High Protein Lasagna
Who doesn’t love lasagna? Well this recipe nixes ricotta and uses whipped cottage cheese for added protein. Plus it’s lighter on the cheese compared to many recipes I’ve seen!
Lasagna
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (but you can use any meat - partial amount of sausage, turkey, chicken)
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1/4 to 1/2 of an onion, diced
2 jars of sauce of choice (Rao’s Marinara is our favorite!)
1 -16 ounce container of whole milk cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/2 Tbsp dried Italian herbs
1/2 Tbsp garlic salt
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
1/2 cup of grated mozzarella (I bought an 8 ounce pack and then grated the rest over the top)
1 - 9 ounce box of lasagna noodles (I used Jovial gluten free but have used other brands in the past)
Optional spinach (I sometimes throw layers of spinach down over the cheese layer)
Assembly:
Preheat oven to 375. Brown the meat, peppers and onions in a skillet. Drain the meat and set aside (this step I’ve done earlier in the day too).
Add both jars of sauce to the meat/peppers mix. Meanwhile make your cheese mixture by blending the cottage cheese in a blender or using an immersion blender in a bowl. Once it’s whipped, add the eggs (stirring to combine) then grated cheeses, dried italian herbs and garlic salt. Mix it all together well. Now assemble the pasta layers!
In a 9 x 13 pan, add 1 cup of the sauce mixture on the bottom of the pan. Top with one layer of noodles (with the Jovial gluten free ones it’s 4 noodles placed vertically). Next, spread one third of the cheese mixture then top with a layer of the sauce/meat mix. Then add one more layer of noodles with another third of the cheese mixture on top. Add another sauce layer and then repeat one more time with remaining noodles/cheese/sauce mix. *add fresh spinach leaves as a layer at any point if you’re adding!
When you’re done, grate remaining mozzarella (from the 8 ounce block) over the top if you’re into cheese!
Cover dish with foil, bake for 50-60 minutes (depending what noodles you’re using — some require at least 60 minutes if using no boil noodles!) Remove foil for the last few minutes to brown a bit on top. Remove and let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving if possible. Enjoy!