Foodie Friday~Layered Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

I have done different variations of this each time depending on the veggies I had on hand.

Generally, there is always eggplant, mozzarella, parm, & sauce involved.  Funny enough, I don't actually have lasagna noodles in this dish.

• Always soak your sliced eggplant for at least 5 minutes in salted water.  It is supposed to take away the bitterness.
• I coat my eggplant in panko crumbs and fry in olive oil.  They are almost the "noodles" in this dish so I want them to have a little structure and depth of flavor.
• One time, I had a large amount of spinach so I julienned the whole bunch and scattered that between each layer along with the cheese.  Baked wonderfully and even my "I hate cooked spinach" husband enjoyed it.
• I have put a bag of frozen broccoli & cauliflower [cut smaller where needed] as a layer just to add more veggies and also trying to clear out the freezer.  Dishes like this are great for clearing out the entire fridge because together they all taste great.  Isn't everything better covered in tomato sauce & cheese?
• I don't actually use any pasta in this dish but once I had frozen ravioli taking up space so I layered what I had of those.  No meat is mentioned either but you could easily add ground turkey or hamburger with the sauce.  Even meatballs, frozen or handmade would totally work in this dish.  Use what you have on hand!
• When I made it this week, I had fresh zucchini & baby squash so I roasted them with onion & garlic while I fried up the eggplant just to add some flavor.  Remember, brown food taste good!
• So after you compile what veggies are jumping in the dish and have your shredded parm and/or mozzarella ready to go, next you decide what tomato sauce you will use.  Jarred is fine with me, especially BOGO sauce!
• This particular day, I had a plethora of grape tomatoes that were getting a bit wrinkly.  So I sliced them in half, along with onion & garlic and roasted them.  After they were just browning, I blended them in my food chopper with a bunch of basil and more olive oil and it made the best sauce.  This step is amazing but not required if you don't have the time.
• Now you just layer like you would lasagna, alternating between each ingredient. Eggplant, veggies, sauce, cheese, eggplant, veggies, etc.
• bake at 350 for maybe 20-30 until the cheese melts and it starts to get bubbly.  
• Serve with a salad and lovely dessert [because after all those veggies, you can spare a little  decadence!]

Enjoy!!