La La Lasagna!

La La Lasagna! I have been craving lasagna for ages, but I just have a hard time eating it. I feel too guilty. I know that sounds sick, but in reality, it is a very unhealthy dish. What makes me feel so guilty? I work my buns off at the gym (actually, no I work those even bigger!) so I can be lean, strong, healthy and look ripped. Sitting down to a big plate of lasagna would pretty much destroy all of my hard work.

One serving of lasagna can easily hover around 1000 calories, that is almost half of my daily caloric intake when I am not dieting!

Saturday I made this, it was healthy and it was damn good! A keeper for sure!

I will explain what I did, and then tell you what I will change next time; you decide what you want to do.

Did I mention there was no pasta involved? No starches at all!

While this may have fat in it due to the low fat cheese, I tend to shy away from most fat free foods; they tend to have added sugars and garbage. I have also been changing my diet a bit to greatly reduce starches and increase protein and fats. This is the perfect dish.

Feel free to substitute fat free if you like. Other than that, this has no “packaged” foods, it is fairly straightforward and delicious!

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Pre-heat oven to 375

20 ounce package extra lean ground turkey breast (1% fat)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp olive oil

3 cups sliced mushrooms (I love mushrooms)

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

1 28 ounce can whole tomatoes

Salt and pepper

½ tsp oregano

1 large or 2 small eggplant, peeled and sliced thin about ¼ inch thick

1 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 1/3 cups grated low fat mozzarella cheese

Sauté the garlic and turkey in the olive oil in a deep skillet or 3 quart pot till the meat is cooked through (this will not ever brown, no fat in it).

Add the mushrooms, the tomato sauce and tomatoes, crushing with the spoon. Add salt, pepper and oregano and simmer, stirring occasionally about 20-30 minutes till thickened.

In a small lasagna pan (approximately 8x12), place a layer of the eggplant, ½ of the cottage cheese, ½ of the turkey/tomato sauce then 2/3 cups grated mozzarella. Repeat again to make two layers.

Bake 45 minutes. Let sit about 10 minutes, cut into serving pieces and serve.

Changes: It had too much liquid; I would drain the whole tomatoes and discard the liquid. I would add I small can tomato paste and cook sauce until very, very thick.

Other than that- I loved it!