Jul 3, 2006

Vegetable Beef Lasanga


I've been wanting to make lasanga for a while now but just hadn't gotten around to it. The recipe I normally use, Lasanga Maria, is not the most health conscious so I kept putting it off. I'm REALLY trying to stick to my diet. I finally figured that I should develop a new recipe so that we can enjoy lasanga more often without all the guilt. This is a recipe I created today pretty much off the top of my head to use up what we have on hand and to get some much needed veggies into my kids diet. They helped me make it so I know they will enjoy eating it as well. ;)

Vegetable Beef Lasanga

1 10 oz. package lasanga noodles (9 noodles)
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I used a large can of Hunt's Onion and Garlic that we had on hand)
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
8 oz. low fat ricotta cheese (1/2 of the average size container)
1/2 c. fat free cottage cheese
1 egg (you can use 2 egg whites instead for a healthier version)
1/4 c. plain yogurt (fat free sour cream would work as well)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 onion, sliced thin
2 zucchini, peeled and sliced thin
2 carrots, peeled, sliced then and blanched for 5 minutes
1/2 bag frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
1/2 red bell pepper, roasted and peeled
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pkg. fresh grated parmesan cheese (ziploc type package, not the stuff in the green can)
a few slices of pepperoni
salt
pepper

Cook lasanga noodles for 10 minutes, drain and lay on an baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside. Brown ground beef in a skillet with the Italian seasoning and a little salt and pepper. Drain and set aside. Combine the ricotta, egg, cottage cheese, yogurt, garlic powder, parsley, red pepper flakes and a little salt and pepper; set aside.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 9 x 13 in pan spread about 3 Tbsp. of the sauce. On top of the sauce, layer the ingredients as follows: 3 noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture (spread over noodles with a spoon), 1/3 of the onions, 1/3 of the zucchini, 1/3 of the broccoli, 1/3 of the carrots, 1/3 of the ground beef, 1/3 of the mozzarella, 1/3 of the parmesan, 1/3 of the sauce. Repeat. For the last round, after adding the ground beef, layer the sauce before the cheese and place the pepperoni and red bell peppers on top. (You might need to press the entire thing with the back of a spatula to get it to fit into the dish so that the cheese won't stick to the foil when you cover it.)

Bake, covered with foil, for 45 minutes then uncover and bake another 20 minutes. Allow to set about 15 minutes before cutting.... if you can wait that long ;)

6 comments:

Deetsa said...

Alas, ground beef and I haven't gotten along for over 12 years but I'm sure my other half would love this.

Anonymous said...

I made this the other day and it was GREAT!!! I love the fact that it has veggies in it, but it is not very noticeable (for those of us who don't love vegetables)

Thanks!

Michele said...

Narissa, I think this would be great even if you leave the meat out... or you can use ground turkey or TVP or even tofu.

Anonymous, I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe! I love that it hides the veggies too, my kids and hubby can be picky if I try to sneak in too many veggies at once. ;)

HappySlob said...

Yum, this looks mouth-wateringly good! :) I'm a huge lasagna fan. Thanks for posting this one!

Hugs,
Christina

Michele said...

It was veery good Christina, give it a try! ;)

Ciao from Debbie said...

Hi Michele, I'm a follower of Jesus as well! And we are missionaries in Italy, trying to share Jesus with our friends and neighbors. I noticed that you spell lasagna incorrectly...and thought you might want to know the correct spelling. I just found your site and enjoyed looking at your posts. I have a website/blog as well www.CiaoFromDebbie.com but you are definitely way ahead of me! Isn't it challenging keeping everything in balance! :) Blessings. Ciao! Debbie