Less Lasagna

This is “less lasagna” because it has less of the two things that scare us away from lasagna: fat and work! It also takes less time in the oven than a conventional lasagna because it’s baked in loaf pans. It is great made as a vegetarian dish or you can add cooked, crumbled sausage to the sauce, but either way it’s pretty good.

For the cheese blend, I like to use my food processor. If you have never seen dry curd cottage cheese, it’s very different from the regular kind. It is a lot like ricotta, but doesn’t have as much sodium, stabilizers or the weird after taste. When I bought it here in the Midwest at Meijer, it was tucked away by the dips and tubs of ready-made guacamole in the dairy cooler.

I like dried herbs in Lasagna: the fresh ones are lost in the complex flavors.

Less Lasagna

Makes 10-12 servings

DeBoles Gluten Free “no-boil” Rice Lasagna Noodles: (1) 10 oz box

Low Fat Dry Curd Cottage Cheese: (1) 1# container (or the the closest package to 1#)

Egg White Substitute: 1/2 cup- or 3 egg whites

Shredded Parmesan Cheese: 1 cup (pre-shredded okay: the green cardboard can is not)

Part Skim or 2% Mozzarella Cheese 1 cup

Onion, peeled: 1/2 of a baseball sized onion, roughly chopped

Garlic, 2 large cloves, peeled- remove if there is a green sprout in clove

Frozen spinach: 12-16 oz, thawed and drained- vary amount according to taste

Sliced Mushrooms, sauteed- 1 pound.

Jarred or canned homemade tomato sauce: about 1 1/2 to 2 quarts

Dried Basil and oregano

GF chicken- or- veggie base of you choice (optional): use about 1/2, by volume as you would to flavor broth.

Combine the cottage cheese, egg white substitute, parmesan, garlic, herbs and onion in the bowl of a food processor. If it doesn’t “spin” when you run it, add a little more egg white.

Spray 3 loaf pans with flour-less pan spray. Combine the base with the sauce, if you are using it. Layer sauce, mushrooms, spinach, cheese blend, more sauce, then noodles. You should have enough to repeat this twice in in each loaf pan. Top lightly with mozzarella cheese. I cover this and put it in the refrigerator overnight for the next day.

Bake at 350 degrees on a center rack until it is bubbly and golden on top: about 35 minutes: it should read 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer inserted in the center of the dish. 

Each loaf pan will feed a family of four, if you have other sides, such as salad and dessert. If you freeze it, before baking, wrap it tightly around all sides. Bake uncovered, mostly still frozen, at 325: it will take about 50-60 minutes. Do not pre-heat your oven. Especially if you use glass loaf pans.