lasagna

Paleo Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

February 22, 2017

Spaghetti squash is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. It’s incredibly healthy, low in carbs, delicious, and generally pretty easy to cook. It can also be swapped out in a lot of your favorite recipes, not just spaghetti!

I have topped spaghetti squash with everything from chicken enchiladas to beef stroganoff. But one of my favorite recipes is this spaghetti squash lasagna!

Now if you have never worked with spaghetti squash before you may be a little bit intimidated. I totally get it. I was right there with you once. Fortunately, my mom has been making spaghetti squash for years, way before it was cool, so I have learned a lot from her.

The hardest part, by far, is cutting the darn thing! It’s seriously a pain in the butt, but I have a couple recommendations to make it a bit easier.

Microwave the whole squash for 1 minute. This will soften the squash slightly, making it easier to cut.
Before cutting around the squash, cut off the stem. It will ensure you get to evenly sized halves.
Use a serrated knife which will help cut through the outer shell.
Don’t cut using a saw like motion. Cut by sticking the tip of the knife all the way through and then pressing down with the base of the knife. It may take a couple cuts to get all the way through.

Once the squash is split in half, I scrape out the seeds then drizzle the flesh with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then off to the oven it goes!

There are of course other ways to cook a spaghetti squash, but when time is not really an issue, oven roasting them is my favorite! The flesh gets very soft, but also a bit caramelized, which makes it taste so much better.

After a few minutes in the oven, the squash is ready to become spaghetti. Its as easy as dragging a fork across the surface. The flesh should be soft so that this doesn’t not require a lot of effort. If it does, pop it back in the oven or microwave until it’s soft.

Ok, while the spaghetti squash was roasting, I worked on all the other components of the lasagna. First up, the meat sauce. I seasoned some ground beef with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic. Then I added in some whole tomatoes, which I smashed down into a sauce.

The next component is the ricotta cheese. Or in this case, nut cheese. Did I mention this was Paleo?

Don’t worry, you won’t miss the cheese. Nut cheese is surprisingly delicious and super flavorful. I love it because you still get that salty, savory, creaminess you would get from normal cheese.

Nut cheese is also pretty easy to prepare. I basically blend up some soaked cashews with a bit of oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper until its just short of cashew butter. It should still have a bit of texture, but not chunky.

Finally, it’s time to assemble. I like to spread the nut cheese over the top of the spaghetti squash. You will probably pull up some of the noodles, but it’s okay – it doesn’t have to be pretty. I then top all of it with a generous helping of meat sauce.

Now if you wanted to be a rebel and use real cheese, this would be where you swap in the ricotta and top this off with some mozzarella cheese. It won’t be Paleo, but it will still be a heck of a lot more healthy than your classic lasagna.

After another quick bake in the oven so that all the components get nice friendly with one another, this Paleo spaghetti squash lasagna is ready to eat! Since everything was basically pre-portioned in the spaghetti squash itself, there is no messy cutting and serving of the lasagna. You know what I’m talking about.

So the first few bites of this spaghetti squash lasagna are good and all, but when you get into the center where all that nut cheese is, it gets really good. The creamy savory-ness of that nut cheese just rounds out the whole thing, making you forget that there really is no cheese in this entire dish!

Can you tell I love this recipe? That’s probably why I make it whenever I’m looking for something healthy, but comforting all at the same time!

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Zucchini Lasagna

July 11, 2016

After a weekend of eating like crap, the first thing I cut out of my diet is processed carbs, like bread and pasta. That is, of course, until the next weekend when apparently all carbs are back on the table. Fortunately this little diet roller coaster has made me somewhat of an expert at making my favorite dishes without those pesky carbs, like this zucchini lasagna.

This healthy zucchini lasagna has quickly become one of our favorite dinners. To me, is tastes exactly like a classic lasagna, but better because I know I am not eating all that pasta along with it.

I will say, though, that cooking with zucchini can be a little tricky. If not prepared right, zucchini can get really soggy and mushy once it’s cooked. So for this particular dish, I sliced the zucchini really thinly on a mandolin. Then I laid all the slices out on paper towels and sprinkled then with salt to draw out all the moisture.

While the zucchini was doing its thing, I prepared the rest of the ingredients for the lasagna, including the meat sauce. I made the meat sauce with ground turkey and my classic pasta sauce.

