Share and Relish - Cathie's Lasagna

Finally!!

First of all, this recipe is almost as old as I am.  My sister Cathie got this recipe from her home economics class way back when in high school.  It was a good recipe back then and after a few tweaks along the years, I think it's still a good recipe.

I have adjusted this recipe some because of Weight Watchers so I went for better choices to make a bad dish better for you.  This is exactly what I did but please, feel free to add or delete whatever you'd like to make this your own.  I used to make this with bulk sausage instead of ground beef.  Oooh baby that was good! But, I'm trying to make this a little better for me, so I substituted the meat. Lasagna is one of those dishes that you can go crazy with and make differently every time! So, here are the ingredients that I used.  I wanted extra, so I made enough for one 9"x13" pan and an additional 9"x9" pan.  Leftover lasagna is always a good idea!

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 large onion,  chopped
• 56 oz canned tomatoes ( I used diced tomatoes)
• 24 oz canned tomato paste
• 1 packet Splenda sugar substitute
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano leaves
• 1 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 2/3 package lasagna noodles
• 4 eggs
• 30 oz low fat ricotta cheese
• 20 oz part skim shredded mozzarella

I start by cooking the noodles according to the package directions.  I pour them into a colander and rinse them to stop the cooking. 

In a 5 quart dutch over high heat, brown the ground beef, ground turkey and onion until all pan juices have evaporated, stirring frequently.

Add tomatoes and their liquid, tomato paste, Splenda, salt, oregano leaves, thyme leaves, crushed red pepper, garlic salt and bay leaves.

Heat to boiling, stirring to break up the tomatoes.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.  Discard bay leaves.

As a side story here, my Mom always had trouble finding the bay leaves when the sauce was done.  So, the rule in OUR house was that if your piece had a bay leaf in it, YOU had to do dishes!  There is a family story that our cousin Billy actually ate that bay leaf just to avoid doing dishes.  I hear they taste pretty nasty, so I would suggest discarding them.  Just sayin'!

In a large bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and  the eggs.  Set aside.

Now to put the lasagna together.

I lightly sprayed the pans with a little oil to prevent the noodles from sticking.  Layer noodles in the bottom of the baking dish, slightly overlapping.

Spoon the ricotta/egg mixture over the noodles, then sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.

Ladle the sauce mixture on top of this layer.  Somehow I forgot to take a picture of that layer!  But, I'm sure you can figure it out!

Repeat the noodles, ricotta/eggs, mozzarella and sauce mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before cutting.  Here is the final product.

Best of all, I was able to put all of the ingredients into the recipe builder program on the Weight Watchers website and then figure out how big of a piece I wanted based on how many points would be in that piece.  This could have been a better dinner if I made a better choice to have a salad with it to fill me up instead of a big old piece of this lasagna.  But, like I blogged before, Weight Watchers is all about choices.  I made the choice to eat this, I ate the rest of the day to prepare for the high point value of this meal and I was still in my point allowance in spite of it!  Go me!

One big old piece for supper, 17 points.  And well worth every one!

This was a darn good dinner.  Not a lot of work, but a bit time consuming.  I hope y'all enjoy Cathie's lasagna.  We sure did!