got my first co-op basket, so I cooked vegetable lasagna

I've been wanting to try some kind of farm co-op and via facebook, I learned of a place called Bountiful Baskets that is a local co-op that you have to go pick up your "baskets" as much as once a week.  They offer conventional baskets as well as add ons like bread, extra veggies or olive oil.

This was my first time to try it, and so far, I'm a big fan.

Although some of the packaging looks like it came from a supermarket, I like to think that

most of it came from "as local as possible".  The price is comparable, or cheaper, than buying the same items at the grocery store.  It adds an element of surprise, cause you don't pick what you want.....they give you what they have.  The theory is that it is seasonal and fresh and will challenge you to come up with good recipes to cook all this great food.

You show up to a pick up point near you, and transfer the items from your "basket" to your own container, and take it home.  This particular one is volunteer only,  to keep costs down.  They ask that you volunteer once for every six times that you participate.

so, I got my veggies....now what?

Vegetable lasagna was the first thing that came to my mind.

Although, full disclosure, we made a big salad with some new stuff for our lunch today.

From the new bounty, I used eggplant, mushrooms, onion, garlic, parsley and oregano.  To which I added spinach, ricotta cheese, egg, mozzarella, noodles, and tomatoes & tom paste.

I sauteed the garlic, onions, mushrooms and spinach in a pan with butter and olive oil.  Then I mixed canned tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley and basil together.  In a separate bowl, I mixed ricotta cheese and an egg.  I layered it as such...tomato mixture on the bottom, then noodles, then spinach mixture, then ricotta mixture (with some added shredded mozzarella), then repeated with one exception...

I exchanged one layer of noodles for sliced eggplant.

To add with the zangna, I mixed butter, garlic, chopped tomatoes, parsley and parmesan into a spread and put it onto some french bread.

Although the flock was fed, 

Zachary resisted the veggie goodness, and picked out the spinach from the lasagna, and scraped off the yummy stuff from the bread.