Leaner lasagna recipe?
Francl27
Posts: 26,372 Member
I know, I could just use lower fat cheese or whatnot in my recipe, but I've actually never made lasagna so I don't have a recipe...
I don't really want to use sausage, just ground beef, and I keep seeing recipes that use cottage cheese and I'd much rather stick to ricotta... However I'm clueless about quantities etc.
I'd love to add veggies but my picky kids will probably not eat it if I do.
Also, does using lower fat cheese affect the texture a lot?
Anyway, I'd love to hear some recipes you've actually made.. I mean there are a ton online but I never know whether they are worth making or not, and I couldn't find much that uses only beef and ricotta...
Thanks in advance!
I don't really want to use sausage, just ground beef, and I keep seeing recipes that use cottage cheese and I'd much rather stick to ricotta... However I'm clueless about quantities etc.
I'd love to add veggies but my picky kids will probably not eat it if I do.
Also, does using lower fat cheese affect the texture a lot?
Anyway, I'd love to hear some recipes you've actually made.. I mean there are a ton online but I never know whether they are worth making or not, and I couldn't find much that uses only beef and ricotta...
Thanks in advance!
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Replies
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I never make lasagna with cheese- I just use some kind of white sauce – I make it with butter – heat it and ad a bit of flour and stir together, than I put skinny milk into mixture and stir until boiling. And then I put this tick sauce with the spoon on the meat. You can use turkey ground meet instead of beef- but beef is better tasting. And I always use zucchini – before layering another slice of pasta – I make slim slices with a peeler and nobody notes it!
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I dont use cheese on my lasagne, and i use 5% beef mince to keep the calories down.1
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A friend cooked me this a few weeks ago:
http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/beef-lasagne.aspx
It's basically the same as a regular lasagne but instead of white sauce it uses yoghurt. It sounds awful but was actually pretty good. I haven't plugged it in to the recipe builder yet so I'm not sure what the calorie count is, but it's one idea of a substitution you can make.
You can blend a lot of other vegetables up in to the tomato sauce so your kids won't even know they're eating them.
Actually I've just re-read your post and seen that you've never made a lasagne before - in that case I would just find a recipe you like the look of, cook it once and then once you've got an idea of the basic method you can work out what changes you can make next time.1 -
Try replacing the pasta with some kind of veggie. Here's a low-carb recipe with spinach: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1204192
I'll be doing cauliflower this week...pizza or maybe lasagna.1 -
Just eat regular lasagna and don't eat half the pan.7
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I love this recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/spinach-lasagna-rolls/. You could leave the spinach out so your kids will eat it.1
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Make meat sauce, make noodles. Layer sauce and noodles with ricotta and mozzarella between layers. Parm too if you like - top with cheese. Bake covered until heated through and all layers are melty, uncover and brown top. Let sit before serving. Some cool and bake again next day so flavors can meld. You can add meatballs to layers if you're feeling adventurous.1 -
You can hide veggies in the tomato sauce--just blend it all together when the kids aren't looking. And if you don't like cottage cheese, just don't use cottage cheese. And I'm with you on using ground beef instead of sausage.
I would say pick a recipe and use it as a guideline the first time. It might not be exactly how you like it, but you can tweak it the next time.1 -
sharnut751 wrote: »I love this recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/spinach-lasagna-rolls/. You could leave the spinach out so your kids will eat it.
I've done those and they were tasty.
Make meat sauce, make noodles. Layer sauce and noodles with ricotta and mozzarella between layers. Parm too if you like - top with cheese. Bake covered until heated through and all layers are melty, uncover and brown top. Let sit before serving. Some cool and bake again next day so flavors can meld. You can add meatballs to layers if you're feeling adventurous.
Yeah I might just have to guess. Some people put egg in the ricotta mixture though?
I would add carrots in the sauce but my kids WILL see it.0 -
sharnut751 wrote: »I love this recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/spinach-lasagna-rolls/. You could leave the spinach out so your kids will eat it.
I've done those and they were tasty.
Make meat sauce, make noodles. Layer sauce and noodles with ricotta and mozzarella between layers. Parm too if you like - top with cheese. Bake covered until heated through and all layers are melty, uncover and brown top. Let sit before serving. Some cool and bake again next day so flavors can meld. You can add meatballs to layers if you're feeling adventurous.
Yeah I might just have to guess. Some people put egg in the ricotta mixture though?
I would add carrots in the sauce but my kids WILL see it.
Never did the egg. I don't think just tossing in vegetables for the heck of it is necessary, but if you like the flavor put the carrots in a food processor and mince them. Sauté them with your onions if using, or just by themselves if you aren't using anything else when you start your sauce. They will blend right into the sauce as it simmers assuming you're making your own and not just heating up a jar.0 -
extra_medium wrote: »
@extra_medium
Already clicked awesome but do love the response as it was my first thought as well.
Regarding ideas...I'm looking forward to making eggplant lasagna, have tried it already prepared but never made it myself. OMG...it was ridiculously delicious...if you haven't tried it, you might just be keen on this enough to never care if you go back to regular lasagna again.
Wondering if it might be on Skinny Taste site as well? I'll share it if I have a bit of extra time this morning after my workout and PT.
