Lasagna
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This lasagna recipe is easy, quick to make, great tasting and healthy. Using ground turkey, whole grain lasagna noodles and low fat cheeses, you can make a fantastic tasting lasagna that is also healthy and fits with most diets. You can even use gluten-free or keto-friendly noodles. It freezes very well!
Total time: 30 minutes prep, then 1 hour in the oven.
Cooks for about: 60 to 80 minutes
Yield: about 21 large servings
Easy to make!
Ingredients
1/2 pound dry lasagna noodles (requires 12 lasagna noodles - unbroken)
Meat sauce
- 1 medium sweet onions, diced
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 lbs ground turkey, chopped Italian Sausage and/or ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (That's 1 tablespoon)
- 2 (14-ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 2 (14 ounce size) cans of diced or crushed tomatoes
- 1 six-ounce can of tomato paste
- 4 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano, or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, packed
- 3 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Cheese layer
- 24 ounces ricotta cheese or low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese
- 2 pounds (32 ounces) low-fat, part skim mozzarella cheese, grated or sliced
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 pound (8 ounces) freshly grated 3, 4,5, or 6-cheese (you can get packets of shredded Italian cheeses at most grocery stores. They typically have Mozzarella, Parmesan, Provolone, and/or Asiago cheeses, sometimes others, too.
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, packed
- 2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Equipment
- 2 Oven pans:
Either-
Two that are 9" by 9"
OR - One that is 13" by 9" and one that is 9" by 9"
If you use the two smaller pans, each layer will be a bit thicker. -
Two that are 9" by 9"
- Cutting board, knife, spatulas, large spoons, 2 large cooking pots
Directions
Step 1 - Preheat the oven
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 2 - Cook the noodles
Unless, of course, you use the "no cook" type of lasagna noodles. I just put the noodles in a big pot of water and let them simmer while I prepare the rest.
No set amount of time. If they are soft, they're done!
Step 3 - Brown the ground turkey, sausage, chicken or beef
Put 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large non-stick pot. Heat over medium-high heat, and before the oil starts to smoke or burn, add the meat
Brown the meat until there is no pink remaining. This will take about 10 minutes.
While it is browning, dice the onions and you can either brown them separately or in with the meat.
Stir the meat about every minute.
Step 4 - Add the tomato cans and other ingredients
Drain the liquids from the browned meat and onions, then add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and seasoning.
Step 5 - Make the cheese layer
This is easy. Just mix the ricotta or cottage cheese and eggs in a mixing bowl. The eggs help to keep the lasagna from being runny and
thicken it up. 
I prefer cottage to cheese to ricotta because you can get non-fat or lowfat cottage cheese and that is almost impossible to find in ricotta.
Plus, ricotta is many times more expensive than cottage cheese.
Step 6 – Some sauce in the bottom, then start layering
Bottom - Just ladlel in 1 cup of sauce on the bottom of the pan!
Layer 1 Then a layer of noodles (there's no special way, they don't need to overlap or cover every square inch. Unless you are OCD, there's no need to obsess over it.
Layer 2 - Repeat the layer again. I make each layer thick, so I only have 2 layers of noodles, which is also good if you are trying to cut down on carbs.
Top - The top of the lasagna is just covered with the remaining cheese (mozzarella and then parmesan).
Step 7 – Put in the oven
Cook for about 35 to 45 minutes at 350 F until it is bubble,. The cheese is melted and it is just barely starting to brown.
Step 8 – Cool a bit
It will be searing hot. Don't even think of eating it yet. Let it rest on the counter for 15 minutes. Plus the 15 minutes helps it to firm up!
Step 9 – Enjoy.
Cut in to rectangle and use a pie or cake spatula to remove!
