Lasagna Tuesday

I never would have thought that I would have a night where I made two lasagnas.  To think that a year ago, I thought that I hated lasagna.  Come to find out, I just hate ground beef.  The lasagna itself is a wonderful invention: noodles, cheese, and sauce!  The options are endless, and tonight is an example of that.

my lasagna with Mark's arugula caprese!

Remember how I roasted my own spaghetti squash the other night?  Today I decided it was time to make it work for me.  There are so many options for spaghetti squash, but I was intrigued by the recipe that turns it into a lasagna!  There are no noodles in this lasagna, obviously - the squash takes its place - but the rest is very lasagna-ish: ricotta, marinara sauce, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese!  It was very fast to throw together since the squash was already roasted.  I just had to toss it all in a casserole dish: sauce, then squash, then cheeses, more sauce, and more cheeses!  It sounds really unhealthy but I got the recipe from Skinny Taste!  Only 358 calories per serving!  And it certainly does not taste healthy; Mark was moaning about eating a fattening casserole until I informed him that I got the recipe from a low-fat blog! :)  One change I made to the recipe was that it called for you to make 4 mini lasagnas; I just put it all in one dish.  That worked just fine.  The outcome is delicious; all the mushy sauce and cheeses mix together with the crunchy "noodles" of squash; it makes for a really fun texture!  Tucky - I thought you could probably eat this!  And even my mom and Mark liked this lasagna.  Mom kept giggling and saying the squash was "funny" but she loved it :)

Then, since I had my doubts that my family would eat squash lasagna (my doubts were shockingly wrong, but who could have expected that!?) I decided to make another lasagna.  When I scrolled through my blog to see if there was anything worth repeating, I stumbled upon the lotsa green lasagna.  I was reminded how I made it one night when it was just Mom and me, and we devoured almost the entire thing ourselves!  I knew it would be a good meal to make for Mom, me and Marky tonight.  It's a lasagna, but really only because you use lasagna noodles. Everything else is very different!  There are layers of cheese, but the cheeses are mostly cottage cheese, with some mozzarella, Parmesan and goat cheese.  There is a white sauce mixed with spinach, and sauteed carrots, scallions and broccoli. Doesn't sound like your everyday lasagna, now does it?  And this is soooo good.  The cheesy layers are the perfect companion with the tender vegetables, and anything with goat cheese is a must-eat.  Mom says this is one of her favorites, and Mark had seconds.  I highly recommend this lotsa green lasagna any time you want a healthy but decadent vegetarian casserole :)  102 calories per serving - it feels like cheating!

Recipes:
spaghetti squash lasagna

 Lotsa Green Lasagna
adapted from Meatless Mondays

Ingredients:
6-8 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 teaspoon olive oil
Cooking spray
1-1/4 cups chopped broccoli
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1-1/2 minced garlic cloves
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 oz chopped spinach
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup low fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup low fat goat cheese

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil lasagna noodles according to the directions on the box.

2. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan or skillet over high heat. Sauté carrots, scallions, garlic and broccoli in olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until tender, and set aside.

3. Combine mozzarella, goat and cottage cheeses in a bowl. Mix and set aside.

4. In a saucepan melt butter over medium heat, then whisk in flour. When thoroughly mixed, add milk and whisk until well blended. Turn heat up to high, cover and heat until boiling.

5. Uncover and stir constantly over high heat for about 5 minutes, or until mixture is thick.

6. When mixture is thick, take off heat and season with pepper and add 1/8 cup of Parmesan. Stir until smooth and mix in the spinach. Set aside 1/2 cup to use for the top layer of the lasagna.

7. Spray a 9 x 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup of the spinach mixture on the bottom. Next, then lay 2-3 lasagna noodles over the spinach mixture (you may need to cut noodles to fit the pan).

8. Pour half the cheese mixture followed by half of the remaining spinach mixture over the noodle layer.

9. Spread half the carrot-scallion-broccoli mixture over that, then add another layer of noodles.

10. Pour rest of the cheese mixture followed by the rest of the remaining spinach mixture on top of the noodles.

11. Spread the rest of the carrot-scallion-broccoli mixture over that, then top with a layer of noodles.

12. Spread the reserved 1/2 cup of the spinach mixture over the noodles and sprinkle with 1/8 cup parmesan cheese.

13. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Meatless Thursdays

Although I am still sick, I have been missing the kitchen, so tonight I dragged myself back in to make some dinner!  I knew it was only going to be me and Mom for dinner tonight, so I could make something small... meaning it was the night to experiment :)

Over vacation, Mark took me to Barnes and Noble and let me peruse the cookbook section.  I found one book that I fell in love with but am far too cheap to buy for myself ($40 for a cookbook!?).  It was called Meatless Mondays, by the McCartney family.  You know, like, Paul McCartney?  They created this idea that every Monday, people should not eat any meat, and they should eat healthy, veggie-filled meals and snacks all day long.  The book gave an entire year's worth of Monday recipes, from breakfast to lunch to dinner and side dishes and snacks!  It was amazing.  Anyway I was happy to see, once I got home, that Meatless Mondays has a website with lots of great recipes on it for my cheap ass.  I skimmed through it and found a vegetable lasagna.  Now I have said this before: I have always hated lasagna, and they depress me because it's always the meal of choice for people to bring us when Dad is in the hopsital.  However, my Mexican lasagna made me realize that maybe I just hate meat lasagna- since, after all,  I hate meat.  So I found a white vegetable lasagna - low fat, nonetheless - and I had to give it a try.  I ran to the grocery store quickly to pick up some rather bizarre ingredients for a lasagna (cottage cheese?  Spinach? Broccoli?) but I was ready to experiment with the Lotsa Green Lasagna!

I will say that this took me a while - although I must admit that I am still a rather slow chef.  I can whip up baked goods like nothing, but give me a knife and I will slice in slow motion.  And this needed a lot of slicing: carrots, broccoli, scallions, garlic!  Plus cooking the lasagna noodles, mixing up the cheese mixture, and then making the cheesy sauce thing... it took me a while.  And I started to get nervous.  I wasn't doubling the recipe, since it was just the 2 of us eating, but it seemed like I was making about a cup each of the 3 fillings!  I started to be afraid that it was going to be dry.  Luckily, it was great! 

There are layers of noodles, and then layers of cheese :low fat cottage cheese, low fat mozarrella, and goat cheese.  Can there be a better, healthier cheese mix!?  I had been afraid that it would be dry, but the cheeses all melted and spread out perfectly.  On top of that was my sauteed vegetables, and then a spinach parmesan sauce, mostly made of milk and flour and only 1/4 cup of Parmesan.  I can promise you that it didn't taste low fat in the least.  Lots of great flavors.  I can proudly say that Mom and I practically ate the entire thing ourselves (and she gave it a 9 rating!).  I am already pretty pumped to eat it tomorrow at lunch.

The only things I changed about the recipe were a couple substitutions.  It called for frozen spinach - but everything else was so fresh, and I could not bear to put anyfrozen vegetables in there, so I grabbed fresh baby spinach (since I like it better).  Then it called for freshly grated Parmesan, but the store didn't have it, so the pre-grated stuff worked just fine.  If  you try this recipe, you'll definitely want to double it for a family; trust me, it will go :)



Mom being proud that we both ate a ridiculous amount of lasagna

P.S. Go to www.meatlessmonday.com and see if you can find a meatless meal for your family :)

Recipe:
Lotsa Green Lasagna