Did They Eat It: Lean Lasagna

I was in the car picking Madison up from school and flipping through a food magazine deciding what to make for dinner. I got my mind set on this pasta and sausage bake deliciousness but then I remembered how I should read ALL the directions first so I know how long it takes to make.

That recipe required over an hour of bake time, inexplicably, so I scratched that plan and looked through my phone apps to see if I could find something to make. I use the Allrecipes app (only my kids never look that excited) and the Epicurious App.

I decided on a lean lasagna mostly because I wasn't feeling that hungry. Also it had spinach and after last week I required a lot of spinach/iron, I even had dreams of different spinach dishes I would like to eat.  (Lady troubles.) (oh man, that's gross.) (Sorry.)

I can't find the link to the recipe so I'll share it at the end of this post.

You'll need Ricotta, ground turkey, an onion, mozzarella, spinach, lasagna noodles, tomato sauce, oregano, nutmeg, basil, parsley and garlic powder.

Did They Eat It?

I chopped my spinach up in the food processor about half a bag at a time. I felt too lazy to chop it by hand. That's pretty lazy but you're not surprised. Mix that together with the ricotta and nutmeg. Set aside.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray. Because this is a "light" dish....but man it felt wrong to cook with cooking spray.

Put a half cup of diced onion in the pan (mine were processed within an inch of their life so Logan wouldn't notice them.)

Let the onion cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the turkey and cook until brown.

While that's cooking get the tomato sauce ready. I dumped my herbs on top of the sauce, but you can wait until you add it to the frying pan. I like to get things put away so I did it like this. (At this point you should get your salted water boiling for the 9 noodles you'll need.)

When the turkey is done, drop the tomato sauce on top, stir and let simmer for 2 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

When your noodles are ready you do the whole lasagna thing. You'll make three layers so divide your fillings accordingly.

Spread a third of the spinach mixture on that.

Then a third of the tomato/meat sauce.

Then a third of the cheese. This recipe calls for 2 cups of part-skim mozzerella. And I know this is a light dish but this felt kind of painful, dishing out the cheese so sparingly.

Then repeat....look at the last three pictures again if you need help.

Here's another picture of the third layer. Right about here is where Logan called to say he was ready to be picked up from work. And the angels sang because ONCE IN MY LIFE I would have dinner effortlessly ready at a desirable eating time!

I did not distribute my cheese evenly and this made me too sad for words. Look at the top of my lasagna. Pathetic.

So I added parmesan I had in the fridge.

But not too much so as not to destroy the Light appeal of this dish.

Stick it in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, while it cooks run over to pick up your husband from work because you are superwoman.

Now, I'll admit this is not the most appetizing photo of a dinner I've ever taken in my life, I think my camera had a Maddie filter on the lens, but still...you sort of get the idea.

Did They Eat It?

Logan: I was a little worried about the spinach tasting weird but you know what? I like this. I think it's really good and the fact that it's light means we can have it as a regular meal. I also like that it's on the table at 5:30pm rather than 10pm.

Madison: Good thing you served these lame breadsticks, because thanks to you and this little "experiment" I'll be lucky not to starve by tomorrow morning.

Max: Well I like lasagna but I don't know what the hell you did to this. Gross.

Me: Thank goodness I liked this since I had to eat it for the next 3 days. I don't like to eat a big lunch, but this was so light, it felt right to eat in the middle of the day.

Too bad I'll never make this again because half the table whining about the food is just too much.

Lean Lasagna

Vegetable Oil Cooking Spray
1/2 cup chopped onion
1lb ground turkey
3 cups tomato sauce
1 tsp each: dried basil, parsley & oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder
6 cups chopped fresh spinach (or chard)
2 cups skim ricotta
1/4 tsp nutmeg
9 lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded part skim mozzerella

Preheat oven to 375

Spray a medium skillet with cooking spray, heat over medium.

Saute onion for 2 minutes, add turkey and cook another 5-7 minutes.

Add tomato sauce and all seasonings, stir and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

In a bowl combine spinach, ricotta and nutmeg.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cook lasagna noodles according to package. Drain and rinse with cool water.

Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Put three noodles to line bottom of pan. Spread 1/3rd ricotta mixture, 1/3rd sauce mixture and 1/3rd of the cheese, repeat layers 3 times, ending with mozzerella (You can cheat and add a little more cheese if it feels to stingy).

Bake 20-25 minutes and cool at least 15 minutes before cutting.

Comments

[Eleanor]

I love your dinner reviews because I live with the same picky kid situation...one kid who doesn't eat anything and another that finds food only palatable if drowned in ketchup.
Oh, and a husband that has to be in the "mood" to eat certain things.
This one looks like a winner for parents and a big ewww for the kiddies.
I just might make it next time they are bad.

[maggie]

This looks good. I don't eat meat but it would be easy to substitute fake ground chick'n (hate that name).

