Healthy Alfredo Lasagna Recipe

Since finishing the Nutrisystem Nation 10-Day Challenge I’m continuing to try to eat healthy. I’m on the lookout for new recipes. The other day I found a recipe for White Hot Lasagna  in the Hungry Girl Newsletter.

If you don’t know Hungry Girl you should get to know her. She takes all your favorite foods, and re-makes them into healthy meals and snacks.

Back to the lasagna — White Hot Lasagna is a healthy Alfredo version of the classic comfort food. It looked and sounded so good. In theory. Then I made it, and it was disappointing. Except for the creamy ricotta filling flavored with garlic. That part I liked. So I decided to make-over the made-over lasagna. Here’s my recipe based on the original Hungry Girl one.

Alfredo Turkey Sausage Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of turkey sausage

1 cup fat-free ricotta cheese

2 large egg whites or 1/4 cup liquid egg whites

2 garlic cloves minced

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. salt, divided

1/2 tsp. black pepper, divided

1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms

2 cups chopped spinach

3/4 cup fat-free sour cream

4 wedges The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss cheese

4 tbsp. reduced-fat Parmesan-style grated topping, divided

8 sheets lasagna noodles cooked al dente

1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Boil eight sheets of lasagna.

Brown sausage in a skillet sprayed with PAM. While sausage is cooking combine ricotta, egg whites, garlic, oregano, basil, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper in a bowl. Stir and set aside.

When sausage is browned remove from pan, and drain on a paper towel. Add mushrooms to the skillet, stirring occasionally. Cook about 4 minutes. Add spinach and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 more minutes.

Remove mushrooms and spinach from skillet and drain on a paper towel. Then stir the sausage, mushrooms and spinach into the ricotta mixture. Set aside.

For the sauce combine sour cream with cheese wedges in a microwave safe bowl. Stir in 2 tbsp. Parm-style topping, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, and remaining 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Microwave for 30 – 45 seconds, until very warm. Stir until smooth and set aside.

Spray a 9″ X 13″ baking pan with nonstick spray. Layer four lasagna noodles on the bottom. Spread all of the ricotta mixture on top, followed by 1/2 of the sauce. Cover with the other four lasagna noodles. Spread with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Cover with mozzarella.

Bake in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes, until cheese starts to brown.

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1/8th of lasagna

Calories: 202

So I took zucchini out of the original recipe, because I didn’t like it. It needed something else, so I added the turkey sausage. I used breakfast sausage. Italian turkey sausage would be even better if you can find it. I added four more lasagna noodles so I could make it in a 13×9 pan, instead of the 8×8 called for originally. I also upped the amount of salt and pepper and added extra garlic, because I thought it was a bit bland before.

My changes added a few calories, but since I used a bigger pan and the meat and extra noodles make it heartier it makes more servings. The original was 4 and mine is 8. A serving of mine, by my best estimate it 202 calories. The original was 290. It probably varies some depending on the brands of ingredients you use.

Hope you enjoy my tweaks to this recipe. You can find the original here.