If you're keeping some fish in your diet, eating sardines will also give you some calcium, but you have to eat the bones. If you buy the "boneless, skinless" ones, you don't get the calcium. You've got to eat those little crunchy backbones that are in there! Not for the squeamish, I guess

I love the non-cook noodles too! Indeed it makes it so much easier to make a lasagna without having to cook all those lasagna noodles, which tended to stick together....

Vegetable Lasagna
The sauce (Two alternatives)
A. Begin with 2 quarts of low or no sodium vegetable stock
Add a half to a whole tablespoon of miso per cup of vegetable stock, and thicken with flour. The miso will give the sauce a fuller-bodied, richer flavor than stock alone.

B. "Lyutenitsa": a Bulgarian sauce that has equal parts by weight of red peppers and tomatoes. Puree both the tomatoes and the peppers with a food processor. Then cook the tomatoes down by about half, before adding the red peppers and cook a bit longer. Then you add a good amount of oil, some sugar and salt. Cook a little more to blend the flavors. Aim for a thick, “chunky” type of sauce.

3 kilos tomatoes (6.6 lbs)
3 kilos red peppers
1/4 to 1/2 cup oil
1-2 Tbs salt
2-4 Tbs sugar

Peel the tomatoes (slip into boiling water for about 30 seconds first). Put through a tomato grinder (blender? food processor?). Roast the peppers over a wood fire. Peel off skins (leave in covered bowl till cool enough to handle and the skins will slip off easily). Open peppers and remove seeds. Put through meat grinder (or suitable American appliance). Cook the tomatoes, uncovered, until volume is reduced by about half. Add the peppers and cook a while longer (always uncovered). Add the oil. When it's getting thick and gloppy, add the salt and sugar. When it's really thick, it's done. At this point, you can use it or can it. Total cooking time outside over a fire was about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. It needs to be stirred frequently at the beginning, and constantly when it's thicker. Some people add other ingredients such as roasted eggplant (also put through the meat grinder) or herbs like parsley.


Ricotta SubstitutePlace tofu blocks in a large bowl.
Add garlic, basil, parsley, and pesto.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mash all the ingredients together by squeezing pieces of tofu through your fingers. (Try the electric mixer on low as you would with ricotta and eggs in regular lasagna.)

Tempeh is another possibility in place of tofu: it's high protein, too, and has a similar consistency, though one that stays with the diner longer than tofu.



Lasagna noodles: need to be the type that are cooked separately; not the no-cook type: cook until soft enough to handle; just about al dente


The vegetables:
Vegetables to roast (you can use anything you like)
Egg plant, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, green peppers, red onions, and 6 garlic cloves
Fresh or frozen spinach: frozen should be passed through boiling water to thaw and then be pressed out in a sieve.

Prepare enough carmelized vegetables to make roughly 6 to 8 cups (3 small zucchini, 3 small yellow squash, package of carrots, 4 to 6 green peppers) and at least two packages of frozen spinach.

Chop vegetables uniformly. Mince garlic. Combine half the mixed vegetables on a baking sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for several minutes at 400 degrees. Stir. Roast for several minutes more until vegetables are soft. You can roast a little longer, if you like them to be slightly carmelized. Repeat with remaining vegetables. Set aside to cool slightly.

Scallions: rough chop for sprinkling in between one of the layers for interest


Assembly

Some sauce on the bottom of the baking dish
A layer of lasagna noodles
A layer of the carmelized vegetables
A layer of fresh or frozen spinach
Sauce
A layer of noodles, etc.
End with a topping of the remaining sauce

Note: a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese may be placed in the layering process between the carmelized vegetables and the spinach during non-fasting periods.

Note 2: A bag of frozen peas thawed in the same way as the spinach can also be sprinkled between the layers.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for one hour at 350 degrees. Let stand for 15 minutes after removing from the oven. Serve with tossed salad dressed with lemon juice and crusty bread.

Putting some of the great ideas brought here by everyone, this is where I plan to start. I was looking for something that would please family members with eating issues, as well as pass muster for Great Lent.

JAYA:

Being that there are 3 tsp in one tbsp. starting with half a tbsp isn't so much over a tsp.
Bob

Seriously, though, for some reason this Lent eating less meat has left me feeling healthier than I've felt in a long time. I'm thinking of trying to make meat a less staple item in my diet on a more regular basis.