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Not the best picture but this is a messy dish and I wanted to take it before we cut into it! I wanted to create a delicious option for lasagna that my family would enjoy too. For them I served it over spaghetti, I eat it with a salad and when I have the calories in my budget I put it over whole wheat toast or 1/2 a baked sweet potato.

#lasagna #low cal #low calorie dishes

Recipe

Sauce

1- 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes or other very good tomatoes

1-15 oz. can tomato sauce

1/4 cup strong semi sweet red wine

1/2 lb. turkey Italian sausage

1 med-large red onion minced

1 green pepper diced

1 red pepper diced

1/2 stalk celery finely sliced

1 Tb Italian seasoning

1 Tb dried Oregano

1 Tb Garlic powder

1 tsp. sea salt and black pepper

In a med pot fry out the sausage, break it up into a crumble when cooked through. Now add the vegetables. Stir fry them with the sausage until just tender. Add the tomatoes breaking them up with your hand, add seasonings and and wine. Bring sauce to a hard simmer. Reduce to low and let simmer for several hours (this can also be done in a crock pot overnight or all day). You can add more seasonings as the sauce cooks if need be.

For the lasagna filling

16 oz. low fat cottage cheese

Dried parsley

Garlic powder

Black pepper and sea salt

1 cup low fat mozzarella shredded

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 very large zucchini or 3 smaller ones (this is your noodle so keep that in mind when figuring out how much you will need)

1 can of quartered artichokes in brine drained

Method

About a half hour before you are ready to put the dish together wash the zucchini and cut the ends off. Slice it into rounds about 1/8″ thick, lay the slices out onto paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt. Cover with more paper towels and press them. This will make them sweat and release excess water. (You can do this in long horizontal slices if you prefer) Set these aside until ready to use. You can also drain the artichokes and set aside. Also mix the cottage cheese with the parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper use these to taste. I like mine flavorful so I use 1 tsp of garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper and 1 Tb parsley.

To assemble the dish: In a 13″ x 9″ pan

Much like any lasagna start with a little sauce on the bottom of the pan. Begin with a layer of zucchini then cottage cheese mixture, then artichokes next the sauce. Do a second layer only this time use zucchini then sauce, artichokes and the mozzarella cheese. Finish with sauce and the parmesan cheese. Bake in a 375′ oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly and crispy around the edges. You can also check the center to see if it’s hot. Let set for 10 minutes before cutting into it. This will not set up like a regular lasagna because there are no noodles or eggs in it. But it will set up some. For those that can have it, it can be served over pasta.

Cut into 8 servings each one is 189 – 195 calories because ingredients vary just a little on calories.