresh parmesan.
Bake at 375 for about 30-45 minutes until the cheese is gold and bubbly.