secret ingredient lasagna

I’m having dreams about Italian food these days. But all the ooey-gooey cheesy pasta with meatballs that I want isn’t the best for my girlish figure. I mean, it is delicious and I’m all about indulging… But if I was eating it as much as I am in my dreams, I’d be 250 lbs again.

As I was in the middle of an Italian day dream, my friend Trevor started talking about health and fitness, which he usually does, and how he wanted “healthy food that doesn’t taste like cardboard” (direct quote). Then I suggested to him that I healthify a lasagna recipe. He liked this idea because we both live alone and lasagna leftovers freeze really well.

I drew upon my family’s lasagna recipe, which calls for cottage cheese instead of ricotta and our top-secret ingredient…

Swiss cheese.

If you know me, you know that I don’t particularly care for Swiss cheese. In fact, as a child I believe I ran away from it screaming “No holey cheese! Ewwww!” as my dad stacked it high on his sandwiches. But, in my family’s lasagna, it just works. You’re going to have to trust me on this.

So I beefed up the vegetable intake, used crushed tomato instead of traditional pasta sauce (loaded with sugar), used whole wheat noodles, and chose ground turkey instead of beef. I’m not a nutrition expert, but it seems to me like a pretty good balance of lean protein, whole wheat carbohydrates, vegetables, and dairy.

And anytime pasta noodles are involved, I’m on board.

Swiss cheese is so purty when it melts.

Mushroom and Swiss Lasagna (serves 8 )
8 lasagna noodles, boiled
1 lb lean ground turkey, browned
3 T Worcestershire sauce
3 cups crushed tomato
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cups mushroom slices
1/2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tsp garlic powder
1 T Italian seasoning
8 slices Swiss cheese
Boil the lasagna noodles in salted water, drain, and set aside. In a skillet, heat olive oil until it glistens and then sauté the onions and mushrooms. Once the onions are tender, set vegetables aside. In the same skillet, brown the ground turkey with the Worcestershire sauce. When the meat is browned through, add a pinch of salt and pepper, the vegetables, and the crushed tomatoes. Stir well and turn off heat. In a small mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder, stirring thoroughly. Using a deep lasagna dish, layer the following: 4 noodles, half of the meat and vegetable sauce, half of the cottage cheese mixture, and 4 slices of swiss cheese (torn into pieces). Repeat the second layer in the same order. Bake covered for 20 minutes on 375*, uncovering for the last 5 minutes. Let sit a few minutes before slicing and serving.