Beet green and spinach lasagna

J and I recently signed up for a share in a local CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) at TapRoot Farms.  Basically, they (in conjunction with other local farms) grow the produce and then deliver it to share holders in the province each week.  I am so excited to do this!  I'm all about buying local and eating fruits and veggies that are in season.  Mostly I am excited because they bring things like kale and nettle and beet greens in the boxes, things that I would never purchase at the grocery store.

Last week in our food box we got:
Kale
Salad Greens
Beet Greens
Green onions
Cilantro
Carrots
Cucumber
Strawberries
Apples
Sweet Relish Preserve

I think that is it.... so many delicious fruits and veggies!!! I have to admit, I had no idea what to do with beet greens or kale so I did what all inquiring minds do, a google search!  I found some promising looking recipes but decided that because beet greens cook up much like spinach I would use it in a lasagna!  Who doesn't love lasagna?

So I chopped up some onion.

And some spinach that I had in the fridge.

 Then the beet greens.  So pretty with their purple veins!

Garlic.  Must have garlic.

Zucchini.

Then I decided to grate up one of the giant carrots that came in our box. These things are huge and white and weird.  But they taste just like regular carrots, maybe even a little sweeter!

Mushrooms.  I bought the pre-cut kind because I am lazy and they were on sale.

I chopped up all the veggies (except the carrot) and tossed them into a pan with some olive oil to soften them up.

Look at all those veggies!  Sorry for the weird picture quality. I have been playing with the settings on my camera and can't quite get them right.  I'm hoping for a new camera for Christmas..... we'll be starting a collection to pay for it soon! All donations are welcome ;)

I browned up some hamburger, not too much because I didn't want the lasagna to be too meaty.  Just meaty enough to satisfy J, the carnivore of the household.  

Again, being lazy, I used bottled sauce, I used the PC kind (which was on sale).  I like it.  In fact I don't think I have yet met a PC product I didn't like.  Maybe if we end up with a bunch of tomatoes in our TapRoot boxes later in the summer I will make a huge batch of sauce for freezing, but for now, the bottled stuff works! I also used the Catelli Express noodles that are oven ready instead of pre-bowling the regular ones.

Cheese. I used mozzarella and cottage cheese this time but I have been known to use ricotta, marble, cheddar, do what you like!

And I grated the carrot to add as a layer.

I'm sure there are not many individuals out there who don't know how to make a lasagna but for anyone who may not, this is what I did.

1. Put a layer of noodles in the the bottom of the pan.

2. Put a layer of meat sauce on the noodles.

3. Put a layer of veggies on the the sauce.

4. Put a layer of grated carrots on the veggies.

5. Cover with cheese.

It really doesn't matter what order you do this in.  It could be meat, noodles, carrots, veggies, cheese. It could be veggies, meat, carrots, cheese noodles, really, go with your heart on this one!  Then repeat until the pan is full.  I only got two layers in mine.  I filled two square pans. I made one for eating now and then cut the other one up and froze meal sized pieces for future lunches.

I was nervous about the beet greens, I'll be honest.  But they tasted just like the spinach.

Though Lila is not smiling in this picture, she really liked this dish.  She actually ate two pieces in one sitting and didn't feed any of it to the dog! We all liked it actually.  Veggies, meat, cheese, how can you go wrong?