What's Cooking Wednesday: Lazy Day Spinach Lasagna

Well, I've wanted to give myself a nudge to include more recipes here, and I've loved Bleeding Espresso-Sognatrice's contributions to What's Cooking Wednesday (a wonderful project started by Shan of Tales from a Fairy Blogmother). I love them for two reasons - one, Sognatrice does a simply bang-up job every week and her recipes tend to be both mouthwatering and beautiful and the second is that I simply suck as a photographer.

So playing along with Wordless Wednesday just doesn't do much for me.

Or for anyone who sees my pictures.

But I'm not the worst cook in the world, and so I want, at least for these first entries, to focus on recipes that are simple and healthy.

So without further babbling, here's my first contribution:

Lazy Day Spinach Lasagna



Lazy Day Spinach Lasagna was an invention of necessity: I love lasagna, when I want it, I want it quickly, ie. I don't want to fuss with cooking noodles that break, and I wanted a version that would fit in with my quest for weight loss. I actually make all kinds of lasagnas, up and down both the speed and calorie scales, but this one is delicious, easy and manageable on a diet, so... voila!

For any Italians who read this blog, please don't groan and run away in fright - this is very much an Italian-American fusion sort of thing. I know it's not the least authentic, but it's still a bit of alright. Serve with a good, green salad and either some hot, crusty bread and a glass of good chianti, or with just plain salad and water. It's all good. Enjoy!

Ingredients:



1 16 oz. package frozen spinach, thawed
1 15 oz. container part skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup of shredded part skim mozzarella, divided
2 1/4 cups Classico Tomato Basil sauce, divided (if you can't get Classico, choose a pasta sauce that is 50 calories or less per 1/2 cup and 1 gram of fat or less)
2 TBS grated parmesan cheese
4 no cook lasagna noodles
cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.




2. Take spinach from package and dump onto a dish towel. Bundle up the spinach, take it over to the sink, and squeeze out all excess liquid.




3. Put spinach in food processor or blender, along with ricotta, egg, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup of the mozzarella. Pulse until everything is well blended.




4. To assemble lasagna: spray 8X8 cooking pan with cooking spray. Ladle 3/4 cup sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place two noodles across the bottom of the pan. Place the ricotta filling on the noodles and spread evenly. Pour another 3/4 cup of sauce over the ricotta. Place the remaining two noodles over the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce over the noodles. Wrap tightly with foil.

5. Bake for 50 minutes at 375.

6. Take lasagna out of the oven (to keep the oven heated). Remove the foil. Sprinkle the top with the other 1/4 cup of mozzarella and the 2 TBS of grated parmesan.

7. Return the lasagna to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes, or until lasagna is bubbly and cheese is well melted.

8. Take lasagna out of the oven and let rest for 10 - 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 4, generously.



Nutritional Info. (courtesy of the recipe calculator function on www.sparkrecipes.com)


Fat: 14.8g
Carbohydrates: 33.5g
Calories:362.8
Protein: 24.5g

And finally, don't forget that tomorrow is turn-off-your-blog day for A Day to Read. Join Soccer Mom in Denial and all the rest of us who will stop tapping the keyboards for a day and turn pages, instead.