Nita

So I am hosting an Italian themed Murder Mystery Dinner Party in February. It is a boxed game, "Pasta, Pistols and Passion" .... lol. I want to make a pan of cheese lasagna because I will have meatballs and sausage in the crock pot, to serve on the side. Does anyone have a really good recipe for meatless lasagna? It seams that most recipes are made with a meat sauce. Another thought I had was baked ziti .... meatless. Anyone?

Tartan

How about homemade macaroni and cheese? There are some good recipes for crock pots. As for meatless lasagna, you can just leave the meat out. I like to add a layer of mushrooms to my lasagna and that gives a nice flavour. I also like to go a layer of cottage cheese that I whip together with 3 eggs. It sets up nicely as a layer also.

Tothill

I do things similar to Tartan. I use about 3 different cheeses and have one or two layers of Ricotta mixed with an egg a couple handfuls of fresh grate Parmesan and lots of fresh parsley. I use a tomato sauce with lots of veggies (onions, celery, garlic, minced carrot (not too much or it will be too sweet) diced butternut squash, and no meat if I know there will be non meat eaters at the meal. I am not a fan of mushrooms, so do not use them.

Most the family eats meat, so I generally make a regular meat lasagne.

I love the theme of your dinner. Will Sex in a Pan be your dessert?

It is great that you are serving meat on the side, then people can choose to add it to their meal.

JJBlaine

For my veggie lasagna, I use the new Ragu Homestyle Spaghetti Sauce in any flavor except the Meat Sauce. None of the other varieties list meat as an ingredient. I am very picky about my spaghetti sauce, and swore off anything from a jar or can for most of my life, but the Ragu Homestyle is almost as good as the sauce I cook from scratch.

I mix ricotta, parmesan, romano, and mozzarella cheeses with an egg or two as a binder.

For the pasta, I use the kind that does not need to be boiled. I thinly sliced onions, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, squash, eggplant--pretty much any veggie I have on hand.

I do not usually add the extra liquid the no-boil lasagna noodles call for, as the vegetables usually release more than enough liquid to re-hydrate the noodles. Often, instead of pasta, I will thinly slice eggplant and/or zucchini lengthwise, and use that in it's place for a low carb option.

I layer sauce, pasta, cheese mixture, and veggies. If I'm using a deep dish, I will repeat the layers, and top with a final layer of pasta (or eggplant/zucchinni) and sauce. If it is a shallow dish, I just add the top layer of pasta and sauce.

I cover and bake at 350 for 35 minutes for a shallow dish, 1 hour for a deep dish. Then I uncover it, sprinkle with mozzarella and cook an additional 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to brown a bit.

grma33

instead of noodle and meat use sweet potato delicious
Gale

cindyb

I want to eat at your house.

Mkotch

You can make a cheese sauce (as for mac and cheese) and layer lasagna with it and steamed vegetables - spinach, zucchini, carrots, etc. It's always a hit.

SusieQOH

You could also make stuffed shells. They are just like manicotti but easier to fill. And they are meatless.
You fill them with a mixture of ricotta cheese, mozzarella, parsley, grating cheese (I use Romano) and eggs. They taste wonderful.

tranum

yes, the giant shells. I gave up making lasagna when I discovered our grocery store makes it !

Nita

A good idea and one that I am considering. Do you have a recipe, Susie? Or do you just "wing it". Unfortunately, I like recipes.