Low Carb/South Beach Eggplant Lasagna


I was looking for a yummy South Beach recipe to curb my Italian Cravings. I found a vegetarian lasagna recipe using eggplant slices as noodles, substituted my own meat sauce, and voila!


Ingredients:

  • 2 large eggplants, peeled, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch noodle-like strips
  • cooking spray (olive oil spray is best)
  • salt and pepper

Meat Sauce

  • 1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin or 1 1/2 lbs turkey breast or 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 3 cloves chopped garlic
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 1 (16 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
  • 2 tablespoons italian seasoning (or mix of oregano, basil and thyme)
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seed (optional)
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if you dare!) (optional)
  • 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
  • 1 cup red wine (optional) or 1 cup vodka (optional)
  • 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce (or large jar sugar free sauce if you can find it)
  • 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes (for less sugar, 3 chopped roma tomatoes)

Cheese Mixture

  • 2 cups low-fat ricotta cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 3 cups shredded lowfat mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Spray cookie sheet, arrange eggplant slices and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Cook slices 5 minutes on each side.
  4. Lower oven temp to 375.
  5. Brown meat, onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes.
  6. Add red pepper and mushrooms, and cook 5 minutes.
  7. Add spinach, tomatoes, spices and wine and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
  8. Blend ricotta, egg and onion mixture.
  9. Spread 1/3 of meat sauce in bottom of 9” x 13” glass pan.
  10. Layer ½ eggplant slices, ½ ricotta, 1/3 mozzarella and parmesan.
  11. Repeat.
  12. Add last layer of sauce, then mozzarella and parmesan on top.
  13. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.
  14. Remove foil and bake or broil another 5-10 minutes until cheese is browned.
  15. Let it rest 10 minutes before slicing, if you can wait that long!

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