New recipe of the week… I want thoughts on this… would anyone be interested in me doing this? This week I tried something very new to me… I’ve never even made normal lasagna. But I was thrilled to find such a healthy alternative to the carb and cheese loaded, typical lasagna. Zucchini is one of my favorite veggies, and it had been so long since I last used my mandolin. As far as supplies go, a slicer of some sort is needed. I recommend this one. The preparation didn’t take long, and slicing vegetables can actually be fun! Put on some fun music and get slicing! The ingredients, instructions, and nutritional information are at the bottom of the article.

First, I sliced zucchini, browned the ground turkey, simmered the turkey in tomato sauce, and cooked the spinach. This is really the only cooking necessary other than baking the lasagna.

The middle step was assembling the lasagna. This meant layers of meat sauce, uncooked quinoa (it will absorb the liquid), spinach, cottage cheese, and sliced zucchini. On the top I added shredded mozzarella cheese!

The third step of the process was cooking the lasagna! The mixture also could have been frozen to make at a later time. I cooked the lasagna at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes covered, then 20 minutes uncovered. I finished it with a 5-minute broil on high, and it came out looking beautiful, though my zucchini slicing and placement could use some work!

I thought this meal would be perfect for weekly meal prep, so I ate one serving for dinner and saved the other 7 in Tupperware. I use these containers often!

So here’s my final conclusion about this meal: This is a hearty meal which is very filling per portion. The prep work didn’t take long, the cooking time isn’t a problem as long as you plan ahead of time, it can be easily frozen and saved for the future, and it tastes great! It is a little sloppy and perhaps a little liquidity (nothing more quinoa can’t fix), but the pros outweigh the cons. 

There ya have it! This was a winner in my book, so give it a try and let me know what you think.

-Haley

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs of ground turkey
• 24-ounce jar of tomato sauce with basil
• 11 ounces of fresh spinach
• 5 zucchini (mine were on the smaller side) cut into thin slices
• 16-ounce jar of low-fat cottage cheese
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• About 3 tablespoons of quinoa (depending on preference)

Instructions:

• In a large pan, cook ground turkey until no longer pink, breaking it into small pieces while it cooks. Drain any leftover juices.
• Add the tomato sauce to the pan and simmer with meat for five minutes.
• Put meat sauce into a separate bowl.
• Cook spinach in pan until the leaves are wilted.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a 9×13 pan, layer ingredients beginning with a thin layer of meat sauce with 1 tablespoon of quinoa. Then layer as follows: zucchini, half of remaining meat sauce, half of cottage cheese, half of spinach, 1 tablespoon quinoa. Repeat layers, and top with the a final layer of zucchini and the shredded mozzarella.
• Bake covered for 45 minutes, then uncovered for 20, then broil on high for 5 minutes.
• Cut lasagna into 8 slices and serve or store.

I tried to make a food label for the first time, and I got it as accurate as I could. It is close to the caloric amount for similar recipes, but not perfect. Let me know if you’d like to see this again in the future!