Vegetable Beef Lasanga

I've been wanting to make lasanga for a while now but just hadn't gotten around to it. The recipe I normally use, Lasanga Maria, is not the most health conscious so I kept putting it off. I'm REALLY trying to stick to my diet. I finally figured that I should develop a new recipe so that we can enjoy lasanga more often without all the guilt. This is a recipe I created today pretty much off the top of my head to use up what we have on hand and to get some much needed veggies into my kids diet. They helped me make it so I know they will enjoy eating it as well. ;)

Vegetable Beef Lasanga

1 10 oz. package lasanga noodles (9 noodles)
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I used a large can of Hunt's Onion and Garlic that we had on hand)
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
8 oz. low fat ricotta cheese (1/2 of the average size container)
1/2 c. fat free cottage cheese
1 egg (you can use 2 egg whites instead for a healthier version)
1/4 c. plain yogurt (fat free sour cream would work as well)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 onion, sliced thin
2 zucchini, peeled and sliced thin
2 carrots, peeled, sliced then and blanched for 5 minutes
1/2 bag frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
1/2 red bell pepper, roasted and peeled
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pkg. fresh grated parmesan cheese (ziploc type package, not the stuff in the green can)
a few slices of pepperoni
salt
pepper

Cook lasanga noodles for 10 minutes, drain and lay on an baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside. Brown ground beef in a skillet with the Italian seasoning and a little salt and pepper. Drain and set aside. Combine the ricotta, egg, cottage cheese, yogurt, garlic powder, parsley, red pepper flakes and a little salt and pepper; set aside.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 9 x 13 in pan spread about 3 Tbsp. of the sauce. On top of the sauce, layer the ingredients as follows: 3 noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture (spread over noodles with a spoon), 1/3 of the onions, 1/3 of the zucchini, 1/3 of the broccoli, 1/3 of the carrots, 1/3 of the ground beef, 1/3 of the mozzarella, 1/3 of the parmesan, 1/3 of the sauce. Repeat. For the last round, after adding the ground beef, layer the sauce before the cheese and place the pepperoni and red bell peppers on top. (You might need to press the entire thing with the back of a spatula to get it to fit into the dish so that the cheese won't stick to the foil when you cover it.)

Bake, covered with foil, for 45 minutes then uncover and bake another 20 minutes. Allow to set about 15 minutes before cutting.... if you can wait that long ;)