Cheesy Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

Cheesy Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

Believe it or not this is actually a fairly low-calorie recipe.  At 344 calories per serving it is delicious!  This recipe makes 9 servings.  It is also very easy to prepare.  It can be made using no-bake lasagna noodles which cuts way down on mess and preparation time.

Ingredients:

9 lasagna noodles

2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella

16 oz fat free ricotta

10 oz. frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 links Italian sausage

1/2 small onion diced

cooking spray

4 cups marinara sauce

Directions:

Mix together 1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, ricotta, and Parmesan cheese as well as the seasoning and spinach.  Coat a skillet with cooking spray.  Remove the casings from the sausage and break them up in the pan.  Add the diced onion and saute.  Once the sausage is cooked through add the contents of the skillet to the cheese mixture and stir. 

Coat the pan with cooking spray and spread 2/3 cups sauce on the bottom.  Place 3 noodles in the bottom of the pan.

Spread another 2/3 cups sauce over the noodles.  Top with 1/2 of the cheese mixture and an additional 2/3 cup sauce.

Repeat the layering process with the the remaining cheese mixture ending with the last 3 noodles and 2/3 cups sauce.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Top with the remaining cheese mixture and bake for an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted and Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken/Pork

Sweet and Sour Chicken/Pork

 This is a great recipe that can be made using either boneless chicken breast or pork.  It is fast, delicious, and low-calorie too.  Even Joseph, my 18 month old son loves to eat it!

Ingredients:

1lb pork or chicken

1 egg white

1 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp cornstarch

20 oz. can pineapple chunks*

juice from pineapple chunks*

1/2 cup white vinegar*

1/2 cup ketchup*

4-5 tbsp brown sugar*

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 tbsp and 1 tsp olive oil

rice (I prefer brown rice but any rice you like is fine.  If you are using regular rice as opposed to the 10 minute type you should start the process of cooking the rice at the beginning of the recipe)

*I like to have extra sauce so I've doubled the sauce in this recipe. If you prefer you can make less sauce by decreasing the amount of pineapple, pineapple juice, vinegar, ketchup, and brown sugar by half.

Directions:

First cut the meat into bite sized chunks.  Whisk the egg white, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and the cornstarch together with a fork.  Toss in meat until it is thoroughly coated with this mixture and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.  While you are waiting, cut the peppers into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.  In a separate bowl mix together the juice, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, and remaining 1/2 tsp salt and set aside.  Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet on high.  Once hot add the meat and cook until browned.  Remove and set aside.

Decrease temperature to medium and add the remaining 1 tsp oil into the skillet.  Add the peppers.  Allow the peppers to cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.



At this point add the sauce and the pineapple into the skillet.  Increase the temperature to high and bring to a simmer.  I use 10 minute rice when I make this recipe, and this is the point at which I usually start making it. 

Once the sauce reaches a simmer return the meat to the skillet.  Continue to cook stirring occasionally until the meat is cooked through.  Serve over rice.  Delicious!