Thursday, March 8, 2012

Recipe: Light Lasagna

Yes, this is another Pinterest recipe. And it was DELICIOUS. This was definitely one of the best lasagnas I have ever made, and it's a bonus that is "light".  Even Ross liked this a lot because you really can't tell that it is a lighter version.  I don't want you thinking that it is completely low-calorie, just lower.  Like I said, I got this recipe from Pinterest, but it was originally posted in another food blog called Emily Bites.  I really like her blog because it is "lighter versions of recipes."  So, check it out for more good recipes!

Ingredients:

3/4 lb 95% lean ground beef (I used ground turkey)
3/4 lb Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed (I used hot sausage links, 3 of them)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 (26 oz) can Spaghetti Sauce
8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, cubed
1 c 1% cottage cheese
1 T minced fresh parsley
6 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained (I used whole wheat)
1 c shredded 2 % reduced-fat Mozzarella or Italian cheese blend
3 teaspoons Italian seasoning, divided

This was overall a really easy recipe to make.  You just have to follow the directions.   It can be intimidating to make a whole pan of lasagna for just one or two people, but I froze the left-overs and it re-heated just as nicely!

First, preheat oven to 350. I then got my water boiling for the noodles and added the noodles once the water was boiling.
 Next, cook the ground turkey, sausage, onion and pepper over medium heat breaking up the meat until browned.

Set aside a cup of spaghetti sauce and pour the rest into the saute pan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or so.

In a small saucepan, melt the cream cheese over medium heat.  Once it is melted, remove from heat and stir in the cottage cheese and parsley.
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread the meat sauce evenly along the bottom of the pan.  Top that layer with 3 noodles, top that with the cream cheese mixture and 1 1/2 t of Italian Seasoning.

 Lay 3 more noodles on top of that, spread more of the meat mixture on top and the cream cheese mixture on top of that.  (Emily's original recipe just had the one layer on the bottom of the meat mixture and one layer of the cream cheese, but I thought it'd be better to have another layer).  Cover the cream cheese layer with the rest of the spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, and rest of Italian Seasoning.

Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.  Remove the cover and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

All I can say was that this was fantastic!  I added some crushed red pepper to the sauce for a bit of a kick and with the hot Italian sausage, this was a great addition of heat.  I loved the creaminess of the cottage cheese and cream cheese melted together.  I honestly would never have thought this was a lighter version at all.  Ross and I both loved this and will definitely be making this again!

(Check out Emily's blog post for nutritional information and Weight Watcher's points.)

~Kate

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