With fall at our doorsteps, what’s better than a plate of comfort food? And lasagna is a classic comfort food for Canadian families. Made with love, it’s warm and delicious and we share it with family or friends for a friendly group meal! Would you like to whip up a lasagna at the snap of your fingers? Arctic Gardens has a solution just for you!
New Arctic Gardens product
In order to make meal prep easier, Arctic Gardens is developing veggie mixes perfect for your recipes. Mixes for spaghetti and spaghettini might be a part of your favourite pasta ingredients. A new Arctic Gardens combination that could be fun to add to your recipes – vegetables for lasagna!
As well as being practical, this mix is made up of mushrooms, onions and red and green peppers that will help you save time when preparing meals. As a matter of fact, because these veggies are already mixed, washed and cut into small pieces, you just have to take them out of the bag and add them to your other ingredients.
Any mushroom lovers in your family? They’ll be spoiled because their favourite veggie has been added to this new mix!
This product is also versatile: we can use it in our lasagnas, but also a whole bunch of other dishes! When asked, consumers expressed their desire to add these veggies to their chilis, soups, fajitas, pizzas and lots of other things! This new mix will inspire a variety of recipes that everyone will love!
The next time you go to the grocery store, keep an eye out – you might just see this new mix in the frozen food aisle!
Reinvent your lasagna!
Lasagna comes in many shapes and sizes. Of course, there’s the classic casserole lasagna, layered and baked in the oven, but there are many other kinds of original ones that you can prepare to change up your meal plan. We bet you’ll surprise your guests by serving them these lasagnas that are like no other!
Lasagna rolls
If you like lasagna with cream cheeses like ricotta, then lasagna rolls are for you! It’s simple –just layer your cheese on each noodle, roll them up, put them in an oven-proof dish, then spread some sauce on top. Grate cheese on top as you like, then bake!
Crock pot lasagna
Photo: Pinch of Yum
The slowcooker is practical for everything – even lasagna! Just layer your ingredients in the slowcooker and cook for 3 to 5 hours. No need to precook. Also, don’t use oven ready noodles because they might turn out too mushy. Instead, choose traditional pasta, but don’t cook it. A great solution for your weekday dinners!
Skillet lasagna
Photo: Lisa Cooks
For this type of lasagna, you only have to prepare the sauce in a pan and cook the pasta. Then, add the pasta directly to the sauce coating them well. Lastly, grate the cheese and bake in the oven until golden.
Lasagna cupcakes
To make lasagna cupcakes, you’ll need your favourite lasagna ingredients (replace lasagna noodles with won ton wrappers) and a muffin tin! These are great for lunches because they’re already in individual portions. As well, kids will love these mini lasagnas because they can eat them with their hands!
Recipes for all tastes
Lasagna is a wonderful dish for your imagination! You can add several kinds of meltable cheeses and the toppings are just about endless – from sausages to seafood, spinach and zucchini, you can even make them without pasta by replacing them with slices of eggplant! Here are a few recipes for the more daring:
Zucchini lasagna Veggie and tofu lasagna
No pasta eggplant lasagna Chili lasagna
Seafood lasagna Mexican lasagna
We also love traditional lasagna. No one can turn down a good lasagna with Bolognese sauce! Here are a few that will create a stir at your house:
Meat lasagna Bolognese lasagna
Bolognese lasagna with Italian sausage
Lasagna FAQs
We ask ourselves lots of questions about our meals. As well as the traditional, “What’re we gonna eat?”, we want to know if we’re cooking healthy enough, if we’ll have enough time to prepare it, will it last long enough for leftovers… and lasagna is no exception! So here are a few questions about lasagna that we’ll try to demystify:
Can lasagna be made in advance?
Like many other dishes, lasagna can be made in advance – but it only lasts three days in the fridge! If you want to keep it longer, put it in the freezer.
Can you freeze lasagna?
Lasagna can be freezed no problem and it will last 3 months if properly wrapped. There are 2 ways to wrap lasagna: in individual portions in hermetically-sealed containers made for freezing or directly in the serving dish. If you choose the latter, make sure the dish has properly cooled down before wrapping. Then, cover well with tinfoil and wrap the entire dish in plastic wrap meant for freezing. To ensure you don’t go past the 3 months, write the date on your containers!
Is lasagna considered a healthy dish?
We have a tendency to think that comfort food and pasta aren’t healthy, but lasagna like many others contain the four food groups: vegetables, dairy products (cheese), grain (pasta) and meat and meat alternatives! Of course, you should choose your recipe carefully if you want a healthier lasagna. For example, you can use less cheese (or use a less fatty cheese fat) and add more veggies. You can also choose whole wheat pasta for a more nutritious meal.
Does lasagna take long to make?
There are many steps to preparing lasagna. You need to make the sauce, cook the pasta, layer the whole thing and bake it in the oven. This will take about an hour to prepare and 45 minutes to cook in the oven, so about two hours in all. But there are solutions to make lasagna preparation go faster; make the sauce ahead of time, use prepared veggie mixes to add to your recipes and choose oven-ready pasta (without precooking).
In the mood for a good lasagna right now? Don’t forget the new Arctic Gardens vegetable mix that can help make it easier! At home, what’s your can’t-live-without-this-lasagna recipe?
