Lasagna with zucchini and mushrooms

Lasagna is one of those hit or miss dishes for me. I really dislike it when it is watery or when the ricotta is really grainy, which I find is quite often with a lot of frozen lasagnas. I actually thought I hated lasagna for a while but it turns out that when it is made well it can be really delicious. This is not one of those lasagnas out there that uses zucchini to replace the noodles, why would someone want that? The noodles are one of the best parts! This recipe makes two small lasagnas, which is perfect for me - I could make one veggie one and then throw spicy sausage into the other one for the boyfriend. You could just as easily eat one and freeze one for later.

Ingredients:

8 lasagna noodles, broken in half and cooked
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
dash salt
2-3 cracks black pepper
1 medium zucchini, sliced thinly
1/2 a small box of mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup mozzarella, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease two small, rectangular baking dishes. In a small bowl, combine ricotta, egg, parmesan, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat and cook zucchini and mushrooms for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Allow them to cool slightly before assembling the lasagna. Pour just enough pasta sauce into each baking dish to cover the bottom, then lay two cooked noodles on top in order to cover the entire bottom. Pour a bit more sauce on top of the noodles, then layer a scoop of ricotta on top and smooth it out, top this with some of the sauteed veggies, then a handful of mozzarella. Continue layering like this until you are out of ingredients. On the top layer, skip the ricotta so it ends with pasta, sauce, mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese begins to brown in spots. Allow the lasagna to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.