Skinny Noodle-Free Lasagna

When I think of Italian comfort food, a yummy lasagna comes to mind. This lasagna is so decadently delicious and made without noodles! It’s skinny since using 99% fat-free turkey, fat-free ricotta cheese and loads of zucchini, mushrooms and onions. Each, velvety, cheesy slice has just 234 calories, 5 grams of fat and 6 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS. It’s a real keeper!!!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients


1½ cups onions, chopped

3 cups mushrooms, sliced

3 cups (~3 medium) zucchini, sliced into rounds (⅛” thick)

½ pound 99% fat-free ground turkey

½ tablespoon garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning

Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

1 (24 oz) jar pasta sauce, I used Classico Tomato and Basil or use your favorite

1 (15 oz) container fat-free ricotta cheese, see shopping tip

½ cup light mozzarella cheese, shredded

¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated, see food fact

1 large egg, I like using Egg-Land’s Best

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, add onions and mushrooms. Cook in microwave for 4 minutes. Drain liquid. Next, place zucchini in microwave safe bowl and cook in microwave about 3 minutes, until soft. Drain liquid.

3. Coat a large nonstick pan with cooking spray.  Add ground turkey and garlic. Cook, breaking up the pieces, until browned.  Once browned, stir in 1 cup pasta sauce, cooked onions and mushrooms, Italian seasoning and pepper. Mix well.

4. In a bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese and egg. Combine well.

5. To assemble lasagna: Spread ¾ cup pasta sauce on bottom of baking pan. Add ½ of cooked zucchini. Spread ½ ricotta mixture over zucchini. Spread entire turkey mixture over top of ricotta. Add remaining zucchini over top of turkey. Add remaining ricotta. Spread remaining pasta sauce over the top of ricotta. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese all over. Finally sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.

6. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

7. Remove foil and let casserole sit for 15 minutes. Cut into 6 slices.

8. This casserole freezes great!

Makes 6 servings (each serving, 1 slice)

Food Fact
Grated Parmesan cheese is finer than shredded. Shredded looks like thin strips, grated is more of a powdery consistency and is usually done with harder cheeses like Parmesan. You’ll find grated Parmesan cheese in containers and sold in all supermarkets.

Healthy Benefits

Fat-free ricotta cheese, light mozzarella and Parmesan cheese are great sources of protein and calcium

.

Zucchini is high in fiber, water, vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium.

Mushrooms contain fiber, iron, folate, and vitamin C. They are also very low in calories. A half of cup has only 21 calories.

Onions are a very good source of vitamin C, B6, biotin, chromium, calcium and dietary fiber. In addition, they contain good amounts of folic acid and vitamin B1 and K.

Shopping Tip
Many supermarkets sell fat-free ricotta cheese in the cheese aisle where other ricotta cheese is found. Sargento makes one. I bought mine at Trader Joe’s.
If you find ricotta cheese or don’t like it, you can use 2 cups of fat-free cottage cheese instead.

Weight Watchers (old points) 4

Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 6

Find more delicious recipes on Nancy Fox’s website, Skinny Kitchen