Needed: Alfredo sauce and Veggie Lasagne recipes

[mandyky]

Would Cream of mushroom soup work as a "base" for Alfredo sauce, if I added sauteed garlic and onions and parmasan cheese?

I used to buy frozen veggie lasagne but they haven't had it in about a year. I know there were carrots and spinach in it, but maybe I am forgetting some... What cheese do you use? Still Ricotta and cottage cheese, like regular lasagne? I would probably add in mushrooms, onions and green peppers, even though I am unsure if the frozen stuff I had had them.

[Lugnut]

1. My alfredo sauce

Is just heavy cream and grated Romano cheese plus pepper to taste.

I've never made veggie lasagne so I can't help you there. I usually just grab a Stouffer's from the freezer case at the grocery store.

[NMDemDist2]

2. i have made many a veggie lasagna in my time as a veg head

i have used all kinds of veggies

one thing I always did was whip my ricotta with olive oil to make it airy

choose just about any veggie on the planet, and layer it in

be aware of how much water each type of veggie holds and adjust the cooking of the noodles down if necessary to absorb any water from the veggies

zucchini was always a favorite as was any summer squash

sun dried tomatoes are lovely IMO in a white gravy

red bell peppers are nice instead of green as they are sweeter and not so overpowering (especially if you are using a white gravy) The greens stand up well to a red gravy though

my Alfredo sauce is simply butter, cream and Parmesan with fresh ground black pepper

another easy white sauce is called balsamella. It's butter, milk and flour with a bit of nutmeg and white pepper

experiment and have a blast :D

[NMDemDist2]

3. did you make some? how did it turn out? what did you use? n/t

[Toronto Ron]

4. Fake ground beef in veggie lasagna

e.g. the kind made by Boca. Throwing one or two 4-ounce pouches into the sauce adds a crapload of protein and provides the texture that (former) meat-eaters expect. The stuff on its own does not taste good, but that gets completely drowned out in a rich tomato sauce, what with olive oil, onion, garlic, bell peppers, whatnot.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Alfredo may be too rich for a lasagna

It is pure richness: butter, heavy cream, reggiano and a dash of nutmeg. No salt because the reggiano adds all ya need.

Use, instead a bechamella. Butter and flour to make a roux. About two tablespoons each. Cook the roux for three or four minutes until it **just** starts to go brown. Add milk VERY SLOWLY, whisking constantly. (The blending will go better if you heat the milk. I never do, but one has to whisk like mad and add the milk extraordinarily slowly. This little trick always amazes my wife, who feels the need to heat the milk first.) Keep adding milk to get the consistency you want. A word of caution: the milk will appear at first to simply expand the volume of the roux but not really change it. Be careful. It will go from a sandy roux texture to a smooth sauce very quickly. It is easy to add too much milk.

Once you get to this point, you can add anything you want. Cheese. Herbs and spices. Even some veggies, meat, or seafood. Keep anything you add to it pretty small sized. Also, keep the sauce a tad on the thick side for lasagna.

Have fun!

[Lefta Dissenter]

6. I use the Cooks Illustrated recipe

for meat lasagna and use the Boca crumbles. VERY popular around here, and not as heavy and gooey as regular lasagna. I'm pretty sure the recipe is available at their website, though if you need membership to search and don't have it, drop me a pm.

www.cooksillustrated.com I'm pretty sure... :hi:

[mandyky]

7. Just got the ingredients for veggie lasagna

I'll be making alfredo from scratch with cream.
I have red and green pepper, celery, carrots, onions, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, garlics, spinach and broccolli.
I partially cook the lasagna noodles before layering.

I am gonna try either colby, monterey jack or cheddar as well as parmasan and ricotta cheese. I also mix cottage cheese with eggs and use that to add to the riccotta.

I also got fixings for red Italian sausage lasagna. I'll use the same veggies minus the celery and carrots.

I am gonna be a cooking fool for the next week!!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

8. My daughter-in-law

sautes the zucchini for her veggie lasagna before layering it. I really liked that touch. Always, when I've eaten veggie lasagna w/zucchini, the zucchini is too tough & detracts a bit from the dish (at least I think so).

[mandyky]

9. I may saute` the zuchinni and the eggplant

May also saute` the peppers. I'll chop the celery and onions very fine - they'll be almost pureed.

[eleny]

10. I like spinach lasagna

Just substitute it for the meat. You could add some mushrooms in there for meaty texture. But spinach is fine.