"Lasagna" without the pasta....

cramernh

...now before some of the MFP diehards come storming in with battle-gear on, I have a metabolic disorder - I cant digest that wretched group of breads/grains portion of the food pyramid so please dont go there...

I found some awesome vegetable sales at our grocery store and decided to get creative with making a Lasagna but using only vegetables, dairy and fresh ground beef, fresh herbs and spices and even a homemade sauce...

I gotta tell you, I was very impressed with the way it came out - each piece layered quite nicely and in whole when serving it on a plate.

I used a combination of thin sliced eggplant and zucchini to replace the noodles.

My marinara is homemade: tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots all pureed, herbs and spices

I had some 85% ground beef cooked up with fresh garlic and herbs (drained half of the fat)

I had fresh diced onions, colorful bell peppers and baby bella mushrooms.

I had ricotta, romano, parmesan, mozzarella and provolone for the cheeses along with more garlic and herbs...

This layered up so well and it baked up AWESOME!

I did up the recipe builder here and each piece is 313 calories and its only 16g of healthy carbohydrates, 15g of fat, 33g of protein....

elcieloesazul

Sounds delicious!

Brandie1029

That sounds freakin' delicious! Mmmm........drools.

CherylAnne1988

sounds great

cramernh

I did both the zucchini and eggplant into thin slices - and this held up really well....

Papillon22

I've heard of using eggplants instead of the noodles and it intrigues me. However, my italian husband's patience is already stretched enough from having to eat whole grain pasta, so I don't think it'd be fair to torture him further...for the moment! :laugh:

LiddyBit

That sounds pretty delicious.

I like to make it with thinly sliced sweet potato instead of pasta, too. I also put an obscene amount of pureed veggie into my tomato sauce.

Now I want to make this.

Edited to add - I usually make vegetarian lasagna or use turkey.

cramernh

I've heard of using eggplants instead of the noodles and it intrigues me. However, my italian husband's patience is already stretched enough from having to eat whole grain pasta, so I don't think it'd be fair to torture him further...for the moment! :laugh:

I like to make it with thinly sliced sweet potato instead of pasta, too. I also put an obscene amount of pureed veggie into my tomato sauce.

I find if you cut the eggplant down into either rounds or, simply into a rectangular shape to make noodles, lightly salt and pepper then so it will draw out the bitterness and rinse... you have a perfectly acceptable platform to replace lasagna noodles.

I hear you on the Italian Hubby... kudos to him though for having the whole grain pasta though.... You could always take the same filling ingredients and make a normal lasagna for hubby and a different type for yourself? If you dont mind the extra work into it...

UGH... sweet potato... that sounds really awesome.. but its another food that I cant eat.... I will though make a mashed sweet-potato in place of regular mashed potato when I make my Shepards Pie.. My daughter GOES NUTS for this!

LiddyBit

Yeah, sweet potato is definitely still carb-y, if a more nutritious source of it than pasta.

AZKristi

I love the idea of replacing noodles with eggplant and zucchini. I'll definitely have to give that a show (but it'll have to wait till October when I turn on my oven again).

darrcn5

Sounds delicious! I have heard of replacing the pasta with zucchini, but haven't tried it yet.

xandreinax

can i please get the recipe?

aprilgrl27

This sounds fantastic! The eggplant and zucchini cooked all the way through?

sarglava

I've made a lasagna with half eggplant and half pasta. The pasta kind of got in the way of the dish, I think.

sugarsquare

I found a recipe on pinterest for something similar using zuchinni for noodles and it was delish.

Hearts_2015

...now before some of the MFP diehards come storming in with battle-gear on, I have a metabolic disorder - I cant digest that wretched group of breads/grains portion of the food pyramid so please dont go there...

I found some awesome vegetable sales at our grocery store and decided to get creative with making a Lasagna but using only vegetables, dairy and fresh ground beef, fresh herbs and spices and even a homemade sauce...

I gotta tell you, I was very impressed with the way it came out - each piece layered quite nicely and in whole when serving it on a plate.

I used a combination of thin sliced eggplant and zucchini to replace the noodles.

My marinara is homemade: tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots all pureed, herbs and spices

I had some 85% ground beef cooked up with fresh garlic and herbs (drained half of the fat)

I had fresh diced onions, colorful bell peppers and baby bella mushrooms.

I had ricotta, romano, parmesan, mozzarella and provolone for the cheeses along with more garlic and herbs...

This layered up so well and it baked up AWESOME!

I did up the recipe builder here and each piece is 313 calories and its only 16g of healthy carbohydrates, 15g of fat, 33g of protein....

Sounds like you came up with a tasty Veggie Lasagna recipe, thanks for sharing it!:flowerforyou:

cramernh

This sounds fantastic! The eggplant and zucchini cooked all the way through?

You betcha it did!

I did thin slices of each the eggplant and the zucchini.

I dont have a recipe for my marinara because its one of those 'taste as you cook' type of concoctions... but

Basically its take your casserole dish, line it with your zucchini first - good base.

Slice up your eggplant into thin slices and line that next.

Take your favorite cheesey-lasagna filler and put a light layer of that on top - might have to smear it with your fingers.

Lightly wet it with your marinara.

Next layer can be roasted vegetables, peppers-onions-mushrooms - any vegetables you want.

Repeat again from the zucchini layer until you get to the middle.

The middle layer (and only), will be your meat(s) - I chose freshly cooked ground beef for this, but you can use anything.
Another layer of the cheese and then start again from your zucchini and repeat.


The very top layer, do your cheese mix, a layer of eggplant - then do another layer of cheese.

Oven to 400F, cover with foil, bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for an additional 15 minutes more.


Let it stand for about 10-15 minutes that way when you cut it, the pieces will stay in relatively good form.


Serve with a little extra sauce on the side if you want.

wftiger

Sounds like one I will have to try. There is a spaghetti squash lasagna at skinnytaste.com that is super good and low on carbs that I make at least weekly it is so good.

cramernh

Sounds like one I will have to try. There is a spaghetti squash lasagna at skinnytaste.com that is super good and low on carbs that I make at least weekly it is so good.

See, I like spaghetti squash to replace my pasta... I slightly undercook it in the oven... that way I can do a pan-sautee with a light sauce.. and it cooks it just up to that point of needing that 'bite'....

Ill use it for side dishes as well.. even have my husband hooked on a garlic-herb sauce with it to go with chicken or fish...

Papillon22

I like to make it with thinly sliced sweet potato instead of pasta, too. I also put an obscene amount of pureed veggie into my tomato sauce.

do you pre-cook the sweet potato first or you just slice it and use it raw?