Pumpkin Lasagna

The other day I saw this recipe for pumpkin mac and cheese on Jenna's blog.  YUM!  I got home and figured I would try it, only I had NO shells or pasta resembling shells.  I did have two boxes of lasagna noodles though, and thus, I decided to create pumpkin lasagna.  As it turns out, I changed a bunch of other things along the way too, adding garlic, using dried herbs instead of fresh, etc.  So here's my adapted version of Jenna's mac and cheese turned into pumpkin lasagna.

Pumpkin Lasagna

Feeds about 3-4 people.

Prep time: about 30 minutes, Cook time 25 minutes

Ingredients


Lasagna noodles (It depends on what size pan you are using how many you'll need.  I used about seven for a square pan by cutting the noodles to fit on two layers of lasagna)

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1 clove of garlic, minced

3 1/2 cups milk (I used skim)

4-5 oz grated parmesan cheese (use the good stuff, not the powdered can)

¾ cup pumpkin puree (1/2 15-oz can)

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp cayenne

1/3 cup breadcrumbs (mine were Italian seasoned)

Directions


1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Cook noodles in boiling salted water. Drain. Set aside.

3.  In a saucepan over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk together and cook for thirty seconds. Add 2 cups milk, rosemary, and garlic and whisk until smooth. Add another cup of the milk and continue to whisk as the sauce thickens.
4.  Add 3/4 of the grated parmesan cheese (you're saving some for the top) gradually and stir well so that the cheese melts. Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne followed by the last half cup of milk and the pumpkin puree.

5.  Spray baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon a layer of sauce into the bottom, then layer with lasagna noodles, then sauce, then noodles, then sauce.  I only got two layers out of mine, so if you want more layers, you may want to double this recipe in it's entirety.  On top of the last layer of sauce, sprinkle the bread crumbs and the remaining parmesan cheese.

6.  Bake for 25 minutes until bubbling.



Even my husband, who is ready to kill me with the amount of pumpkin I keep putting in everything, loved this.

 

I still want to try Jenna's version, but I thought this was really delicious and will make it again!