Recipe: Almost Lasagna

I made lasagna for the family, but had to make some alterations so it would be South Beach friendly. (See the regular lasagna recipes.) I've made it in the past by substituting roasted squash slices for the noodles, but I couldn't find any squash at the store. Same thing with eggplant (which I actually really like as a lasagna noodle substitute). So I came up with this lasagna-inspired mini casserole. I put it into two of these personal baking dishes and had one for dinner tonight. I now have dinner for tomorrow too! (FYI, each serving had about 200 calories). I ate it with a big side salad with a little bleu cheese dressing.

INGREDIENTS

MEAT

1/4 lb lean ground beef

fennel seed

crushed red pepper

thyme

oregano

sea salt

fresh cracked pepper

SAUCE

1 large slicing tomato

1 T dried minced onion

1 T onion powder

2 T garlic powder

1/2 packet Stevia

thyme

oregano

sea salt

fresh cracked pepper

CHEESE FILLING

1/4 C lowfat cottage cheese

1/4 C nonfat plain Greek yogurt

basil

LAYERS

1 C thinly sliced mushrooms

1 C baby spinach leaves

1/4 C lowfat mozzarella

DIRECTIONS

1. In a skillet with 1/2" water, brown meat with seasonings. I didn't measure how much I put, I just went by the aroma it was giving off. The fennel seed makes it almost taste like Italian sausage, and the crushed peppers give it a bit of heat.

2. Chop up tomato and add seasonings to taste. The Stevia helps to balance out the acidity of the tomato. It's totally optional, but most tomato sauces you buy have some sugar in them. It should look kind of like pico de gallo.

 3. Combine ingredients for cheese filling (again, to taste).

4. In each dish, layer 1/6 of sauce, 1/4 of spinach, 1/4 of mushrooms, 1/4 of meat, 1/4 of cheese filling, 1/4 of remaining sauce, 1/2 of remaining spinach, 1/2 of remaining mushrooms, 1/2 of remaining meat, 1/2 of remaining cheese filling, 1/2 of remaining sauce. Top each dish with 1/8 C mozzarella.

5. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.