Clean Comfort Zucchini Protein Lasagna
Ingredients:
1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 lb 99% fat free ground turkey breast
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
3 large or 4 small zucchini, sliced thinly lengthwise
24 oz low-fat or 1% or 2% cottage cheese
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I just discovered Monte Bene sauce... NO SUGAR and all fresh ingredients, absolutely nothing I couldn't pronounce!)
Non-fat or low-fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Combine onion, ground turkey breast, sea salt, black pepper and garlic powder in a skillet over medium heat, cooking the turkey until it is no longer pink.
2. Layer zucchini in the bottom of your lasagna pan (I would suggest a more substantial pan, such as ceramic) just as you would lasagna noodles, covering any gaps with additional slices of zucchini.
3. Spread 12 oz of cottage cheese over the layer of zucchini.
4. Add ground turkey mixture over cottage cheese, careful to spread turkey evenly.
5. Layer approximately 1/3 of the spaghetti sauce over the cottage cheese and turkey mixture.
6. Repeat steps 2-5.
7. Place your last layer of zucchini over the second layer of cottage cheese, turkey mixture and cottage cheese.
8. Top with tomato spaghetti sauce and add shredded cheese.
9. Cover with tinfoil and bake in oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
10. Remove tinfoil and bake for an additional 5 minutes at 350 degrees to brown cheese.
11. Let rest for approximately 10 minutes and Enjoy!
He & She Tip: This lasagna will be a little runny because of the consistency of the tomato sauce, moisture in the cottage cheese and the amount of water that zucchini hold. I found that I just scooped out my lasagna and the excess liquid stayed in my pan.
Approximate Nutritional Information:
6 servings, 380 calories, 12.5 g fat, 18.5g carbs, 48.8g protein.
Hope you enjoy it as much as Jim and I did. Let me know how yours turns out!
Tiff
We linked this up on Stephanie.Fitness! Go check her out!
Looks delicious, I can't wait to try it! Just one question, why cottage cheese vs. ricotta? Thanks for posting. :)
ReplyDeleteHi AliRosie! We use cottage cheese instead of ricotta because cottage cheese is MUCH lower in calories & fat! The cottage cheese makes this dish kind of runny but once you lift out your piece from the dish it is fine! It is very good - let us know what you think! Be sure to follow us on Facebook!
DeleteYou can also drain the cottage cheese, then it won't be quite as runny if at all...:)
DeleteGood idea Kristi! Thanks! ;-)
Delete@ Kristi,
DeleteHow do you drain cottage cheese? Thank you :)
Could you use non fat cottage cheese??
ReplyDeleteYou can use any cottage cheese but it will change the macros a little bit. Fat-free cottage cheese usually has more added sugar & sodium than low-fat cottage cheese. Hope this helps! ;-)
DeleteWhitney
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let you know I made this the other night for the family. It turned out great and everyone loved it! Even my 5 year old had a second helping.
Love your receipes and please keep them coming!!!!!
Beth
Beth
DeleteWe are SOOO excited that you are loving the recipes! Please continue to provide us with your feedback! Thanks a million!
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook!
Tiffany
We made this last night and it was SOOOO good! Honestly we were a little skeptical but my husband kept going on and on about how much it tasted like "real" lasagna! I did add some Italian Seasoning to the meat but otherwise made it exactly like you said and we loved it! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMcKay
That's awesome McKay! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
Deletei really would like to try this recipe, however i am not a fan of cottage cheese...is there an alternative? Or can you even taste it after it has been cooked?
ReplyDeleteI am also not a fan of cottage cheese, but this recipe was simply amazing. I can't wait to make it a staple in our house, especially with all of the ripe zucchini in season!
DeleteAwesome!! Thank you very much :)
DeleteI don't like cottage cheese either - especially not plain, but it really tastes like ricotta cheese! You can't tell the difference!
DeleteTo make it just slightly less runny: When you slice the zucchini place it on paper towels and let the paper towels soak up the moisture. It won't get it all but it help a lot! I am trying this tonight for dinner!! Thank you for the great recipe!
