Roasted Butternut Lasagna

By Lisa VanWilliams

This is wayyyy better than I thought it was going to be. Savory, rich, cheesy and filled with lots of flavor. The nutty sweet taste of the squash pairs great with the cheese, spinach, garlic, & Alfredo sauce. Butternut squash is a great source of fiber, vitamin A C & E, manganese, magnesium, and potassium. I originally tried the Mezza Luna Lasagna recipe on Trader Joe's site, but changed a few things to give it a creamier texture.You can use the no boil lasagna but the boil ones work better, I tried them both. They both taste great the next day, the no boil noodles just need to sit a while before the sauce softens them.

Ingredients:
1 large Butternut squash (one I used was 3.87 lbs) peeled and cubed
salt&pepper
olive oil
15 ounces ricotta or more

Creamed Butternut:
2 cups roasted squash
¹/³ of ricotta
½  cup milk
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
salt&pepper

Spinach ricotta:
rest of ricotta
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 cup frozen spinach
salt&pepper
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 jar of Trader Joe's Alfredo sauce
1 box of lasagna noodles
2 cups mozzarella
1 cup Parmesan

Directions:
Peel and cut the squash into small ½ inch cubes. Coat them in olive oil, salt & pepper and bake them in oven on 350 for about 45 mins until they soften and start to brown (I will broil them for a few minutes before I take them out).

Cook your noodles before you start the next few steps.

I take half the pan of roasted squash (around 2 cups or so) and put it into the blender and save half of the whole cubes for later. I think some chunks of butternut squash add a meaty texture but to much is overkill. Add milk, ricotta, nutmeg, salt & pepper and mix until creamy. Spoon in bowl.

Mix the rest of the ricotta, spinach, garlic, cheese, and salt & pepper.

Start to layer it up. I put the creamed squash on the bottom with some roasted squash cubes.

Then noodles, some ricotta, some Alfredo sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan, repeat. Top it off with some sauce and cheese.

Cover with foil and bake in the oven on 350 for ½ hour or so. Remove foil and broil until golden brown. Enjoy!