Super cheesy lasagna for two!

spoonyspork

I actually save my calories and eat this by myself when I'm craving melted cheesy goodness, as no one else in my family likes tomato sauce, but split in half it's still a gigantic portion and goes great with a side salad!

Note this is not intended to be any kind of 'alternative' -- just a way to make a real lasagna with a sane amount of calories... and not 8-16 servings at a time. So if you're trying for low carb, low sodium, vegetarian/vegan, or quick and easy... this is not for you. If you're like me and randomly crave ALL of the cheese but don't want to starve the whole day just to get a little bit, this is perfect! Took me a while to work out the recipe, and sorry for the length, but figured the effort deserved a share.


(sorry -- I am not a food photographer)

Serving size: 1/2 casserole
Cal: 318 (give or take, depending on substitutions)
Carb: 28.5g
Fat: 10g
Protein: 31.5g
Sodium: 581mg (before adding salt to taste)
Sugar: 11.5g

I make this in a 3-cup ceramic baking dish (good cook is the brand, iirc) as the noddles fit almost perfectly.

-1.5 servings (42g) Cabbot 50% light sharp cheddar (tastes as good as full fat, seriously!)
-1.5 servings (42g) 2% Milk Mozzarella
-1.5 servings (170g) low fat cottage cheese
-2 barilla lasagna noodles (again, used for size and specific calories. You will actually only be using 1.5 noodles)
-1.5 oz 93% lean ground beef (or protein of choice. To taste 'right' I find beef the best meat to use)
-1 cup tomato sauce (I use 'Pomi' brand as it's the only one I've found that's *just* tomatoes with no added salt, sugar, etc)
-1 teaspoon sugar (optional, but just a little cuts out acidity a lot)
-mushrooms (I use bottled, but fresh works great for less sodium. Fresh will need to be cooked first: otherwise they'll absorb too much of your flavors and your sauce won't taste right)
-salt, garlic powder, onion powder, any other herbs or spices - to taste

Start noddles boiling. In a small sauce pot, fry up the ground beef (do not drain). Add tomato sauce, sugar, mushrooms, herbs and spices to ground beef and stir well. Bring just to boil then turn burner to simmer. While waiting for noodles, keep stirring and tasting the sauce to see if anything needs added. Drain noodles, turn oven to 350. Make sure your sauce simmers at least 20 mins (between noodles being complete and oven pre-heating is usually enough time)

In your casserole, spoon a small amount of the sauce into the bottom (try to get mostly liquid -- this is just to prevent sticking). Put one whole noodle and one half noodle (split in half long ways) on the bottom. If you're using the right size baking dish, half will hang out the side. Spoon in half the sauce on top of the noodles, then half the cottage cheese, then half the cheddar and mozzarella. Fold the noodles over. They will make a perfect second layer plus about an inch. Spoon in the other half of sauce, then cottage cheese, then cheddar and mozzarella. Do whatever you want with that last inch of noodles (sometimes I fold it over before spooning in remaining ingredients, sometimes I just cut it off with scissors). Bake at 350 until cheese is all melted and starting to bubble up, then turn oven up to 400 and brown to your preference.

Let cool. Split in half and enjoy! (note: it'll be kind of soupy but will thicken the longer you let it cool. Can be fixed with tomato paste, but again: sodium and sugar considerations)

AshZie

Sounds delicious! Thank you

oedipa_maas

Thanks for posting this! It sounds delicious.