Zucchini Lasagna

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle required me to balance the foods I eat so I didn’t over do the carbs and fats. The best way I have found to do this is to find healthier substitutes to refined carbs and processed foods. This recipe is an example of a simple modification – replacing pasta noodles with zucchini or “zoodles” – that will enable you to eat some hearty, delicious Italian food without getting your diet out of balance. Enjoy!

Ingredients 
3 large zucchini (or 6 small)
1.25 lb. lean ground turkey
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic
24 oz tomato sauce (no sugar added, low sodium) or homemade sauce
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Sea salt, pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper (optional)

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Start by making your zoodles (cut ends off zucchini, cut in half, slice in long, wide noodles).
3. Boil a pot of water, add salt, and boil zoodles for 2-3 minutes. Drain in colander and pat the zoodles with a paper towel to remove excess water.
4. Saute the diced onions and garlic in a large pan until slightly translucent. Add ground turkey and cook until there is no pink left in the meat.
5. Add tomato sauce and bring to a simmer, then reduce the temperature to low for about 10-15 minutes.
6. Mix greek yogurt and parmesan cheese together and set aside.
7. Spray a 9”x13” casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and layer 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom.
8. Place half the zucchini noodles in an even layer on the sauce. Cover with half of the remaining meat sauce and optionally sprinkle with desired amount of crushed red pepper.
9. Dot small amounts of the greek yogurt/cheese mixture on top.
10. Repeat layer and sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese.
11. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes.

21 Day Fix: For 1/6 of the casserole count 1.5 Green/Veggie, 0.5 Red/Protein, 0.75 Blue/Healthy Fats are the container equivalents if made with a homemade or store-bought sauce with no added sugar.  If you use jarred sauce with added sugar, the container equivalents are 1 Green/Veggie, 0.5 Purple/Fruit, 0.5 Red/Protein, 0.75 Blue/Healthy Fats.