ReplyDeleteGreat tip! Thank you for sharing with our readers and we are glad you enjoyed the recipe!
DeleteMy husband loves lasagna with spinach and mushrooms, so I think tonight I am going to try your lasagna recipe and just add the spinach and mushrooms to it, hope it turns out! Thanks for the recipe! :)
ReplyDeleteChelsea, how did he like it? This is truly one of my favorite recipes!
DeleteMade this recipe today, and it tasted great. It was runny as warned, but I just ate it from a bowl and the extra juice drained from the spatula as I scooped it. I was weary about the cottage cheese as I've never really been a fan, but it really just tasted like the ricotta would. I plan on eating this for the next few days. Thanks for the clean, healthy recipe! It has great flavor.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you liked it Sara! It's one of my favorites and it is great to see that our readers are loving it too!
Deletepretty much amazing. one of my fav recipes from a "clean eating" site. i am brand new to this and i want to thank you for your site! i love it.
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome Stephanie! We are really excited to have you following us and hope that you will try many more of our recipes!
DeleteDelicious!!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Mary! Glad you made it and are enjoying it!
DeleteOMG! Made this for the first time tonight! It is amazing! My kids loved it and it was soooo hard not to go back for seconds!!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing! Thank you for trying it & following our blog! :-)
DeleteThis by far is one of my favorite recipes. I am new to eating clean. This is my second week, I am loving it. My whole family enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for sharing :o)
ReplyDeleteWe love hearing that someone has started eating clean! Thank you for trying the recipe & following our blog! We will have a lot more recipes coming soon! Good luck on your journey to a healthy & AWESOME lifestyle. ;-)
DeleteMy husband and I made this last night.. YUM! Very delicious! This is a keeper! Thank you so much! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! It's one of mine and one of Whitney's favorite recipes.
DeleteI just made this for dinner tonight and the combination of ingredients is great, but mine was VERY runny. I even joked to my husband that I made him soup. How thick are you all cutting your zucchini slices? I only ended up using two large zucchinis. I wonder if I did something wrong. Also, I'm glad to find that cottage cheese is such a great substitute for ricotta.
ReplyDeleteYou probably did cut them a little thin, but it is pretty runny in general. It gets a little better when you refrigerate the leftovers. However, once you scoop it out of the pan, the water should run off and you should have a perfect portion of lasagna left over.
DeleteI made this tonight and it is delicious!!!!! I didn't cut the zucchini thin enough so there was 2 bowls of water/sauce that I scooped up, but other than that it was amazing. I even have my husband and father in law eating it and going back for seconds.....they HATE hippy food too. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteKacie, I read this to Jim when I saw it and we both cracked up! His dad calls our food "hippy" food too! I am SO glad you all enjoyed it!
DeleteYes, that's my husbands favorite word these days, although he is coming around. I made this again last night and I changed a few things. I blended the cottage cheese with 2tbs of Greek yogurt in my blender which thickened it up. Then I cut all the zucchini in thin chip like shape and let them sit out for about 30 min to dry out a bit. I just say this was so great and I didn't have to eliminate any liquid from the pan this time. Thank you again for this staple recipie
DeleteGreat website. Haven't quite embraced the "clean" lifestyle, but who knows, maybe it is in our future. Thanks for the great recipes.
ReplyDeleteI usually beat an egg (or two) and mix it into my cottage cheese before making the lasagna. It helps it set up and not be so runny. You should try it! The cottage cheese is another great place to add seasonings :)
Thanks for the tip Katie! Good luck with your journey - maybe we can win you over. ;-)
DeleteThis lasagna was awesome! I loved it! ~ Ashley
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is one of my favorite recipes!
DeleteSO GOOD!!! Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteJust made the dish and it turned out extremely watery. Should have read the comments. It was more like a soup than a lasanga. It was good but next time I will drain the cottage cheese and dry out the zucchinni. Love your receipies!!
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to freeze the leftovers? Sounds wonderful, but we will never eat it all in a few days!!
