Monday, March 12, 2007

Turkey and Mushroom Lasagna


I've made lasagna a number of times, but I never bothered to write down how I made it. Various dishes, with which I am comfortable making, I don't make the same exact way twice. Alas, last night, I made ground turkey and mushroom lasagna for my husband's birthday dinner, per his request. It was such a hit that each one of us (four) went back for seconds. I had a third helping (the last piece) before the night was over. Not a bite of lasagna was left over. Everyone kept moaning throughout the meal, the lasagna was so good.

Turkey & Mushroom Lasagna

serves 4-8 (in our case last night, it served four people; we all went back for seconds).

Ingredients:
one package of mushrooms.
one package of ground turkey (approx. 1 pound).
a few cloves of garlic.
1 2/3 containers (16 oz. per container) of cottage cheese - I used organic.
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese.
1 package of Mexican blended cheese.
lasagna noodles - eight pieces.
2 2/3 jars (26 oz. per jar) of pasta sauce.
1 cup of water.

In a pan, stirfry the ground turkey on medium heat on the stove until no longer pink. Once the turkey is cooked, add in the mushrooms, a cup of water, and pasta sauce. After all the contents are boiling, add the garlic, minced or cut in chunks.

Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan (preferably made of stone; it makes a HUGE difference in taste of the final product; I love all of my Pampered Chef stoneware with roughly 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the pasta sauce. If you're not using stoneware, spray the dish with cooking spray. Then place 3 to 4 lasagna noodles over the bottom, slightly overlapping. Spread at half to a container of cottage cheese and a generous portion of the mozzarella cheese and Mexican blended cheese over the nooldes and cover with half of the meat sauce. Repeat the layers once. Layer the very top with some shredded cheese.

Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes total, at 375 degrees (make sure to preheat the oven to 375 before putting in the lasagna), uncovered. In the last 15 minutes of baking the lasagna, add shredded mozzarella cheese, covering the top with it.

NOTE: Thanks to Manda for the following tip. You do NOT have to boil the lasagna noodles ahead of time, and there's no need to buy special "no boil" noodles. That's just a gimmick to get you to spend more money. Just add a cup to a cup and a half of water to the pasta sauce. The lasagna does not take longer to cook if you don't boil the noodles first.

1 comment:

Manda said...

YUM it was so good I'm hungry and reading this makes me want it again!