Dreaming of Spinach: My First Spinach Lasagna

Sometimes inspiration arrives in the strangest ways.

Mine arrived in a dream.

One morning I woke up remembering that I had been eating spinach.

Yes…

Spinach.

Not chocolate.

Not pizza.

Not cake.

Spinach.

I laughed at myself.

Then I remembered something else.

For months, I had wanted to make spinach lasagna.

I had already bought most of the ingredients.

I had bookmarked a few recipes.

I had every intention of making it.

Yet somehow…

I kept putting it off.

Does that ever happen to you?

Sometimes we spend more time thinking about doing something than actually doing it.

That morning I decided enough was enough.

If my subconscious was dreaming about spinach, perhaps it was trying to tell me something.

So I opened my laptop, looked through several recipes, borrowed ideas from each one, added a few little tweaks of my own…

…and hoped for the best.

To my surprise…

My very first spinach lasagna turned out absolutely delicious.

Creamy.

Comforting.

Full of vegetables.

And much easier to make than I had imagined.

I couldn’t believe I had spent months procrastinating over something that was actually so simple.

Why Spinach?

Apart from dreaming about it…

Spinach is one of those vegetables I genuinely enjoy eating.

It’s naturally rich in folate, iron, vitamin A and fibre, making it a wonderful ingredient for a hearty meal.

I also loved the idea of turning something so healthy into comfort food.

Who says lasagna has to be loaded with meat?

This version is packed with vegetables, full of flavour, and surprisingly satisfying.

What You’ll Need

For the Spinach Sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 onions, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 5 bird’s eye chillies, finely chopped (optional)

• 1 packet frozen spinach

• 5 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

• A handful of cherry tomatoes

• 1 teaspoon dried basil

• 1 teaspoon dried parsley

• 2 vegetable stock cubes

• Salt and black pepper to taste

• A splash of water if needed

Optional

• 1 packet diced pancetta

(Leave this out if you’d like a vegetarian or halal version.)

Cheese Filling

• 1 tub cottage cheese

• Half a packet grated cheddar cheese

• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan

• 1 egg

• Salt and pepper

Assembly

• Lasagna sheets (no need to pre-cook)

• Extra Parmesan cheese for topping

Let’s Cook

Step 1 – Prepare the Sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large pan.

Cook the onions, garlic and chillies until softened.

Add the frozen spinach together with a splash of water and stir until the spinach has thawed.

Add the tomatoes, basil, parsley, vegetable stock, salt and pepper.

Allow everything to simmer gently for about 15 minutes until the tomatoes have softened and almost melted into the sauce.

If using pancetta, stir it in now and cook for another 5 minutes.

The sauce should be rich and slightly loose—not too dry—as it will cook the lasagna sheets.

Step 2 – Make the Cheese Filling

In a bowl, combine:

• Cottage cheese

• Cheddar cheese

• Parmesan

• Egg

Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Mix everything together until well combined.

Step 3 – Assemble the Lasagna

Spread a thin layer of spinach sauce over the bottom of your baking dish.

Add a layer of lasagna sheets.

Cover with more spinach sauce.

Add a generous layer of the cheese mixture.

Repeat the layers until all the ingredients have been used.

Finish with spinach sauce and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Step 4 – Bake

Cover the dish with aluminium foil.

Bake at 175°C for 45 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes until beautifully golden.

Allow the lasagna to rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Trust me…

It’s worth waiting.

A Few Tips

Cottage Cheese or Ricotta?

Most traditional recipes use ricotta.

I usually reach for cottage cheese because that’s what I happen to buy.

Both work beautifully.

Tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes are perfect when you have some that need using up.

Otherwise, a can of chopped tomatoes or your favourite marinara sauce works just as well.

Freezing

This recipe freezes beautifully.

I often divide it into smaller foil trays before baking so future me can enjoy homemade lasagna without starting from scratch.

Sometimes the greatest gift you can give yourself is dinner already waiting in the freezer.

The Result

When I cut into that first slice…

I couldn’t stop smiling.

The layers held together beautifully.

The spinach was creamy.

The cheese was bubbling.

The tomatoes gave just enough freshness to balance everything.

Even better…

I realised I had spent months avoiding something that turned out to be incredibly enjoyable.

Perhaps that’s true of many things in life.

💡 Be-Bulb Reflection

Sometimes the hardest part isn’t making the recipe.

It’s simply starting.

How many dreams have we postponed because they looked too difficult?

How many ideas have stayed inside our heads because we convinced ourselves we weren’t ready?

Then one day…

We begin.

And afterwards we wonder,

“Why didn’t I do this sooner?”

Life has taught me that many beautiful things live on the other side of procrastination.

The first step is usually the hardest.

Everything after that becomes much easier.

Be Brave. Start Today. Keep the faith… wonderful things often begin with a single step.