Thirteen steps to making a delicious, healthy, vegetarian lasagna.
1. gather your ingredients
-fresh spinach (frozen will work)
-whole wheat lasagna noodles
-2 large cans tomato sauce
-1 can tomato paste
-vegetarian meat patties OR vegetarian meat crumbles
-fat free cottage cheese
-low-fat mozzarella (preferably with a friendly fur baby that wants to help)
-spices (the same spices you use to make spaghetti sauce, I add crushed red peppers because we like our food spicy)
-non stick spray
-13×9 pan
2. mix tomato sauce and tomato paste in a large pot on the stove
3. season the sauce as you would spaghetti sauce (I am terrible with measuring and never do, I just season, tastes, season, taste and repeat until it’s right.)
4. let the sauce simmer and chop up the veggie patties (I used vegetarian patties instead of crumbles because they are cheaper AND we found them at Sam’s and I like to have them for snacks with A-1 sauce.)
5. add the chopped veggie patties (or crumbles) to your sauce on the stove and keep it simmering
6. if you plan to eat the lasagna for your next meal, set the oven to 350 degrees, you can also freeze it to cook later
7. chop up your rinsed and dry spinach (or squeeze the water from your thawed spinach)
8. mix the chopped spinach with the fat free cottage cheese
7. spray your pan thoroughly with non stick cooking spray
8. gather layering items on the counter for an easy assembly line (this is when the cat has to go, sorry Leroy)
9. add a ladle full of sauce to the bottom of the glass pan
10. add a layer of noodles
11. add a layer of spinach & cottage cheese mixture
12. add a layer of sauce and repeat steps 10-12 until the pan is full (I had quite a bit extra so I made a more shallow lasagna in a 9×9 pan to eat that night.)
13. top with mozzarella cheese and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes (until top is golden) OR cover with press and seal and freeze for up to 6 weeks (I think, mine has been in the freezer for 2 weeks and we will probably cook it later this week. If it’s sealed well it should last a while in the freezer, but it’s so yummy you will want to cook it before the 6 weeks are up! Remember, it will need a few hours to thaw before going into the oven…I’d pull it out the morning you want to cook it and leave it in the fridge during the day-should be thawed out and oven ready that afternoon.)
Some of you may be worried your spouse will think yuck, fake meat, but there is a trick…don’t tell them. I did tell the hubs ahead of time because he is fine with vegetarian meat in meals, and he loved it. He is ready for me to pull the other one out of the freezer and cook it.
I am a mom to our Milkshakes, Logan Emma, born 8.9.2013, and Morgan Marie, born 7.22.2015. I am also a mom to 4 fur babies. I am excited to share our journey as Milkshake parents.
I’ve never tried veggie patties or veggie crumbles… but I might try this – sounds good and low fat 🙂
It’s very easy to make, too. I haven’t figured out the calories but I plan to do that next time I make it.
i will have to look for the veggie patties at sams – have you ever tried browning them first before you put in the sauce?
I usually do brown them a bit, but this time I just dumped it in the sauce and it was delicious. The patties are good microwaved with A-1 on top.
Yum! I should get some of those patties….I haven’t used the membership I’ve PAID for at Sam’s.
They are really tasty and easy to cook with. Be careful at Sam’s…it’s like Target, you go in for one thing and come out with 10 in gigantic quantities you hope you’ll use before they expire.