Low Calorie Veggie Lasagna

Today I was torn! I saw a recipe for a wonderful, creative, Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Lasagna and I wanted it.  Once I figured out the calories, I realized I can’t eat that!  It made me sad!  Especially since I bought all the ingredients for it.  I figured the Lasagna would be about 500 – 700 calories a slice at about 80 carbs.  You don’t even want to know how much fat!  Thats with me reducing the ingredients to low calorie, low fat.  I just couldn’t bring myself to do it!  So what was I to do?  I really wanted lasagna.  So I checked the fridge and thought why not Veggie Lasagna?  I had vegetables that I needed to use up and this would be perfect!

I used a bread loaf pan,which fit the lasagna noodles perfectly and it was enough for two servings!  Nice, one for dinner and one for lunch.

So I got all my goodies together, saute’d my vegetables, did my layering and into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  During that 30 minutes, I fit in my exercise.  I really pushed it knowing that when I was done, a yummy slice of lasagna was waiting for me!!  Do you know even how hard it is to exercise when you smell food cooking?   That’s all I could think of.  I figured when I was done exercising I was rewarding myself with my dinner.

Vegetable Lasgana

1 serving of whole wheat  lasagna noodles (3 pieces – No Boil Noodles)

1 clove of garlic or 3 tsp. of minced garlic

1/4 cup onion – diced

1/4 cup sweet bell pepper – diced

1/4 cup broccoli – chopped

1/2 cup pasta sauce  (I used Whole Foods Sundried Tomato and Basil)

5 Large basil Leaves

1/3 cup light mozzarella cheese – shredded

1/4 fat free Ricotta Cheese (I used Trader Joe’s)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

In a skillet, add a pinch of olive oil and saute all of your vegetables (except for the spinach) until tender. About 7 minutes.

Spray a bread loaf pan with non cooking spray, now start to layer.

From Bottom Up:
1 Lasagna Noodle

2 Tbsp. Ricotta Cheese

1/2 of your Vegetables

3 Tbsp of Pasta Sauce

2 Tbsp of Mozzarella Cheese

1 Lasagna Noodle

2 Tbsp. Ricotta Cheese

The rest of your vegetables

2 Tbsp of Mozzarella Cheese

3 Tbsp.of Tomato Sauce

All of the Basil

All of the Spinach

1 Lasagna Noodle

Remaining Pasta Sauce

2 Tbsp. of Mozzarella Cheese

Bake for 30 minutes.

Let it sit for a few moments, serve and eat!! Enjoy

I am impressed with this dish.  It would be great to make a big batch and then freeze it!!

Makes two HUGE servings

Calories per slice:  208,  Fat:  3.5,  Sodium: 407,  Potassium:  478,  Carbs:  33,  Fiber:  3.7,  Sugar:  4.7,  Protein:  12

This was a fat piece of lasagna (Half a bread pans worth)and I am very happy with my dinner decision.  Who needs over a 500 calorie slice of lasagna anyway?  Whats nice about this dish is you can add any vegetables and sauce you like.  You could add mushrooms, eggplant, more onions and peppers (Yum!!)   Ok, the ideas are flying now!!  I’m thinking chicken wings, yah I know, I’m crazy, but just wait!  Maybe next week, I’ll make it and show you, I already know it’s going to taste hella good!  He he, ok I’m to excited!!

I hope you give this a try it was easy and fast!  Grab any extra veggies you have in the house and throw it all together with some pasta sauce or even a jar of tomato sauce with Italian Spices.  By the way sorry for the crappy pictures, I rushed to take the pictures so it wouldn’t get cold, and besides I was hungry!!  Don’t get between me and my stomach!  🙂

Have a great day!