May I suggest you use fresh lasagne sheets in the future? I just started using them and they are magical. Not only do you save a step (no boiling), they cover more area (fewer seams) and when you cut the baked lasagne into squares, they come out in perfect squares without falling apart. My only caution: they don't shrink down during cooking so your lasagne remains quite 'tall' but that's not a bad thing.

[joaaanna]

I think it looks delicious! I like that you didn't use a canned spaghetti sauce. Sounds good, I think I'll try it! (No whiny, picky kids in my house!)

BTW - would your kids ever be brave enough to try food blindfolded? Five (substantial) bites before they can look at what they are eating. I imagine the green stuff might freak them out and then they already have it in their head that they don't like it. Just an idea. :)

[Jessica]

Oh, I think I will make this soon! I like that it has spinach, but I'd use more cheese. I can't help it!

[linsey]

I LOVE these posts. The pickiness level in your family is so identical to mine. (Only it sounds like you're much better than I am about eating the leftovers when as you say,"half the table is whining about the food".)

[Lynne]

I love these posts too - I have a kid who doesn't even like PIZZA sometimes. But not all the time, which is even more maddening. Last night she had cherry tomatoes in her meal which normally she would eat right off the vine like candy but last night they were warm and also squirted, as tomatoes do. Horrors!

I also like the fresh lasagna sheets. Also I like using cheese ravioli instead of lasagna and ricotta - just layer with sauce and mozz. Not that my kid would eat it anyway.

[loonytick]

That looks awful tasty to me, but with that much visible spinach I know my kids would have the same reaction. What I've found works well is to work in vegetables that can visually blend in with the meat-eggplant, mushrooms, etc. chopped very, very small and then mixed with the meat before constructing the lasagna. I do work in some spinach, but not a lot. Eventually, when they are mature enough and have eaten and enjoyed it for years, I will tell them what's in there, but not yet.

[owlfan]

You're nicer than I am. I continue serving meals I *know* my picky eater doesn't like. And even serving them as leftovers too. Luckily, though, Mr. Picky likes my spinach lasagna. He says its not as good if I forget the spinach. Mine's not light though - probably uses more cheese and maybe less spinach (I use one box frozen chopped spinach).

[Nothing But Bonfires]

My favorite responses are always the ones from Maddie. Best paraphrasing of 11-year-old girl thoughts EVER.

[Lisame]

You make me thankful for the 8 year old boy that comes to my house every weekend. THAT kid will eat ANYTHING I make. Of course, so will his dad and I've made him fat!

[bethh]

I can't wait until your kids are old enough to cook for you. They have earned epic snubs! That looks delicious.

[Cee]

I don't understand why this is called lean lasagna, because it looks like a regular old lasagna recipe to me. Is it because it has spinach???

[6512 and growing]

Love spinach and nutmeg together. Not sure why...the spice must facilitate iron absorption. Or something.

[Divasmama]

Maddie's comments (paraphrased?)crack me up. But then again, I don't have a picky eater. The Diva is getting to be a bit of a food snob "Mom! That's ICEBURG! And the grilled cheese is the ORANGE STUFF! HONESTLY!" Much sniffing and fake shuddering here. Me, smiling weakly as I drag her out of my mom's kitchen. Ha!

I have a spinach recipe that calls for boiling the pasta (can do a bit in advance) and rolling it up w/the mix of ricotta, parm, mozz, spinache inside. Put rolls in pan, top w/meat or veg. sauce (can be made day ahead) and bake. Ta-da. Much easier to serve to. And I suppose you could leave out the dreaded spinach...which my Diva likes. Don't hate me. After all, I can't get the kid to eat a quick grilled cheese except for at home...with provalone as God intended. She's ten.

[Anna Marie Rahuba]

Finger's crossed that this will be a hit in my house. I luckily only have a picky husband to deal with!

[Amanda]

Did you cheat on the meat? I've never seen ground turkey this red! :)

[christy]

This was the first time I ever made lasagna, because as a kid I thought I hated it. As it turns out I just hated my MOM'S lasagna. (It was gross. She made it with cottage cheese and it was watery. Blech.)

That said, this was a big hit at my house. The husband said it was one of his new favorites and the kids seemed oblivious to the spinachy-ness.

I was surprised at how much you could taste the nutmeg - it was totally unexpected and added a lot of flavor.

Turns out I LIKE lasagna. Who knew?

[Anna Marie]

I made this tonight. It went over so-so.

Husband: "Umm.. why is this green? Also, there is not nearly enough sauce. But, I'd eat it again if you put more sauce on next time"

I thought it was great!

[Allison]

I am the really picky eater in our house and I loved this lasagna! It was delicious and I will be making it again. Thanks for posting these recipes. Most of the ones you post are easy to learn and eventually memorize. I appreciate fast and good recipes on weeknights. Yours are always both!

[Donna]

I randomly made this recently and was just looking back thru your entries and realized that we made the same one. I think this is the the one you made:
http://www.self.com/fooddiet/recipes/2004/09/lean-lasagna

SELF has lots of great lite stuff. Also, check out this recipe search thingie:
http://www.self.com/search/recipe