lasagna recipe?

I love lasagna!! One way to quickly cut calories is by making a hearty veggie lasagna instead of a meat-based one. Slices of eggplant, zucchini, and other squashes would be good for layering, along with some spinach. I'm not a big fan of ricotta, so I cut it out altogether and use mozzarella. I used to use the skim kind, but I've found the caloric difference to be marginal compared to the difference in taste, so I use the full-fat stuff, just less of it.

I know other people slim down lasagna by omitting the pasta and using squash slices instead, but I'd miss the carbs too much

Hope that helps!

I made a really good meatless lasagna loosely using the recipe from website http://www.belgioioso.com/RicottaConLatteRecipes.htm

Here is original recipe and what I did below.

2 lbs. BelGioioso Ricotta con Latte®

1 cup BelGioioso American Grana®, grated

1 cup BelGioioso Mild Provolone, shredded

2 - 8 oz. pkgs. lasagna noodles, cooked

Traditional tomato sauce

3 garlic cloves

3-4 Tbsp. olive oil

1 - 15 oz. can roma plum tomatoes

Fresh basil, chopped (10-12 leaves)

Salt and pepper

To make sauce: sauté garlic in olive oil; chop and add tomatoes and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Add basil; remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste.

In a separate bowl, combine cheese ingredients, reserving some BelGioioso American Grana®. Butter 9" x 13" pan and layer noodles, cheese mix and tomato sauce, then repeat layers.

Garnish top layer with remaining tomato sauce and additional grated American Grana®. Bake at 375° for 45-50 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil and let cool until set before serving.


Here is what I used & did

2 containers of fat free Sarengeto Ricotta (great texture, low sodium!)

5 oz grated belgiosio parmesan (found as substitution on web search for american grana)

1 8 oz bag Kraft 5 cheese italian blend (impossible to find provalone in block to shred, or shredded, my store only had slices and the italian blend had provalone in it)

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

I ended up with 9 oz of cheese mixture left over so I had to go back and recalculate all my ingredients - but depending on your size dish you might use all of it - if so you might need to make more sauce because I just had enough for my 9"x9" dish


tomato sauce:
1 container of fresh roma cherry tomatos pulsed in food processor
3 large fresh tomatos pulsed through food processor
2 TBLS dried basil
2 TBLS minced garlic (from jar)
1 tsp oregano
1/3 tsp salt
and because i like things spicier
1 heaping teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 habenero pepper ran through processor

let all that simmer in pan for 30 min, then cooled some before putting together lasagna

also, used the no boil noodles - my dish took 6 pieces total for two layers.

noodle sheet-cheese-sauce- noodle sheet-cheese-sauce- mozzarella

Topped lasagan with 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella then baked as recipe said.

Am excited to try mexican lasagna next week (google it)..it uses a heavy cream and corn for the 'sauce' not tomoatos, and poblano peppers and zucchini for layers with no cook noodles. i was learry about the heavy cream but just one cup isnt so bad divided by 9 or 10 servings!!

There are several things you can do to make a lasagne healthier, here are a few suggestions:

1. Make your own tomato sauce using low sodium tomatoes/passata and fresh garlic & herbs. Minimising processed shop bought sauces is instantly cutting down on sugars, additives, chemicals, sodium etc...

2. Ditto with the cheese sauce/ bechamel sauce. Use low fat/ skimmed milk and low fat cheese. You could also sub this for fat free cottage cheese mixed with a little fat free/extra low fat cream cheese, nutmeg, black pepper & parmesan for flavour.

3. Swap white pasta for wholemeal/wholewheat lasagne sheets.

4. Lower cals/carbs by using 50% pasta layers, and 50% sliced courgette (zucchini) or Aubergines (Eggplant).

5. Or eliminate pasta altogether and use 100% veggie slices.

6. Swap your minced (Ground) Beef to extra lean beef, or extra lean minced (Ground) turkey, pork or chicken.

7. Portion control- make small individual versions so you dont fall into the overindulging trap. Like these lasagne 'cupcakes':

http://thefithousewife.com/2012/04/skinny-mini-lasagna.html

I make mine vegan, home made pasta sauce, zucchini strips for noodles, and for ricotta I crumble firm tofu with chopped parsley, I used mozzarella style almond cheese on top, ( which doesn't really melt, the same but taste pretty similar.) easy peasy and without the cals from reg cheese. my son who is not vegan friendly in the least even loves it and couldn't tell it was vegan