Nothing beats classic beef lasagna. Mine has all the rich hearty flavor with half the fat. Have a half a pound of lean ground beef. They’re just brown here. Make sure you choose 90% or leaner. Sometimes it says 85% lean on it, that is not lean. Don’t be fooled by that.
I’m going to put some teaspoons of olive oil in, 8 ounces of portabella mushrooms that amps up the meatiness without extra fat or calories. While all that’s going, I’m going to get my cheesy layer. I used part-skim Ricotta really creamy and delicious and I’m going to add to that frozen stack of spinach that I thawed. I’m putting an egg in here and this will help bind this layer together, fresh ground nutmeg, just a little, about a half teaspoon of salt. You grind the fresh brown pepper. I just love the flex of spinach in here and that’s the creamy layer.
Now, we already this lasagna noodles and I leave them out so they wouldn’t stick. And I’m using cool wheat noodles. They are thinnest, goes great with the mushrooms, which are beautifully done now. I’m just going to add the beef right back in there and I’m going to add 2 cups of tomato sauce. How cool is this cup measure? I love jarred sauce actually. I think it’s a fabulous convenience food.
The trick is to follow my three sauce rule. First, make sure that it has olive oil. Second, make sure it has 500 milligrams of sodium or less per serving and third, make sure it has no added sugar.
All right, all my layers are ready to go. Time to build a lasagna. Put some sauce, about a cup at the bottom of the baking dish, a layer of noodles then a layer of the creamy Ricotta mixture. Some more noodles. This is all together about 12 ounces of noodles.
Next step, the meaty layer, the mushrooms combined with the beef, you want to get a beef in every bite and the fantastic meatiness for the fraction of the calories. Now I’m going to repeat the process. And then the cheese, the crowning glory, two-thirds of the cup of part-skim mozzarella and then a quarter cup of parmesan or reggiano.
I’m going to bake it at 375 for about 45 minutes, take the foil off, bake it for 15 minutes more. I cannot wait. Oh-la-la, taking the foil off really helps give you that gorgeous color and melt the cheese and everyone gets a nice big portion. I mean this serves six people. Look at this, loving lasagna, all the rich, hearty tastes. It’s so much better for you.
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