Friday, June 19, 2009

Light Classic Lasagna

This lasagna has a classic italian taste and the best part is you don't have to boil the noodles before baking it! This really cuts down on preparation time and hassle. The original recipe calls for vegetable juice in place of water, but I subsititute water and it lowers the sodium content considerably but I don't notice the difference in taste! I love to throw in some of my fresh garden herbs (parsley and basil) with the sauce. If you use low-fat cottage cheese, 2% shredded cheese and 90% lean ground beef to make this it has about the same nutrition figures per serving as Weight Watchers frozen lasagna.


Light Classic Lasagna
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1 1/2 lbs. 90% lean ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cans (14-16oz each) petite or regular diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
2 envelopes (1.5 oz each) spaghetti sauce mix
3 cups water (or can use 3 cups vegetable juice instead)
fresh herbs, optional
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 carton (16 oz) low-fat cottage cheese
2 cups 2% or reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated reduced-fat parmesan cheese


In a large skillet, brown chopped onion and ground beef; drain. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce mixes and water (or vegetable juice if you prefer). Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. If using fresh italian herbs (such as basil or parsley), stir into sauce. Cover the bottom of a foiled and lightly greased 13x9x2in. baking pan with a thin layer of meat sauce. On top of that, layer 3 lasagna noodles, one-third of the cottage cheese, one-third of the mozzarella cheese and one-third of parmesan cheese and one-third of the remaining meat sauce. Repeat layers twice. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until heated through. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. Makes 12 servings, each serving 290 calories.

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