President’s Day off is a great excuse to continue meal prepping for baby! Before I got into the kitchen today, my mom, sister, and I got out and did some shopping. We were looking for mom’s mother-of-the-bride dress for my sister’s wedding. So many exciting life events happening this year!
After going to several stores, and shopping some clearance racks (who says a pregnant girl can’t buy clothes), we had a successful day. Mom found her dress AND shoes at the same store! Not only that, but at the same store, I found some sale cardigans that fit a growing belly! Winning all around.
After that, we had some thin crust pizza and I went home to walk the dog in the frigid cold of the North. We had sunshine today, so what little skin could be exposed outside got some Vitamin D! How very exciting. Staying active during pregnancy in the winter has been a challenge, but thankfully the dog is a good motivation to get out even when it’s really cold.
Finally – the afternoon to the kitchen. I did a few different meals today to freeze most of for the arrival of our little babe! Could come anytime so all the preparations are essential. My goal is to have a freezer stocked full of meals for us so our first couple weeks as parents there is ZERO cooking required. So far we’re at about 1 week, so it’s coming along.
Today’s adventure was a vegetarian spinach lasagna, with a recipe modified from Gal On A Mission. Lasagna is a great option for freezer since it thaws and reheats great! Since we try to stick to a complete vegetarian diet, it was important to stick to that as well as get some vegetables in. I can be the first to admit, this isn’t a super healthy meal, but it contains calcium and folic acid, which is important for baby.
I am very pleased with how this turned out being I winged the recipe to what I had in the fridge and pantry. And three different types of cheese? Sign me up!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
3 cups mozzarella cheese
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
12 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 package of frozen spinach (thawed) or 1 small bag of sauteed baby spinach
36 oz pasta sauce
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
Directions
- Boil water on stove and cook lasagna noodles to package directions
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- While noodles are cooking, in a medium bowl combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, and spinach in a bowl
- Mix well
- Pour about 1/2 cup of pasta sauce at bottom of baking dish and spread around the bottom (I used a 9″ x 9″ so I cut my noodles to fit and used pieces to add an additional layer)
- Lay first layer of noodles around bottom of baking dish. Top with about 1/4 of the cheese mixture and about 1/2 cup of pasta sauce. Spread across the noodles evenly
- Lay next layer of noodles and repeat
- Repeat until all noodles and cheese are used. If there is a little extra of the cheese left, pack the top layer full. Who doesn’t love a little extra cheese oozing out the side
- Top the lasagna with the remaining pasta sauce and then 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- Bake for 30 minutes (check the cheese so it doesn’t burn – remove up to 5 minutes early if cheese appears to be burning)
- Cut into 12 squares and eat up!
This stuff rocked – so delicious (we snuck our dinner out of our meal prep)! Shhh! To make it healthier, add some extra spinach or grated zucchini.
Let me know what you think! If you need any help with directions or have any modifications you tried, let me know in the comments!
-Cassie