Skinny lasagna!

   Who said that lasagna has to be heavy, unhealthy, and fattening? If you chose the right ingredients, avoid butter, fat sauces, and control your portion size (good luck with that, I'm still working on it!) you can enjoy a nice piece of a delicious and decadent lasagna. And if you still feel guilty, just go for a walk after dinner and problem solved! I'm tired of avoiding all this delicious food just because it's not diet friendly. If it's not in your diet you just need to reinvent it, change a little bit, and make it healthy. So here is my take on a skinny lasagna:

*  1 box of whole wheat, ready to bake lasagna pasta
*  1 lb lean ground turkey
*  1 jar of marinara sauce
*  1 chopped onion
*  2 cloves garlic
*  2 cups skim milk ricotta cheese
*  1 bag baby spinach leaves
*  3 eggs
*  2 cups shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
*  salt and pepper
*  1 tsp ground nutmeg
*  1 cup chopped parsley
*  olive oil

   Before you start to assemble your lasagna you have to prepare two sauces (meat and ricotta). For the meat sauce saute ground turkey with onion and garlic until cooked, add marinara sauce, cook for 5 minutes and set aside (this sauce is done). For the cheese sauce saute spinach in a pan with a tsp of olive oil (just enough to wilt the spinach) and set it aside to cool down a little. Mix ricotta cheese with whisked eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, parsley, and cooled spinach. You are ready to build the monster and you can get as creative as you want with that. What I do to layer it is: a little bit of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a baking dish (just so the pasta won't stick to it), layer of pasta, layer of meat sauce, pasta, layer of cheese sauce, pasta, meat sauce, pasta, cheese sauce, pasta. On the top of the last layer of pasta I put a little bit of marinara sauce to keep it moist and I sprinkle it (generously) with grated mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 375F for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for 15 more minutes to let the cheese melt and crisp up.

   Look at that! It comes out smelling like a piece of heaven (that's exactly how I picture heaven!). Don't cut it right away, let it cool down for at least 10-15 minutes. First, you won't be able to eat it anyways (is boiling hot) and second, you want it to set a little bit so that when you cut it you have a firm and solid piece (without everything spilling out). If you will be patient this is what you will end up with:

   Isn't she a looker? This baby has looks and personality. This recipe makes 8 huge pieces, 400 calories each, which I think it's pretty impressive for such a rich dish! And if you are vegetarian use the marinara sauce without the meat and you are good to go! Hope you like it.

Enjoy.
Magda.