First, I had to clarify “vegetarian” from “vegan” and this person was a “vegetarian” so wasn’t an extremist.  She stated that I could use dairy products like ricotta cheese and could even use eggs if needed so it seems that my life was going to be pretty easy.  Well, as I tend to do, I had to take it a few steps further which I will explain a little later.

So, I left work, rushed to the store, and began shopping for what I figured was actually going to be a somewhat good lasagna… Words can not even express my surprise with the final result but I’m getting ahead of myself.

In this particular post, I’m not really trying to provide a recipe, I’m only giving you the basis for what I did while telling you about my experience.  This post might just serve as a really strong foundation for anyone interested in making a veggie lasagna at home.

Being the person that I am I couldn’t resist throwing the veggies on the grill, since I wasn’t going to have any meat I needed to at least have a familiar taste haha.  So I began with the tomatos, garlic, and onions and grilled them just long enough to start to sweat and get some of that grilled flavor.

Believe it or not I was ready to eat every one of these veggies directly off the grill but managed to maintain my composure to finish the task at hand…

It was now time to start the sauce, I added the tomatos, garlic and onion to the blender with a little balsamic vinegar and water to get a nice puree.  Not only did the grilled veggies smell amazing I was starting to feel like this was really going to work out.

Silly me, by this time the drinking had begun and I neglected to take pictures of the full sauce process so you’ll just have to take my word for it.  I added this to a sauce pan with a little red wine, oregano, salt, pepper, and a few other herbs that I had laying around and brought it to a boil.  I then reduced the heat, covered the sauce, and let it simmer for a couple of hours, stirring fairly often.

Now, here’s where I decided to get crazy, I figured instead of noodles I would go ahead and break out the mandolin and use zucchini instead…  Again, needed some grilled flavor so here we go with grilling the “noodles”,

Because I was able to use dairy and eggs I made my normal cheese filling which you can read about on my Amazingly Bad for you Lasagna recipe post…  I also filled each layer of lasagna with mushrooms, baby spinach, and boca crumbles just to give it a little texture.  In the end, I couldn’t believe how good this lasagna turned out… It’s quite possible that I may like this even better than my orgina… wait no, that’s just stupid to even say but it was really good.   Don’t believe me?  Try it for yourself.

Initially I had planned to do a BBQ Lasagna that would be grilled and then I realized that Smoke In Da Eye BBQ has already done that.  Not only has Smoke In Da Eye BBQ done it, I think they have actually perfected the stuff, you can read about it here on their blog.  So, I decided to give credit where credit is due and congratulate Smoke In Da Eye BBQ on the best sounding recipe for BBQ Lasagna that I have ever seen.  (Eventually I will make one of my own anyway haha)

So, that being said, I decided to just go old school and make a standard lasagna with a little twist.  The flavors came out incredible and even though I made two large pans I ended up with no leftovers, I guess it was purty good.

I know the title of this dish is kind of scary but I have to admit, I don’t think I have ever had anything that tasted this good in my life.  It has to bad for you since it tastes so freakin good so I couldn’t resist the title.

Every once in a while I make a meal to share with everybody that is soooo good that I get people offering to pay ridiculous amounts of money for me to make it again.  At this time I don’t have a restaurant and just enjoy cookin for my friends.  But the more times that I get offered money the harder it is for me to turn em down.

Eh, that’s enough about my internal wars lol.  Take a look at this recipe, try it out, and fall in love with Lasagna all over again.  Garfield never had any lasagna this good.

Ingredients:

1 Box Lasagna Noodles (you can use ready for the oven noodles and save a step of boiling the noodles)

2 8 oz packages shredded parmesan cheese

1 8 oz Ricotta Cheese (I use Sergento)

2 8 oz packages shredded mozzarella cheese

2 eggs

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1 jar alfredo sauce

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

chopped oregano

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground hot italian sausage

Preparation:

If you decide you want to boil the noodles I’m pretty sure now would be the time to get that started.  While the noodles are boiling go ahead and put the ground beef and ground sausage in a pan to brown also add the garlic at this point.  Once completely browned, drain and set aside.  (Remember, you also have sausage in this pan so make sure to cook fully.)

While browning get the cheese spread ready.  In a large bowl, add the ricotta cheese, 1 package of the parmesan cheese, and two eggs.  Mix until completely mixed.

Start with a 13×9 inch lasagna pan and coat the bottom of the pan with a liberal dose of pasta sauce.  Then layer your noodles until you cover the entire bottom of the pan, and let the layering begin…

This is the order that I go, but you can choose your own adventure if you’d like:

First, cover the noodles with sauce, then I had 1/2 of the browned ground meat, then I add 1/2 of the cheese mixture.  I spread each to make sure that I have completely covered all of the noodles.  I then top that layer with mozzarella cheese, and then a new layer of noodles.  And repeat the steps to make another layer.

On top of the third layer of noodles, pour the alfredo sauce and spread to cover all the noodles.  Use the second bag of parmesan cheese to cover all of the alfredo.  Add the chopped oregano.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and let cook uncovered for 1:15 which should leave you with a nice cheesy crust on top.

Remove from oven and let stand for 20 minutes before serving.

I will tell you, this so freaking good and different enough from the norm that it will blow minds so be careful who you let try it.