Low Calorie Lasagna? Need Help!

First off you need to divulge your culinary talent level, are you a stouffer's cook, or do you know your way around some food? In the interest of saving time I'm going to assume you know the basics...

Calorie saver 1: MAKE YOUR OWN MARINARA. Seriously this is a sauce everyone ought to know how to make...if you need a recipie for a good one just post here, I'll check back and give you mine if necessary

Calorie saver 2: use 90/10 ground sirloin from a reputable meat purveyor...if you can get this it is a great compromise between flavor and lean clean meat.

Calorie saver 3: 86 most of the cheese...yeah you heard me...trust me, we can still make it very tasty...fresh grate some Parmesan cheese (just enough to have a light sprinkle for each layer) and sprinkle the top of that with powdered milk (I use powdered goats milk but regular is fine) this not only helps keep the calories down, but also helps keep the moisture content down so the lasagna holds its shape better for service, and the parmesan cheese is strong enough to still give you that cheesy flavor without a ton of calories.

Calorie saver 4: VEGGIES!!! Make sure to put some veggies in there, it helps fill the dish, and they're delicious. Some of the usual suspects in mine are fresh baby spinach, thinly sliced portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced zucchini, and thinly sliced eggplant just to name a few...the proper way to use these is to slice them (no more than 1/4" thick) then sprinkle with some salt and toss to coat and allow to sit in a collandar for about 10 min to pull out excess moisture spin in a salad spinner or pat gently with a paper towel afterwards for extra moisture removal.

As for the pasta...yeah it's high calorie, but realistically you're making 4 servings out of about 2 noodles (depending on how many layers, and the size of the portion) so it doesn't really matter as much as you might think.

Hope this helps :-)

Edit: PS...not knocking the other guys veggie noodle replacement idea, but the swap makes for a very soggy final product with no real mouth feel...may as well be making old people food...like I said 4 portions from 2 noodles so essentially you really need only ask yourself how many calories are in half of one lasagna noodle? And is that significant enough to sacrifice quality?

Allrecipes.com. "world's best lasagna" start with that basic recipe, each serving is almost 500 cals.
Wait... Hear me out!

Swap out half the italian sausage with lean ground beef. Cook separately. Mix later.
**save the pork drippings.
Make your own sauce (there is a recipe on there that rocks, calls for a bit of wine.)
And stewed tomatoes. That you'll eventually put in the blender. Use some roma tomatoes in this.
If you find your sauce too thin, add more tomato paste and continue simmering it down.
You want to make this sauce ahead of time if you can.
The poster above mentioned adding in extra veggies. I use baby portabeloes asss they're much smaller, egg plant because it has a meatier texture, olives, and onions. Sautee all of these in a small portion of the pork dripping but not for too long.

Swap out 1/2 the soft cheese for low fat, small curd, drained cottage cheese. If you place the container upside down
It's easier to drain. Mix the 2 cheeses well and season to death with Italian seasonings.
Cook the noodles al'dente before assembling. If you're making it the night before (i highly suggest this)
Cook the noodles a lttle less. This method will easily save you a good deal of calories, but not skimp too much on flavor. Good luck!

Also, save yourself the hassle and buy. A disposable lasagna pan. It's 2$ and if you have pam, spray the tinfoil before you wrap it.

To spread the soft cheese, put it in a zip lock bag and cut the tip off. Make sure it's at room temp!

Don't skimp on the amount of soft cheese, it's what holds it together. So really drain the cottage cheese.

Thanks for the inspiration, i have company coming and was wondering what to make! Now i know!

http://ausbb.com/recipes/16240-no-pasta-lasagne.html

No pasta lasagne

Makes 6 serves (267 cals 32P/14C/8F)

Ingredients
500g mince meat
500g zucchini
1 jar of pasta sauce
150g sour cream
300g low fat cottage cheese
250g mixed veggies
4 egg whites
75g low fat cheese (mozzarella would be best)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180c(375f)
2. Slice zucchini into thin slices
3. Brown mince meat. Drain & set aside.
4. Nuke frozen veggies
5. In a bowl mix sour cream, cottage cheese, egg and veggies
6. Mix mince with pasta sauce.
7. Spray a baking pan and start layering. (zucchini, white mix, meat, zucchini etc. etc.)
8. Cover the top with adequate cheese
9. Cover with foil and bake for 45 mins and then remove the foil and bake for another 10min or so.

Try this

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=181867

I've followed the Hairy Dieters recipe (linked to above) but used aubergine instead of leeks. I just sprayed the slices (thin slices!) with olive oil mist and roasted in a lowish oven until soft. I suppose it makes it more of a moussaka, but it's still delicious! Otherwise follow the Hairy Boys' recipe - really tasty and wonderful.

Lean meat and wholewheat pasta. Low-fat cheese, too. Or make it vegetarian?

How about going meat free in your lasagna. One of my husbands favorites is a spinach pesto lasagna made in the crock pot.

With all the options you've been given, I just want to know what you chose to do and how it tasted!! Be sure to post the results.

Enjoy :drinker:

There is an AMAZING lasagna recipe in the Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet cookbook. If you don't have this cookbook it is so worth it. My family has loved every single recipe I've tried from this book.

As for the lasagna my family begs for it and a full serving ends up being 292 calories. It's full of veggies (and I don't like veggies) but it is so good.

Shua