Recipe Remix: Noodle-LESS Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta
Many of the recipes for noodle-less lasagna include zucchini and/or eggplant. However, I am not a fan of either of these vegetables. Although, my Auntie Judy caramelizes eggplant (brinjal) in her chicken curry to thicken it, and I love that. (Maybe because I can barely taste the eggplant.)
Below I included my recipe remix for low-carb/low-glycemic noodle-less lasagna. Feel free to take bits and pieces of this recipe and adapt them to your own:
Recipe Remix: Noodle-LESS Lasagna with Pesto Ricotta
Ingredients
- Ingredients
1 package of lean Italian turkey sausage
1 package of ground turkey BREAST (If the packet doesn’t say breast, then its not breast. Ground turkey breast are much more lean; and higher in protein.)
1 package of part-skin mozzarella *sandwich* slices (10-12 in most packs)
1 medium carton of FAT-FREE ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons of pesto
1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal
1 container of tomato sauce from the refrigerator section of the grocery store (Tomato sauce in the jar contains too many preservatives and added sugars. Gosh, I hate mentioning them because they’re so bleepin’ expensive, but Whole Foods has a great selection of fresh sauces.)
1 small chopped onion
Directions
In a medium bowl, mix fat-free ricotta, pesto and ground flaxseed meal together. Whenever making recipes with lots of dairy or cheese, I sneak in flaxseed meal. It prevents your pipes from getting clogged (constipation). Nope, you can't taste the flaxseed at all.
To remove the sausage casing, just use a sharp knife and make a horizontal slit on each sausage. Pull-off the casing. The helps the turkey sausage to break apart and mix with the ground turkey breasts.
There are brands of Italian-flavored ground turkey however they don't have that sausage taste.
Half way through cooking the meat and draining...I added the chopped onion.
I don't use any extra salt or seasoning to the meat. The Italian turkey sausage, tomato sauce and cheese already contain a fair amount of sodium and/or seasoning.
Add sauce.
Meat, cheese, pesto ricotta...repeat...but cover the top with additional cheese slices.
Uh, why sandwich slices instead of shredded cheese? Two things: when using shredded cheese people tend to become sprinkle maniacs...maniacs using way too much. The individual sandwich slices prevents this. Also, the sandwich slices help to reinforce the dish...since the lasagna noodles are missing.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Before cutting, allow the dish to cool for about 30 minutes. It helps all the ingredients firm-up a bit.
Done!
Add a fresh green salad on the side.
Information
- Category
- Main Dishes
- Cuisine
- Italian
