4 cloves garlic, minced
24 oz jar low fat low sodium tomato sauce
1 lb extra lean ground chicken or turkey
Sea salt & black pepper, to taste
1 egg
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1 tsp whole wheat flour
1/2 cup skim mozzarella cheese, shredded & divided
2 1/2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
Preheat oven to 350. In a large nonstick pan, saute onions & garlic over medium heat until tender. Add tomato sauce & ground meat & cook for about 10 minutes. Season with salt & pepper. Remove from heat.
In a small bowl, slightly beat the egg. Stir in cottage cheese, flour & 1/4 cup of the mozzarella. Pour 1/2 of the meat tomato sauce into a 1 1/2 quart roasting pan. Top with half of the zucchini slices & then all of the cottage cheese. Cover with remaining meat tomato sauce & zucchini. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese & bake 10 minutes longer.
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
{My Thoughts}
Recipe called for 2 garlic cloves but I always double it. The casserole dish I used was 2 quarts & was perfect. The standard 9 x 13 x 2 casserole dish would be a bit big so find the baking dish that works for you before you start. As for the zucchini, the recipe called for 2 medium zucchini but I found I used a little more. I also cut the zucchini to fit the pan just right.
The recipe did not specify whether the sauce should be a standard tomato sauce that you find with the diced tomatoes or the tomato sauce that's in with the spaghetti sauce so I opted for Classico Cabernet Marinara. It had the lowest amount of sodium of most of the others & was low in fat.
My only complaint here is that the lasagna was very watery as I pulled out the first few pieces. I needed a slotted spatula & had to serve it in bowls. However, the next few pieces were much better as you can see from the pics. I would like to make this the same way again but may drain off the meat tomato sauce mixture before putting it in the pan. In case it was the zucchini giving off too much water, I recommend slicing the zucchini, salting it generously then letting it sit. Soon you will see droplets of water on the zucchini. Pat dry.
