Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Low Carb Lasagna

Low Carb Lasagna Photo

Remember that time that we talked about stuffed peppers and my undying love for food mashups?

Well, it happened again.

SorrrNotSorry. CantStopWon'tStop.

Ok, fine. I'll stop.

Low Carb Lasagna Picture

And, again, we've taken a comfort food and then put it in in one of those black hats that magicians put bunnies in so, POOF, it comes out as a healthy version of what it once was.

Sidenote: No bunnies were used in the making of this lasagna.

Anyway.

The whole idea to "healthify" AND "lasagnaify" comfort food, ALL at the same time, actually originated WAY back at the start of Food Faith Fitness, when I made a zucchini pizza lasagna.

And then I made it one zillion times over because it was num num in BOTH me and the Hubberoni's tum.

Low Carb Lasagna Process Photo

When that happens, you make the same recipe for dinner for about 3.4 weeks. There is no messing around with dual recipe love.

But, after 3.4 weeks of eating the same thing, (I could be slightly exaggerating) there does come a time in life when you need to let the lasagna go.

Or just transform it.

Low Carb Lasagna Assembly Photo

It all started out one Friday night when I was about to surprise my hubs with butter chicken for dinner (his favorite.) I had the sauce simmering away and the house was smelling like maybe I should start munching away at its very walls. Read: it smelled AWESOME.

I skipped (read: walked. Skipping alone is creepy) to my pantry to grab some basmati rice, because you just don't DO any kind of curry without the stuff.

Low Carb Lasagna Image

You know, unless you fail at ALL things life, and don't actually have any rice.

WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP.

How a food blogger had no rice, quinoa, lentils, ANYTHING, I will never know. But, it happened.

I may have cried for a few minutes.

Until… I saw my favorite vegetal friends in the fridge. BINGO.

Low Carb Lasagna Pic

And, you know what? It was a success in a MAJOR sense of the world. My hubberoni? He ate HALF the pan in ONE sitting.

Zucchini: saving surprise date nights and evenly possibly saving marriages, one dinner at a time.

Ingredients

For the Sauce:
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 1 3/4 cups onion, diced, 1 large onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger, diced
  • 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 cinnamon stick
  • 1 1/2 cups tomato, diced, 1 medium tomato
  • 1 red chili, diced, about 1 tablespoon
  • salt, to taste
  • 3/4 cup fat free plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1/3 cup reduced sodium chicken stock
  • 3/4 cup fat free half & half
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
For the Zoodles:
  • 3 zucchini squashes, large
  • 1 tablespoon salt
For the Turkey:
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • 1 1/4 pounds 99% fat free ground turkey
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of black pepper
  • 8 ounces reduced fat mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, diced plus additional for garnish

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in the vegetable oil in a pan set on medium heat until the butter begins to foam. Then add in the diced onion and cook until the onion becomes translucent.
  2. Add in the garlic, ginger and cumin seeds and cook until the onion begins to brown. Add in the cinnamon stick, diced tomatoes, diced chili and season to taste with salt. Cook until the chilies become soft, about 7-10 mins.
  3. Stir together the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, turmeric, Garam Masala and cumin powder. Stir it into the pot once the chilies have softened. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  4. Add in the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Then, turn the heat down to medium/low and simmer the sauce until it just begins to thicken, about 20 minutes.

While the sauce simmers, prepare the zucchini noodles:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375°F and spray two cooking sheets with cooking spray.
  2. Slice the zucchini using a mandolin so that they are about 1/8 inch thick. Place them flat on the two cooking sheets and divide the salt among each tray, sprinkling the zucchini noodles evenly.
  3. Bake until just lightly golden brown, to get the moisture out. This takes about 15-25 minutes. Set aside.
  4. Once the sauce has simmered, add in the fat-free half and half and the tomato paste, stirring well until everything is well mixed. Simmer and additional 10 minutes.
  5. While the sauce finished, Heat the remaining 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan on medium/high heat. Add in the garlic, ground turkey, salt and pepper and cook until the turkey begins to brown. Drain out an excess fat and set aside.

To assemble:

  1. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and layer half of the cooked zucchini noodles on the bottom. Then, gently spread half of the sauce on the noodles, followed by half the chicken. Following that, sprinkle half the grated cheese and then all of the cilantro on top. Repeat for one more layer so that you finish with grated cheese.
  2. Cover the lasagna with tinfoil and bake until the cheese is melted and bubble, about 45 minutes.
  3. Garnish with additional fresh cilantro and serve.

Recommended Equipment



via Food Fanatic http://ift.tt/1xAox0q

IFTTT

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...