A recipe I have to share

This was a casserole I made that was so good I had to share it. I made it with the intention that we could eat on it all week and we polished it off in two days. You can do this three ways, one for meat eater, one for vegetarians and one for vegans.

Italian vegetable "lazagna" casserole

Vegetable layers
1 medium eggplant washed and sliced very thin (about 1/8" with skin).
Slice these first and set in a tub of salted water while prepping
the rest of the dish
1 red bell pepper, sliced into 1/4" rounds
1 lb package baby portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 Zucchini squash sliced into 1/4' slices
1 small onion (about 1/2 cup chopped fine)
1 handful of fresh basil
1/2 lb spinach, washed with stems removed. Leave whole.
1 tsbp olive oil

Filling
Vegetarian version (this is the version I made):
1 can white canelli beans, rinsed and drained
1 pint ricotta cheese
2 tbsp milk or cream
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

For the Vegan version
substitute the ricotta cheese and milk for pureed cauliflower

Sauce
1 large can tomatoe sauce
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 375
Make this in a 9X12 covered baking dish that is 4" deep
If you have no cover, aluminum foil will do.

For the filling:
If you are making this with cauliflower, Chop the cauliflower fine and boil in water until soft. Drain, but reserve about 2 tbsp or so of the water to use instead of cream.
Put all filling ingredients in the blender and blend until very smooth. This should be thick like a pudding.

For the tomatoe sauce:
Empty the tomatoe sauce into a bowl, add the seasonings and stir to blend.

For the dish:
Rub bottom and sides of baking dish with olive oil
Arrange spinach leaves to cover the bottom of the dish
Sprinkle on onion
Arrange one layer of eggplant, followed by one layer of zucchini.
Arrange layer of red bell pepper
Layer on all of the filling to form a solid layer
Layer on 1/2 of tomatoe sauce mixture
Add 1 layer of basil, try to cover entire dish with basil
Add the remaining eggplant and zucchini
Add chopped mushrooms
Finish with remaining tomato sauce.

Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese if desired, or nutritional yeast.
Cover and back for 50 minutes.
Serve with salad and garlic bread.

For the meat version
Add 1lb each of cooked italian sausage before the first layer of eggplant and 1 1lb cooked ground beef before the second layer of eggplant.