To assemble, I could have layered everything in a casserole dish like you would normally make a lasagna. But for this zucchini lasagna I baked it in this mini loaf pan which makes it so much easier to portion out and serve.

I started by spooning a little bit of the sauce down at the bottom of the pan, then topped it with strips of the zucchini. On top of the zucchini, I spread on a bit of ricotta and sprinkled on some mozzarella cheese. After that, I just repeated all those steps, starting with the sauce. I ended with a layer of sauce, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

Once everything has baked together, and the cheese has melted over the sauce, and the sauce has soaked into the zucchini, I can barely tell that I am eating a healthy version of lasagna. It’s packed with all the same flavors and textures of a classic lasagna.

I can honestly say that I would prefer this lasagna over the pasta filled version. Not only does it taste just as good, but it doesn’t have all that guilt. This is one of my husband’s favorite meals that I make. Not just one of his favorite healthy meals. Favorite meals. That’s saying a lot.

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Paleo Lasagna

January 29, 2016

Paleo-Lasagna-3-Title

For any of you who have tried the Whole 30 or have done any diet for any length of time know that nothing can truly replace those classic comfort foods. You can replace butter with coconut oil, spaghetti with spaghetti squash, and beef with turkey, but those altered dishes will never live up to their original.

This Paleo lasagna may be as close to an exception as you can get. Of course I missed the cheese. I mean, who wouldn’t!? But it was totally satisfying and as comforting as your classic lasagna.

I have made Paleo “lasagna” type dishes before, but what sets this one apart is the faux ricotta cheese. The ricotta “cheese” is made from cashews and was much easier (and better) than I anticipated. I found the recipe in the Against All Grain cookbook I have been turning to a lot the past month. Her recipe says to soak the nuts overnight, then process with some salt and lemon juice. I didn’t plan ahead, so instead I boiled the nuts while I prepped the rest of the meal, then processed them. Boiling helped soften the nuts in a lot less time and I think it turned out just as well as if I had soaked them all night.

Paleo Lasagna-1

The classic lasagna noodles were substituted by slices of zucchini, which I sliced 1/4″ thin with a mandolin, blanched in boiling water, and then let drain on some paper towels. The result was almost like having pasta noodles, just with a slightly different flavor.

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Of course, since this is a Paleo lasagna, there is no salty, gooey, and crunchy cheese topping. There is no Paleo alternative that can truly replace cheese (I don’t care what anyone tells you!). But there is something you can do to get that salty crunch you might get from Parmesan cheese.

To get some sort of crunchy topping, I mixed together almond meal, ghee, salt, and garlic powder to form a paste like consistency. Then I sprinkled small dollops all over the top of the sauce.

Paleo Lasagna-4

The end result is something that is so much more than passable for lasagna. It was delicious! My husband cleaned his plate and I had coworkers asking me what I was eating at lunch the next day because it looked and smelled so good.

I would definitely make this version of lasagna even after the Whole 30 is over because it is so filling and satisfying without making you feel bad for eating all those carbs and cheese!

I hope you give this recipe a try! Definitely let me know if you have any good tricks or tips for making a Paleo lasagna.

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Lasagna Cups

August 13, 2014

My husband and I love lasagna but we rarely make it because it is so time consuming. The assembly is only one part of it, but the baking seems to take forever, especially when you are hungry. Even a store bought frozen lasagna takes time to thaw and then cook.

But not these little lasagna cups. Sure, they still need to be assembled, but they take half (or less) time to cook. Which to me is important when I am making dinner after work and I don’t have a lot of time or patience.

I start with wonton wrappers, forming two of them into a cupcake tin. Then I spoon in some marinara sauce (I just made up a quick sauce, but store bought would work perfectly), top with cooked ground turkey, then some ricotta, more marinara, and finish them off with mozzarella cheese.

The beauty is that you can really make any kind of lasagna recipe using this method. Instead of turkey, you could use beef. Or if you prefer an all veggie lasagna, you could substitute in zucchini, cauliflower, or the vegetable of your choice. It can be as basic or as complicated as you like!

After baking for only 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the wontons are golden brown, I let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing just in case they feel the need to fall apart.

Then we just served them along side some veggies and dug right in. My husband didn’t even feel the need to use a fork. He kept referring to them as “meat cupcakes”, and since you don’t need a fork for a regular cupcake, you don’t need a fork for a meat cupcake (obviously).

What is your favorite lasagna recipe?

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