This recipe is the low-carb version of lasagna because I used baked eggplant as my noodles. Actually it was so good that both my 8 and 6 year olds had no problems eating all of their vegetables!
Ingredients:
Noodles
2 large eggplants,
peeled, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch noodle-like strips
cooking spray
(olive oil spray is best)
salt and pepper
Meat Sauce
2 lbs of ground turkey, chicken or turkey sausage
2 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 lbs of ground turkey, chicken or turkey sausage
2 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves
chopped
1 red pepper,
chopped
1 (16 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (or mix of oregano, basil and thyme)
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach
1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
Cheese Mixture:
2 eggs
2 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
6 scallions chopped
3 c. mozzarella cheese
1/2 c.Parmesan cheese
Method:
Preheat oven to 425
degrees. Spray cookie sheet, arrange
eggplant slices and season with salt and pepper and cook slices 5 minutes on each side. Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees.
Brown meat, onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes. Then add red pepper and mushrooms, and cook 5 more minutes. Add spinach, tomatoes, spices and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
In the meantime blend ricotta, egg and onion mixture.
Assembly:
Spread 1/3 of meat sauce in bottom of 9? x 13? glass pan.
Layer ½ eggplant slices, ½ ricotta, 1/3 mozzarella and parmesan.
Repeat.
Add last layer of sauce, then mozzarella and parmesan on top.
Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.
Remove foil and bake or broil another 5-10 minutes until cheese is browned.
Let it rest 10 minutes before slicing, if you can wait that long!
