Healthy, Lactose Friendly Lasagna

I have been craving homemade lasagna for about a week now. However, when you’re lactose intolerant, you have no option but to make it at home. Seriously! I also like to avoid using soy based products to make my meals lactose friendly. Instead, I’ve found some almond milk cheese at Whole Foods that tastes no different than real cheese.  

My test subjects (Ned, brother, and brother’s girlfriend) signed up to try my latest creation, and here's what I made: 

Ingredients

• 8 ounce package mushrooms (heads thinly sliced)
• 1.25 lean ground turkey (fat: 93/7)
• 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (no sodium)
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste (no sodium)
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce (no sodium)
• ½ cup water
• 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 2 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 16 ounces Lactaid Low Fat Cottage Cheese
• ½ cup chopped fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 8 oven-ready lasagna noodles (those that don’t require pre-cooking)
• 1 ½ cups shredded Almond Milk Mozzerella Cheese (bought at Whole Foods)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese***

***Please note: YES, I used Parmesan cheese, BUT it’s *aged* cheese, which means lactose is very low. For me, it doesn’t have any effects, and I’m *VERY* sensitive to lactose.

 

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir mushrooms, ground turkey, onion, and garlic until well browned, about 20 minutes.
2. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with basil, oregano, marjoram, pepper, and salt.
3. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Chop spinach. Chop parsley. Mix with cottage cheese.
6. Spread 1 cups turkey sauce in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Arrange 4 noodles over sauce (3 lengthwise and ¾ of one at the bottom). Spread half the cottage cheese spread over noodles. Top with a third of the mozzarella. Spoon 1 1/2 cups turkey sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with aluminum foil; make sure foil does not touch cheese to prevent sticking.
7. Bake in preheated oven until sauce is hot and cheese is melted, about 25 minutes more. Remove foil and bake until cheese is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool 15 minutes before serving. 

Lasagna ready to go into the oven...

Results

Wow! This was delicious. A little boil over, so not *as* pretty in presentation as I would have liked. However, each of us had 2 pieces. I served it with Caesar salad and some garlic bread. Dessert was brownies. Yum, Yum, YUM!

Lasagna right out of the oven...

 Lasagna right out of the oven (top view)...

And a piece of lasagna served for dinner.

Retrospective

I always like to analyze what I would have done differently with a recipe.

1. I would have used about 2 ounces less of sauce.
2. I would have use a little less cheese on the top. There was a thicker top crust than I would liked.

Helpful Tips to Other Cooks

1. Slice mushrooms with an egg slicer. My Mama taught me this trick. They're evenly sliced and cook well.
2. Add mushrooms for extra protein and subsistence when you don’t want to use as much meat. One of the eaters is not a mushroom fan, and he didn’t pick one of the mushrooms out – he barely noticed they were there. The original recipe called for having ¾ lb ground turkey and 1 lb Italian turkey sausage. I thought it was just too much. Mushrooms did the trick.
3. When you’re using oven-ready noodles, they expand as they cook. This means your sauce has to be a bit more watery. You also have to have room for the noodles to expand. Because I had too much sauce, it bubbled over. 
4. I chopped the spinach in a small Cuisinart.

 I hope you enjoy this recipe - we certainly did!!!

What are your tips for yummy, lactose friendly lasagna?