Meatless Monday--Four Cheese Lasagna

I was talking to my mom today and the subject of tomato sauce came up.  She's been making homemade tomato sauce for quite a number of years, so she should know a thing or two about the stuff!  It turns out that my tomato sauce isn’t freakishly runny like I thought it was.  Apparently, that is fairly normal for homemade tomato sauce.  I will have to find a way to overcome that this year, I think.  I need my garden tomatoes to give me good tomato products, darn it!  In the meantime, my runnyish tomato sauce suffices for this recipe and any I give you.

The mass quantities of cheese in this lasagna recipe makes it cost more than my meaty variety ($6-7 maybe?  Extravagant, I know!), but it is still a yummy vegetarian alternative to yesterday’s lasagna recipe.  Maybe this one will motivate me to try making my own mozzarella sooner!  I do have another lasagna recipe that I love, a vegetable lasagna recipe that is also a lot cheaper if you use garden vegetables (fresh or frozen), but that will have to wait until another time, probably another Meatless Monday, so I can take a picture for ya!

Four Cheese Lasagna

9 uncooked lasagna noodles
3 cups  tomato sauce
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp fresh parsley
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375.  Cook noodles according to package directions.  Combine tomato sauce, basil, oregano, garlic, parsley, and ricotta in a mixing bowl.  Spoon a little of the sauce mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.  Place a layer of noodles over the sauce,.  Spoon half the remaining sauce mixture over the noodles.  Sprinkle 2/3 cup mozzarella, 2/3 cup Cheddar, 1/3 cup of the Parmesan over the sauce.  Repeat a layer of noodles, sauce mixture, and cheeses, then layer with remaining noodles.  Sprinkle remaining cheeses over the last layer of noodles.  Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and golden.