Healthy & Delicious: Lighter Spinach Lasagna Recipe - 华体会体育推荐

On Mondays, Kristen Swensson Sturt of Cheap, Healthy, Good swings by these parts to share健康和美味的食谱swith us. Take it away, Kristen!

This Valentine's Day, instead of blowing big bucks on a restaurant meal, why not pour a big ol' glass of red wine and whip up this lightened version ofBetter Homes and Gardens' Spinach Lasagna? It has all the cheesy goodness of regular spinach lasagna, minus a few extra calories.

While the original lasagna recipe wasn't terribly unhealthy, I knew it could be lightened fairly easily with a few natural substitutions. So, I used olive oil instead of margarine for sautéing and cut the amount in half. For a binder, two whole eggs became three egg whites. Lastly and most significantly, part-skim ricotta and mozzarella were substituted for their full-fat counterparts.

In the end, the final numbers looked like this:

Original Spinach Lasagna:455 calories, 19 g fat, 3 g fiber, 22 g protein
Lighter Spinach Lasagna:324 calories, 12.5 g fat, 3.4 g fiber, 18.9 g protein

(Note: The first calculations come fromBetter Homes. The second numbers are my own, and are approximate.)

Granted, each serving lost a tiny bit of protein, but not enough to be truly significant. As for the flavor, you'd never know anything was cut. To chop the fat and calories even more, you may be tempted to use fat-free cheese.A few words of caution: Don't do that.Fat-free fromage doesn't melt well, and the list of added chemicals and preservatives sounds like something the Pentagon and Kremlin fought over in the 1970s.

Happy Valentine's Day, Serious Eaters. Hope it's full of love and spinach.

Active:25 mins

Total:65 mins

Serves:8 servings

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9dried lasagna noodles
1tablespoonolive oil
1cup choppedonion
1cupsliced mushrooms
4clovesgarlic, minced
One7-ounce jarroasted red peppers, drained and chopped
One10-ounce packagefrozen spinach, thawed and very well drained
One15-ounce containerpart-skim ricotta
1cuppart-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2cupgrated Parmesan cheese
3largeegg whites, lightly beaten
1teaspoondried basil, crushed
1teaspoondried oregano, crushed
1/4teaspoonfreshlyground black pepper
One24-ounce jaryour favorite meatlesspasta sauce
1/4cupgrated Parmesan cheese

In a large pot or Dutch oven, boil lasagna noodles in salted water until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute onion and mushrooms until soft. Add garlic and saute an additional 30 to 60 seconds, until fragrant. Add roasted red peppers and heat through. Kill heat and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
Squeeze spinach of excess water and pat with paper towels. Add to a mixing bowl, along with ricotta, mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, egg whites, basil, oregano, and black pepper. Stir to combine. Add mushroom mixture. Stir to combine.
Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Layer with 3 lasagna noodles placed side-by-side lengthwise. Spread 1/2 ricotta mixture evenly on noodles. Layer with a little less than 1 cup pasta sauce. Layer again with 3 more noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, a little less than 1 cup pasta sauce, and last 3 noodles. Spread remaining pasta sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
Cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes, to firm up. Serve.

Special equipment

Pot, nonstick pan, 9x13-inch baking dish, cutting board, knife, measuring cups and spoons

Nutrition Facts(per serving)
363	Calories
18g	Fat
29g	Carbs
23g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories	363
% Daily Value*
Total Fat18g	23%
Saturated Fat 8g	39%
Cholesterol54mg	18%
Sodium982mg	43%
Total Carbohydrate29g	11%
Dietary Fiber 5g	18%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein23g
Vitamin C 42mg	210%
Calcium 465mg	36%
Iron 3mg	18%
Potassium 821mg	17%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.