Sausage & Spinach Lasagna

I love lasagna. Plain and simple. Pasta, Cheese, whats not to love? Traditionally my family does lasagna with layers of meat sauce, cheese and noodles and I decided to play off that today in a little bit healthier fashion. This tastes decadant and guilt worthy but the beauty is it is filled with a fresh simple tomato sauce, utilizes part skim cheese - that still melts, and fresh veggies. Make this and prepare to have your family ask you "I thought you were on a diet?" little will they know they are eating healthy!



Sausage & Spinach Lasagna: Serves 8-12

12 Lasagna Noodles
1 Batch Simple Tomato Sauce
4 Hot Italian Turkey Sausages (approx 3-4oz Each) - Chopped
1lbs Fresh Spinach
2tsp Olive Oil
1 Egg
2TB Fresh Basil (or 2tsp dried)
16oz Part Skim Ricotta
Salt & Pepper
1/2C Parmesan Cheese - Shredded

Make your sauce - you can do this ahead of time and freeze it, or have it cooking all day in the crock pot. So sauce is cooking...Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add 1tsp of olive oil and the lasagna noodles to the pot. Stir often to make sure the noodles don't stick together. Cook the noodles until al dente, you want them to still have a bit of a bite to them as they will be cooking in the oven for a bit.

In a large saute pan heat the other tsp of olive oil and add the sausage. Cook until the sausage is completely cooked through. Remove to a bowl and set to the side. Add half the spinach to the pan, cover and let it wilt, remove to a colander and repeat this process with the other half of the spinach. Now this is really really important - push as much liquid as physically possible from the spinach - no one wants soupy lasagna.

Mix together the ricotta, egg, drained spinach, sausage, basil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Now lets layer! Grease a 13x9 pan, place a couple ladle fulls of sauce in the bottom of the pan and add 3 noodles to cover the bottom. Place half of the cheese & sausage mix evenly over the noodles. Finish the layering as such: another 3 noodles, sauce, 3 noodles, remaining cheese & sausage mix, 3 noodles then remaining sauce. Now place in a 375° oven for 30 minutes, remove and sprinkle with the Parmesan Cheese and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Once the cooking time is up remove from the oven and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Enjoy!

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WW: 6 Points Plus / serving @ 12 servings
9 Points Plus / serving @ 8 servings