Best Lasagna Ever - South Beach Style!

a little messy since it's straight out of the oven

Saturday night I went over to Meliska and Greggy-D's house to visit with them and baby Liam, of course!  Greg's parents were over helping them out and making dinner.  Lucky me for being able to partake in the company and the food!

Greg's mom was making Greg's lasagna - a recipe he had gotten on-line.  I ate it and exclaimed, "This is the best lasagna EVER!"  Greg laughed and said that was what the lasagna is called and showed me the recipe.  It's true - that's the name of it!  I might have been able to eat the whole pan all by myself, but...um...that's totally socially unacceptable (especially since there were others in the room who could bear witness to my gluttony) and I'm so not THAT fat anymore.

I took note of that recipe title and looked up the recipe when I got home.  For the recipe in its original glory, click here.

I, of course, made some modifications to make it South Beach friendly.  Here is my recipe:

Whole wheat lasagna noodles - I used 8 noodles
1.2 lbs extra lean ground turkey
1.2 lbs ground turkey with Italian seasoning
1 TBSP minced garlic
1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes (which I then crushed)
1 12 oz can of tomato paste
2 TBSP dried parsley
2 TBSP dried basil
1 TSP salt
3 cups 1% milk fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup of egg whites (or 2 beaten eggs)
1/2 cup reduced fat GRATED Parmesan cheese
2 TBSP dried parsley
1 TSP salt
2 packages part skim mozzarella cheese slices (1 lb total)

Now here is what you do - get your pasta boiling in some water with a bit of salt and a touch of olive oil.  Get your turkey browning with your minced garlic.  When the pasta is done (al dente works great), remove it from the pot, rinse it, and set it out for later.  Once the turkey is done (it will take a while because there is so much of it), add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, basil, and salt.  Then let that all simmer for 45 minutes.

While that is simmering, work on your cheese mixture.  Take a large bowl and dump in your cottage cheese.  Add in your egg whites (or beaten eggs) and then the Parmesan cheese, parsley, and salt.

Now preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Once your meat mixture is done simmering, you are ready to build your lasagna.  Start by laying down 4 lasagna noodles (over lap them if necessary).  Next, add half of the cheese mixture.  Now, take out your mozzarella cheese slices and lay them out across the top (over lap these if necessary, too).  You are now ready to add your meat mixture, but you want to add a little less than half.  Now comes the last 4 lasagna noodles and then you repeat everything until you finish the with rest of the meat mixture.  Sprinkle some parmesan on top and voila - you are ready to put it in the oven for 45 minutes!