how do you make lowfat lasagna?

[boneyjean]

My regular lasagna recipe is very simple and it turns out really good. I usually just get 2 boxes of the lasagna noodles and boil them up until they are limp. I tried the pre boiled ones that you just put right into the lasagna as is and they were terrible.

I fry up hamburg and season it while it's frying and then drain the grease. In a large mixing bowl I would mix up the ricotta cheese with some eggs and lots of oregano and parsley and perhaps a few other touches of seasonings like salt and pepper.

If I'm in a hurry I use jar sauce... but you can make it from scratch and let it simmer for a few hours and I usually add some diced tomatoes to the sauce for texture and added taste.

I add the meat into the sauce and then you just start to layer the lasagna. The noodles go on bottom.. then I put the hamburg and sauce mixture followed by a relatively thick layer of the ricotta cheese mixture. I would then put a thin layer of the motzerella cheese with some fresh parmesan cheese too.

Just keep repeating the layers until you get to the top of the pan. I always top my lasagna with a fairly thick layer of the motzerella cheese and some parmesan cheese.

Pop it in the oven and drool as the smells of it cooking make it's way to your nostrils. I love lasagna... so I'm a bit worried this will disappoint me cooking it all lowfat, but I just can't afford to eat it the fat way... so I will force myself to get used to it the lowfat way.

Now keep in mind you can add different things to your lasagna for your own taste like the mushrooms. Some people prefer veggies in their lasagna. I was a traditional lasagna lover.

Yum! That sounds so good! I have made many many lowfat lasagna's. In fact, just last week in my Weight Watchers meeting some of the women were talking about how they just avoid ordering lasagna all together..I can't do that, so I make my own and make it tons healthier and lower in calories and fat from time to time. I think what I have found is, if you make any ingredient in your original recipe you can in a reduced fat way you are doing much better than you started with....if it were me making your recipe, I would use the 97% lean ground beef or even ground turkey, LF Ricotta, 2% mozarella/LF parmessan (FF cheese sucks but 2% melts nicely) and not use as much on top as you used, oven ready wheat noodles (Target has really good ones), egg whites or egg beaters instead of eggs and plenty of seasonings.

You are going to have cheat meals from time to time but even if you make them healthier it is better than going all out and making yourself sick b/c it is way too rich for your body. I usually have one really good cheat meal a week. I have even made the LF garlic breadsticks in the can in the past for bread. I also personally add as many veggies ass possible to make it so I can feel full on a portion that had a lot less calories than if I hadn't filled that portion with 0 calorie veggies. That always helps as well....even with a salad on the side.



I made some mexican lasagna last night that was actually really good....you might consider going by the bookstore or even hald price books (my favorite) and pikcing up a LF cookbook that has some things you like in it. I love the Cooking Light ones as well as any of them that give me the nutritional info so I can get a good idea by just looking and even make it less fatening. Weight Watchers has some good recipes too.

 

[Renee750il]

Haven't been to Carabas. I can't get past Puleo's or P.F. Chang's, lol. Chang's is really excellent, especially for a chain! I could just eat their brown rice.

 

[nancy2394]

Haven't been to Carabas. I can't get past Puleo's or P.F. Chang's, lol. Chang's is really excellent, especially for a chain! I could just eat their brown rice.

Oh renee... you MUST go to Carabas. They don't open until mid afternoon.... and if you get there around then you won't have a wait to get in. If it's a Friday or Saturday night, you can plan to wait for a while for a table.

If you sit at the bar where they do all the cooking, you will probably get samples for free. I don't sit there because they are the high stool type chairs that I am not comfortable in.

The restaurant inside is really neat and feels very italian. The different smells are just divine. I have tried a few of their items on the menu but seem to always go back to one of my favorites. It's the Rosa Pola chicken or something like that. It is chicken breast with bruchetta ham and some kind of specialty cheese that oozes out of the stuffed chicken with every bite..MMMmm. And they top it with some kind of lemon butter sauce that just gives it such a tangy wonderful flavor that you can savor to the last bite.

They serve you this oven baked sliced bread that comes to your table right out of the oven. And they pour some olive oil in a dish and then put a handful of herbs and spices in it for you to dip your bread and that is soooo good. I love their soups... especially the home made minestrone.

Gosh, I absolutely LOVE that restaurant. That chicken meal I was describing is about 16 bucks but it's so worth every penny of it. We usually end up paying about 20 bucks a person by the time you get your drink and tip. I think we spent 80 bucks for 3 of us that day because I had ordered a bowl of soup that was 4 bucks and my sister ordered an appetizer that I know was over 5 or 6 bucks. But we went home with left overs.

