The words low fat and lasagna used in one breathe usually can elicit this type of response, "Huh! What?! Lasagna is so yummy because of all the fatty goodness from all the cheese." But for those of us wanting to get back into or stay in our skinny jeans, the idea of a lower fat lasagna sounds heavenly, "Yay! I can enjoy the yumminess of lasagna guilt-light."
I say guilt-light because lasagna in itself is still a calorie and carbed packed food. It's also pretty easy to over indulge when you see that warm lasagna right outta the oven with oozing dripping cheese. Who can resist, no? And hello, comfort food! I eat lasagna only on occasion and view it as a treat.
For a dinner party last night, I created this lasagna which was lower in fat mainly because of three things:
- I used beef with a very low fat content, 4%
- I used a Lite 3-Cheese blend of Mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and Cheddar that is 4g Fat per 1/4 cup
- I did not use ricotta cheese. *gasp* I know. Almost sounds sacrilegious. But here's the cool thing, the ricotta wasn't even missed or even noticed missing until I pointed it out.
Almost everything I used in this recipe was from Trader Joe's. I did use a couple things from Whole Foods, but you can easily replace those items with anything comparable store bought as well. I also used as many organic ingredients as I could. The Trader Joe's and Whole Foods 365 house brands make such cheap organic stuff which I utilize all the time.
Ingredients:
(Makes one 7"x11" baking dish. About 30 min prep time. 40 min. baking time)
- 1lb 96/4 (96% Lean/4% Fat) Extra Lean Ground Beef from Trader Joe's meat section
- 3-4 cups of fresh organic spinach from Whole Foods greens produce bins
- Trader Joe's pre-cut sliced white mushrooms
- 1 can Whole Foods 365 brand organic Italian Style diced tomatoes
- 1 box Whole Foods 365 brand organic Lasagna pasta
- 1 jar Trader Giotto's Bolognese pasta sauce
- 1 jar Trader Giotto's Organic Marinara sauce
- 1 bag Trader Joe's Lite Shredded 3 Cheese Blend: Mozzarella, Monterey jack, Cheddar Cheese
- Diced Garlic (you'll use some in the beef and spinach saute)
- Diced white onion
- Worcestershire sauce
- Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
- Garlic salt
- Black pepper
- evoo (extra virgin olive oil or whatever cooking oil you have at hand)
- Organic cane sugar
Let's start cooking'
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- The Whole Foods 365 brand organic lasagna pasta requires boiling about 9-10 minutes so start off by getting that going and cooking.
Making the sauce
- Heat a pan large enough to hold 2 jars of pasta sauce and 1lb of beef with evoo.(I set my burner to about a 6). When oil is hot, saute the onion and garlic for about a minute, then throw in the beef.
- Season the beef with about 1-1/2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute, garlic salt, and black pepper to taste. Now, I like my pasta meat sauces a bit on the sweet side so one of my secrets is that I add about one tbsp of organic cane sugar to the beef while it's cooking.
- Brown the beef for about a minute then throw in about half the box of the pre-cut mushrooms. Throw in more if you like lots of mushrooms. Cook the beef and mushrooms for about another 2-3 minutes.
- Throw in the can of the Whole Foods 365 brand organic Italian Style diced tomatoes, the whole jar of the Trader Giotto's Bolognese pasta sauce, and half the jar of the Trader Giotto's Organic Marinara sauce. I only use half the jar to save some for later but you can use the whole jar if you want.I use these two particular pasta sauces because they are my favorites. You can use whatever sounds good to you. Just be sure to get 2 jars.
- Again, I like pasta sauce on the sweet side, and you don't have to do this, but another secret of mine is that I squirt in like a 1/4 cup of organic ketchup into about a pound of sauce.
- Mix all the pasta sauce and diced tomatoes together with the beef and mushrooms. Cover the pan with a lid or a sheet of aluminum foil which I do because I don't have pans with lids, and lower heat to medium low (about a 3) and let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. After 10 minutes, take sauce off the burner and let sit.
- Now, this amount of sauce is just a wee bit more than you'll need for your lasagna, but I like to have some extra sauce on the side to make available for those who are extra saucy type of folks so they can heap on their plate when their lasagna is served.
- If your lasagna noodles are done by now, drain and put to the side so they can cool down a bit.
Sauteing the spinach
- While the sauce is simmering, heat another pan with evoo for the spinach. Now, I like to use fresh organic spinach because to me it tastes better and I like the texture better than frozen spinach. If you're pressed for time, just use frozen pre-cut spinach. I also saute my fresh spinach in some garlic to give it some pizazz.
- When the evoo is hot, saute some of the diced garlic for about 30 seconds then throw in the spinach and splash some water onto the spinach. I use one of those spring water sports bottle and just squirt water on the spinach as needed. Cook until the spinach is mostly shriveled up but not too much. You don't want to over cook the spinach in the pan. The heating in the oven will shrink the spinach a bit more. Take pan of burner and let sit until you're ready to assemble your lasagna
Assembling the lasagna
- Everyone has their own way of layering lasagna so feel free to do what you like. I don't really have rhyme or reason, I just go with the flow. Makes my lasagna's a bit different each time.
- I start off by putting a layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan, then lay the first row of lasagna noodle. I put a layer of sauce on top of the noodles, then I take some of the sauteed spinach and sprinkle that around. Again, you can use as much or little spinach as you prefer. On top of the spinach goes a layer of the 3-cheese blend.
- Top with the second layer of noodles, and do the same thing; sauce, spinach, cheese. Lay third layer of lasagna noodles on top, and pour on a thin layer of sauce on top of that third layer of noodle. Now, I do not put cheese on the very top until the very end because I like gooey cheese on top.
- Cover lasagna with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. When buzzer goes off, take foil off the lasagna and sprinkle a layer of cheese on top. Put lasagna back in the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is to your desired gooiness level.
- Take lasagna out of the oven and let sit about 15-20 minutes before serving.
For the dinner party, I served the lasagna with a side salad of mixed greens tossed with tomatoes, julienne carrots and beets, and candied walnuts in a Trade Joe's raspberry vinaigrette.
I got a mini loaf of Rosemary ciabatta bread and made garlic bread with real butter, fresh pressed garlic, garlic powder, and some sea salt. Heat the garlic bread in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes.
I believe the reason that the ricotta wasn't missed all that much in this lasagna was because of the 3-cheese blend. The Monterey and Cheddar helped boost a nice cheesy flavor to the mozzarella which doesn't have much robustness on it's own.
We complimented the meal with a lovely bottle of V. Sattui 2006 Napa Valley Syrah.
Dee-lish!