@sharnut751 this one sounds good, also have seen lasagna roll up where you lay the noodle flat and you roll it up and put it in the muffin pan, somewhat similar to the recipe sharnut751 shared. It ends up looking rather like a pinwheel when you look at them in the pan.
Eggplant is on sale so it's reminded me of trying out the recipe again.
@Francl27
Definitely be sure to come back and share what you end up making and how you like it and of course the source!
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You can use spaghetti squash in place of noodles. I also blend my veggies and add to the meat; lean gr. beef, turkey/chicken or meatless Morning Star Farms griller crumbles and my husband never notices the veggies. I do add low fat cottage cheese. For my sauce I just use heart healthy Ragu or Prego (or you can make your own tomato based sauce and season it up). Sometimes I use low fat mozzerella or provolone and sometimes I don't use cheese at all.
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My go-to recipe is this:
9 lasagna noodles
1 lb 97/3 ground beef
1 jar pasta sauce of choice (I like Prego's three cheese sauce)
1/2 cup part skim ricotta
1/4 cup reduced fat grated Parmesan
2 oz baby spinach, chopped
1 cup (4oz) finely shredded part-skim mozzarella
1. Soak the noodles in hot water while you prepare the sauce. No need to actually boil/cook them. Make sure you layer the noodles on the bottom, then create an X with the next layer, and so on, so the noodles don't get stuck together. I just layer them in a baking dish and pour the boiling water on top.
2. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and season with garlic and onion powder.
3. Heat the jar of sauce + 1/3 jar of water and add the ricotta, half the Parmesan, ground beef, and the spinach until it's hot all the way through and the spinach is wilted.
4. Take a square baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray and put some of the sauce mixture on the bottom - just enough to cover the bottom of the dish. Add three of the now softened noodles, cutting them so they fit in the pan if necessary. Add more of the sauce mixture on top - enough to cover the noodles well. Then the next layer of noodles, then sauce again.
5. Top with the other half of the Parmesan and the mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake covered in foil for 45 minutes at 375F. Then bake uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting.
I split this into 4 big servings for about 550 calories each, but you could do smaller servings if need be. I do count all 9 noodles even though I cut the ends off, but feel free to adjust the calories as you see fit. My husband is like a kid when it comes to vegetables and he says he can't taste the spinach in it. This is one of our favorite Sunday night dinners - SO good!1 -
Meat sauce - use whatever ground meat in a 1-to-1 ratio that the recipe calls for and that you're comfortable eating be it ground beef, ground lamb, ground pork/sausage, veal, chicken, turkey, etc. For super lean meats, you'll want to brown it with a little oil to give the finished dish some moisture.
Cheese - ricotta can be used in place of cottage cheese but it will be a drier texture. You'll want to mix an egg with the ricotta or cottage cheese mixture to help "glue" it together and give it some extra moisture. For the mozzarella part, I've done fresh, shredded, and sliced from the deli counter. We're cheese people so we usually go for the sliced for more coverage. I like both cottage cheese and ricotta versions so it's a personal preference for you. Some people can't get past the cottage cheese texture and some people can't get past the dryness of ricotta.
Veggies - I usually add chopped onions and fresh mushrooms to my meat when browning it. Since my go-to lasagna recipe calls for simmering the meat sauce for 45 minutes after adding the tomato products, it gives it lots of time to cook the veggies. This would also be a good spot to add shredded carrots, zucchini, or chopped spinach if you wanted more veggies.
My go-to recipe is based on one of the The Pioneer Woman's recipes (look for the one calling for 2 1/2 lbs of ground beef/sausage) with a meat mixture simmer time of 45 minutes.
ETA - this is a cheesy recipe so probably doesn't classify as "lean" even using low-fat products!0 -
Ok here is what mine looks like:
Quite simple and basic so you can play around. Butter and milk and flour is used before to make beschamel (the white thing people mentioned ) Flora is cooking butter so you don't get confused... onion, meat and my tomato sauce of choice - Barilla..many spices to taste, and of course some sugar because of tomato sauce...I let it stay with more liquid because it makes for tastier and not dry lasagnas... I use all sorts of cheeses but Mozzarella is the main one that has to be there 
I also use parmigan and a bit of regular cheese only on top (that's the Oltermaani juusto here). I use lasagna disks that don't have to be precooked. I use 9 disks - 3 rows of pasta and end it on top with meat and cheese- between every layer is bechamel as well... It's my favorite food n the world honestly and I've never gotten anything but praise for this one It makes for 4 nice sized servings. I keep it in oven 25-30 min at 200 celsius.
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I've used this recipe in the past and I really enjoyed it: http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/01/04/classic-lasagna/
I'm sure you could replace the italian sausage with ground beef. I actually substituted the ricotta for cottage cheese since I'm cheap and I don't mind cottage cheese in baked pasta. The recipe made 12 good-sized servings and with my modifications and ingredients it was only 434 cals, 26g protein, 21g fat, and 34g carbs per serving.0 -
I use ground turkey instead of beef or pork. Slathered in sauce, you can't taste the difference. I also use zucchini instead of noodles. There's a SkinnyTaste recipe that's absolutely amazing. It's a bit labour intensive but totally worth it. 345 cals per serving skinnytaste.com/zucchini-lasagna/0
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I made this about a year ago. It could be made even lower using skim ricotta or none at all and zucchini for the noodles.
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That's why I came here to ask, lol. 
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