The next time I go I am going to get their scallop dish they have. They were kind enough to cook me up a sample of it and it has that lemon butter sauce on it as well and they were delicious. I think they pour it over pasta.. I can't remember. Their pizza is even to die for. Arielle loves their spaghetti and meatballs. I just can't say a bad thing about this place, I would recommend it to anyone.

 

[MisssAshby]

Haven't been to Carabas. I can't get past Puleo's or P.F. Chang's, lol. Chang's is really excellent, especially for a chain! I could just eat their brown rice.

Have you been to Pei Wei? They are owned by P.F. Chang's. They are considered the take out side of P.F. Chang's. They are cheaper and I think their food is better.

 

[puppydog]

How is the weight loss going Nancy?
Now you have made me hungry for lasagne!

 

[nancy2394]

How is the weight loss going Nancy?
Now you have made me hungry for lasagne!

it's going pretty good. I've lost about 34 pounds and 11 1/2 inches the last time I checked. That left over lasagna keeps calling my name.. but eating lasagna for breakfast just doesn't sound right...lol. So, I am going to drink a protein shake instead.

Now I have no idea what to make for dinner tonight. I keep asking Tj what he wants and he's as bad as me.. "I don't know, what do you want?" I really need to get some lowfat cookbooks so I don't have to keep having the same things over and over again.

 

[puppydog]

What I really enjoy as a low fat dinner is stuffed chicken breast.

Cut a slit into the chicken breast, full with some low fat cottage cheese, a little sundried tomatoe and sprinkle with herbs. I usually wrap it in fresh spinnach leaves but you don't have to. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. I serve that with some baked sweet potatoe and a big salad. It is yummy and very low fat.

And WELL DONE on all that weight loss. You must be looking and feeling great!

 

[nancy2394]

What I really enjoy as a low fat dinner is stuffed chicken breast.

Cut a slit into the chicken breast, full with some low fat cottage cheese, a little sundried tomatoe and sprinkle with herbs. I usually wrap it in fresh spinnach leaves but you don't have to. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. I serve that with some baked sweet potatoe and a big salad. It is yummy and very low fat.

And WELL DONE on all that weight loss. You must be looking and feeling great!

I wonder how it would taste stuffing it with the cottage cheese and some spinach instead of the spinach on the outside. I am not very fond of sweet potatoes, but I suppose I could give them another try. I still have my salad that I was going to eat last night and didn't because I went straight for the lasagna and was too stuffed to even think about salad. I think we'll try that meal tonight.. thanks for the idea.

 

[puppydog]

No problem. I use sweet potatoe because it is low GI. If you cut them into fries and just pop them on an oven tray with a little (and I mean a little) oil and bake until soft they are delicious. I then dip them in cottage cheese with some lemon squeezed in. DELISH!

Go for it with the spinnach, I use the spinnach to keep the chicken moist.

No problem for the idea. I am also battling with my weight, I have 5kgs or 2.5lbs to go and they won't shift!

 

[Barb04]

My mom always used cottage cheese instead of ricotta.

 

[GipsyQueen]

Mmmm sounds Gooood We make a vagitarien lasagna though, so I guess that cuts out a lot of calories. & We put tomatoe sauce in the lasagna and don't use much cheese on top. ^^ I LOVE lasagna, my second favorit meal, but I'm happy with a a HUGE salad any day Now I have to figur out what to make tonite. ^^ All I've got is Shrimp

 

[nancy2394]

Mmmm sounds Gooood We make a vagitarien lasagna though, so I guess that cuts out a lot of calories. & We put tomatoe sauce in the lasagna and don't use much cheese on top. ^^ I LOVE lasagna, my second favorit meal, but I'm happy with a a HUGE salad any day Now I have to figur out what to make tonite. ^^ All I've got is Shrimp

you could make a shrimp stir fry over some angel hair pasta... that's always good.

 

[Renee750il]

Or an Alfredo with shrimp. NOT low cal though, lol

Or shrimp Creole.

 

[GipsyQueen]

I saw all your suggestions to late Ill try those next time! Renee, I don't want to loose any weight anymore, so thats not a problem I got down to 53KG which I'm more than happy with ^^.
I ended up making Pasta with a Tomato-Wine sauce & Shrimp Mmmm It was yummy

 

[Zoom]

I might have to try Pei Wei now...I drive past one all the time and just never knew what it was. We've also got a Carrabas and P.F. Chang's, but they're out of my price range for now. Carrabas is very good though, you are right about that!

 

[Beagleluver5463]

Lowfat takes all the fun out of it. My cholesterol is too high, and my wife is on the whole lean protein no carbs, low fat diet. I'm suffering.