Yes, we are still eating last year’s harvest of sweet potatoes.  They are a wonder crop, and if properly stored, will last until the next year’s crop comes in if you haven’t eaten them all.

I have previously put shredded carrots in my home simmered spaghetti sauce but this time there was an abundance of shredded sweet potatoes in the fridge to use up.  It seems that a certain visiting member of the family got carried away when making Sweet Potato Quesadillas and thought we had a dozen people coming over…….  Therefore I added about 3 cups of the orange slivers to my simmering spaghetti sauce and a new creation was born – at least to us.  I’m sure someone has done this before but then that’s what cooking is all about – experimenting!

Here’s the basic recipe that we use but I have to say that it turns out different each time because we have different veggies on hand.

1        12 oz or 16 oz package of your favorite lasagna, cooked if necessary or no boil if you have it

2        1 quart home canned tomatoes or your favorite spaghetti sauce

3        1 chopped onion

4        2-3 cloves garlic or more, minced

5        1 cup sliced mushrooms, if you like

6        3 cups shredded sweet potatoes

7        Seasonings, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, whatever you like

8        1 24 oz or 12 oz. container cottage cheese mixed half & half with tofu or ricotta cheese

9        ½ cup. Fresh shredded parmesan cheese

10    8 oz shredded mozzarella, Monterey Jack or Farmer’s Cheese

11    2-3 T. Olive Oil

12    3 cups cooked green beans, broccoli, kale, spinach or other green

Sauté onions and garlic in the olive oil for a 2-3 minutes, add mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes or sauce, shredded sweet potatoes, spices and simmer for 10-15 minutes until thickened a bit and the sweet potatoes are softened.  Remove from heat.

Mix the cottage cheese or mix of cheese and tofu with shredded parmesan, add 3 cups of green veggies of your choice & a few grinds of fresh pepper.

Now you’re ready to roll, I mean layer.  There is no mystery to lasagna making.  Just layer the basic components and the dish is ready for the oven.  The composition of each part may change but the standard layering remains the same.

Grease a lasagna or 9” x 13” pan.  You will be layering the four parts which are:  sauce, noodles, cottage cheese mix, shredded cheese.

Divide noodles into 3 sections.  Smear ½ cup sauce in the bottom of pan.  Add 1/3 of the noodles, spoon ½ of the cottage cheese mixture onto the noodles, add some sauce & sprinkle with ½ of the shredded mozzarella cheese.  Add another layer of noodles, cottage cheese mix, and sauce, then top with the last layer of noodles, remaining sauce and last ½ of shredded mozzarella.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes.  Let cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting to serve.