I was browsing Pinterest this morning, when I spotted what I knew HAD to be my supper tonight. It was a recipe from blogger Megan Brewer for Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna Bundles.

Lasagna AND Spinach-Artichoke Dip?  Oh, yeah! I’m there!

It had a lot of ingredients, but it sounded so incredibly delicious I had to try it.

Usually when I try a completely new recipe, I try to follow the directions pretty much as written. But for this one, I had to make one change. The recipe called for old-fashioned lasagna noodles, but all I had in my pantry were the oven-ready ones. I stopped at the store, but unless I wanted to pay for fancy imports ($5.99 for noodles? I think not!), all they had were the oven-ready, too.  So I adapted — the roll up directions became a stack. I also added some delicious zucchini and some fresh basil from my herb garden.

The result? Delicious!  Certainly messier than the recipe that inspired me…but the taste was all there, just as I imagined when I read the recipe.

So here’s my take on Megan’s recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 zucchini, scrubbed and sliced thin, long ways
• 2 large cloves garlic, pressed

• 1 teaspoon dried basil or 6 fresh basil leaves, minced
• 1 yellow onion, diced small

• 4 cups chopped spinach leaves (fresh, not frozen)
• 1 cup chopped artichoke hearts (I used marinated…next time, I would use plain ones in olive oil or water)
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese

• 1 can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes, strained, with the liquid reserved
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• Extra virgin olive oil

• 1 cup shredded Parmesan/Romano cheese, blend
• 8 oven-ready lasagna sheets

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Lightly grease a large glass baking pan with olive oil
• Place 4 lasagna sheets in the bottom of the baking pan
• Set aside
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan.
• Add zucchini, garlic and basil and saute for 3-4 minutes until tender
• Remove cooked zucchini from pan, and keep warm on a plate
• Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large pan, along with the diced onions.
• Cook the onions until they become translucent.
• Add the spinach and artichoke hearts and cook them until the spinach leaves shrink down and become limp
• Add the salt, pepper, and 3 cloves of garlic, and toss the spinach-artichoke mix together.
• Strain off any excess liquid, then add the cream cheese and stir until it has fully melted into the spinach mixture.
• Place 1-2 thin slices of zucchini on each lasagna noodle
• Top each with one-quarter of the spinach-artichoke mixture
• Add a second sheet of lasagna on top of each stack
• Top each row with 1/4 of strained diced tomatoes and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
• Pour the reserved tomato juice around the edges of the noodle stacks
• Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove the foil, add additional cheese and broil the top of the dish for an additional  2-3 minutes or until the cheese browns, bubbles and melts.

Serve hot, with a salad and crispy bread.

Would I make these again? In a heart beat! My family loved it, too. I made a double recipe, and it’s all gone! But next time, I’ll wait until I can find regular lasagna noodles so I can roll them up. Thanks, Pinterest…and thanks Megan!