ReplyDeleteI tried replacing the zucchini for eggplant slices and added spinach and mushrooms also... I must say it tastes terrible lol
ReplyDeleteI probably shouldve cooked it longer since there was more stuff in it, but I find the eggplant taste infested all the other ingredients and it is just unedible :(
Tip for everyone, don't use eggplant lol
HAHA! Thanks for the tip! Have you tried it with the zucchini?
DeleteWith eggplant, you should always cut it, salt it (to draw out the acidic taste) let it rest for 20 mins then rinse the salt off. You will notice the brown stain is the acidic juices that make it taste bad.
DeleteI just made this tonight for dinner and I was pleasantly surprised. I do not like regular lasagna as I am not a fan of ricotta cheese. I'm also not a fan of cottage cheese, but in ready all the comments I thought I would give it a try and if I didn't like I would throw it out. Well...it was delicious! I raved about it to my husband who is at work. My 14 month old even ate it. I will definitely be making this again!
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it (I don't like cottage cheese either - but it's great!)
DeleteI made this lasagna tonight for the second time. It is still a wonderful and delicious meal. It is a bit watery, but still stays together. Thank you for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteNo problem! Glad you are enjoying it Lynn!
DeleteYum! This is in my oven right now. Thanks for sharing clean recipe; it makes eating clean so much easier!
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoyed it Kelly! Thanks for the kind words!
DeleteIs each serving(6 oz.) 380 calories?
ReplyDeleteHi Christy! Honestly, I don't know how many ounces it is - I just cut the pan into 6 pieces.
DeleteI made this tonight without the meat - added mushrooms, bell pepper, and more zucchini. What are some good alternatives if you want to skip using meat? My daughter has made it before with the turkey but we thought we'd try it "vegan style."
ReplyDeleteI'll let you know how it turns out.
Great recipe, thanks!
That's a great variation. Thanks for sharing! Hope it tastes great!
DeleteI made this Friday night and my husband described it as "one of top three things he's ever eaten in his whole life" so we'll definitely be making it again! Neither of us are huge cottage cheese fans but this turned out so well you would have thought you were eating ricotta cheese. Thanks for the great recipe!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jamie! It is one of my favorites too and at first I thought Tiffany was crazy! ;-)
DeleteThis was delicious! Made just as is and LOVED it! Can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThanks Erin! We are glad you enjoyed it! :-)
DeleteWonderful! I am not a very experienced cook, but I sure rocked this recipe! Will make again for sure, yum!
ReplyDeleteHaha! Good! We are glad it turned out for you & you liked it! :-)
DeleteThank you for this recipe. I made it tonight and my family loved it. I took out about 1/3 of cottage cheese and only used a small square of mozzarella for the top (as I am a lacto-llama), but it still turned out pretty good. I always make my own sauce--it's SUPER cheap and you know exactly what's in it. Try it out sometime.
ReplyDeleteAmazing!!! I love this website, you inspired my husband and I to start eating clean :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you! We love hearing this! Good luck and let us know if you ever have any questions!
Deletelove it! so yummy
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how great this tasted! My husband was obsessed with my old lasagna recipe, but this was so good I may just switch to this recipe, it's so much healthier and tastes just as good and he loved it too :) After I cut out out my first piece, I let it settle for a few minutes longer and then just scooped out some of the extra juice with a ladle. Next time I may get some cheesecloth to be able to strain the cottage cheese, but even as it was, it was great!
ReplyDeleteMade this a few nights ago and it's delicious! Leftovers the next day were even better with it thickening up a little. I used the left over juices and bits of turkey and onions for a sauce over whole wheat pasta the next day.
ReplyDeleteShocked!!!!!!! I was not excited about this recipe at all. Imagine my surprise when my husband and I were both going back for seconds! I can't get over how much this tastes like regular lasagna!
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend and I tried this last night and loved it! Really satisfies a craving for lasagna :) Thanks for sharing! We are on day 7 of clean eating and find your recipes so helpful!
ReplyDeleteI made this tonight, it was so good! I cut it into 10 servings :) delicious!
ReplyDeleteThis was amazing! I was getting bored with boiled chicken and salads and this did the trick. I'm definitely planning on making this a weekly dish. My BF loved it too!
ReplyDelete