SKINNY LASAGNA

printable recipe below

1- spaghetti squash

Sauce

20 oz. 98% Lean ground turkey

8 oz of mushrooms

1 Cup of Spinach leaves

2 Cups of canned Italian tomatoes (less than 5 g of carbs per 1/2 cup)

1/2 tsp pressed garlic

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp white pepper

1 tsp Italian seasoning

10 bay leaves

CHEESE FILLING

8 oz or 1 cup part skim ricotta cheese (2 to 3 g fat per oz)

12 oz or reduced fat mozzarella cheese, divided

6 tbsp reduced fat parmesan cheese

4 tbsp egg beaters

1/4 tsp pressed garlic

1 tsp Italian Seasonings

DIRECTIONS:

SPAGHETTI SQUASH:

Roasted Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash — it turns into “spaghetti” as soon as you scrape the squash.

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut spaghetti squash in half, clean the seeds out. Use some vegetable spray or a tiny bit of oil olive on the spaghetti squash, then place on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for 1 hour. Once done, pull it out and just scrape it with a fork.

MEAT SAUCE:

Cook the meat and mushrooms.  Add tomatoes, spinach, garlic, salt and pepper, Italian seasoning and bay leaves.  Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.

CHEESE FILLING:

Mix the ingredients for the cheese filling using only 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese.  I actually used less mozzarella cheese in the cheese filling –1/2 cup, so we had more on top toasted.

LAYERS:

Ladle about 1/4 of the sauce into the bottom of a large 9×13 pan. Spoon in some of the spaghetti squash to cover the bottom layer of sauce. Top with about 1/4 of the cheese mixture.  Top with the meat sauce and repeat another layer of spaghetti squash, cheese, meat mixture. Continue assembling the lasagna in that order until you’ve used up all the fillings, ending with red sauce. Top with the remaining shredded mozzarella cheese over the top of the dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  (If the spaghetti sauce gets too juicy you may need to ladle a little juice off while it is cooking.

Divide into 8 equal portions.

These freeze great in Ziploc containers.

My friend Roxanne made this with eggplant.  You can also use zucchini squash and other vegetables.

I am telling you — I am not hungry on my new “diet”/lifestyle change.  I am eating healthy and this recipe is on THE PLAN.

I feel great.  I have so much energy and the pounds are falling off.