Family-Style Lasagna

Serve with crusty bread for scooping up the sauce, and a side salad for a complete and satisfying meal.

Yield: This lasagna is big enough to fit in a large roasting pan as shown above and yields about 12 servings.

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 package lasagna noodles (I use the convenient no-boil noodles)
  • 7 cups (56 ounces) marinara sauce* see note
  • 3 cups (24 ounces) grated mozzarella cheese
  • 5 cups (40 ounces) cottage cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 pound mushrooms
  • 1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1 pound ground turkey or beef** see note

Cooking Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
  3. Add the mushrooms and cook on medium heat until soft and brown, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add the ground turkey or beef and cook until no longer pink, about 5-10 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, mix the cottage cheese, frozen spinach and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl and stir until combined.
  6. Add the mushroom and meat mixture to the cottage cheese mixture and stir until combined.
  7. Layer the lasagna as explained below.
  8. Cover the entire lasagna with foil and bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.
  9. Remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes until the lasagna is beautifully browned.

To layer your lasagna:

  1. Spread a layer of marinara sauce over the bottom of the roasting pan.
  2. Add a layer of noodles to cover the bottom of the pan.
  3. Spread the mushroom/meat/cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles.
  4. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the mixture.
  5. Cover with a layer of sauce.
  6. Add another layer of noodles.
  7. Add another layer of the mushroom/meat/cottage cheese mixture.
  8. Add another layer of sauce.
  9. Add a final layer of mozzarella cheese.

Notes:
* I do not recommend most store-bought marinara because of the high sodium levels, artificial ingredients and the expensive price tag.  If you don’t have time to make your own home-made marinara sauce (I will post a recipe for marinara sauce in the near future), then I have two excellent recommendations.

  • For an especially low sodium option, simply use canned sauced tomatoes made from 100% tomato puree.  These typically are unsalted, so you may need to add a teaspoon of salt to give it some flavor.
  • If you have a Trader Joes nearby, then I highly recommend their canned low fat Trader Giotto’s Tuscano Marinara Sauce or their regular Trader Joes brand Marinara sauce. They are low fat, low priced and have no preservatives, artificial colors or flavors; and these sauces are the closest thing to home-made tasting store-bought sauce that I have found

** This recipe is so versatile.  If you like your lasagna to be more meaty, then use more meat.  Or, if you want an absolutely delicious vegetarian version of this lasagna, then substitute the meat for 1 package of organic silken tofu.  You don’t need to cook the tofu, just add it to the cottage cheese mixture.

Although I love this lasagna with tofu, please keep in mind that tofu is a controversial ingredient and you may want to consider the health and allergy risks associated with eating soy-based products.  To read an article and learn more about these risks, click here. [1]