Peg

Muscle Fitness/Lisa Carruthers/June 2002

summary of how she made it low fat:
Use low fat cottage cheese
Reduce cheese amounts by 3/4 to keep flavor.
Use zucchini to help bind the lasagna together
Use turkey breakfast sausage for flavor and reduced fat. (Soy sausage for vegetarians ok too.)

To ease labor intensiveness of lasagna:
Use no cook noodles. If they are not available use regular noodles and add an extra 3/4C of tomato sauce. Noodles bake well without preboiling.
Get premade speghetti sauce with lots of spices.

You can also get whole wheat lasagna noodles for an added nutritional value.

This recipe takes about 40 minutes to prepare, but it can save you time in the long run--you'll have at least one day of leftovers! Besides, any lasagna tastes better the following day.

SAUCE:
1/4 tsp. olive oil
1/2 brown onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 oz.low-fat breakfast turkey sausage
(we used Healthy Choice), chopped
3 1/2-4 cups spaghetti sauce
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

FILLING:
2 cups fat-free cottage cheese
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Ground black pepper to taste
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
12 pieces no-cook lasagna pasta
12-14 fresh basil leaves
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 eggplant, thinly sliced
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a saucepan, heat olive oil and cook onion until soft, then add garlic. Add sausage and cook until browned. Add spaghetti sauce arid vinegar, heat for about a minute and set aside. In a separate bowl mix together cottage cheese, egg whites, nutmeg and pepper; set aside. In another bowl mix together zucchini and mozzarella cheese and set aside.


In the bottom of a 9x1 3-inch pan, evenly spread 1 cup of spaghetti sauce. Lay 3 pieces of pasta on the sauce without overlapping. Now layer cup cottage-cheese mixture, all basil leaves, mushrooms and 1 cup sauce, Follow with layers of 1 cup zucchini/mozzarella mixture, 3 pieces pasta. 1 cup cottage-cheese mixture and eggplant. Again layer 1 cup spaghetti sauce, 1 cup zucchini/mozzarella mixture, 3 pieces pasta, then 1/2 cup cottage. cheese mixture. Spread the spinach evenly, then top with 1 cup zucchini/mozzarella. Lay down the remaining 3 pieces of pasta, then the remaining sauce, followed by the rest of the zucchini/mozzarella mixture. Top with parmesan cheese,

Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake 35 minutes; uncover and cook another 20 minutes or until bubbly. Let dish cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

Makes eight servings.
Per serving:
267 calories,
22 g protein,
38 g carbohydrate,
3 g fat.

Lisa Carruthers, RD, is a nutritionist in Westlake Village, California. She has a bachelor's degree in nutrition from San Diego State University and a master's in nutrition from California State University, Northridge. You can reach her at 818-880-1929.

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