Health-Concious Lasagne **

I am currently doing Weight Watchers, so I am always looking for ways to make the dishes I like to eat work for my diet (and still have my family eat it). Yesterday we were having the missionaries over for dinner, so I made lasagne (I had to make something I could prepare ahead of time and then just put in the oven). I learned how to put this lasagna together from my college roommate Ali (not really a recipe) and I usually load it with cheese and sauce and don't really pay attention to quantities, but since I am watching my points, I really paid attention to quantities this time (and so I could post the recipe for all of you). Here it is:



1 package whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1/2 onion - chopped
1 clove of garlic - finely chopped
1 jar 4 cheese pasta sauce (HEB in Texas has a really good 4 cheese pasta sauce)
1 15 oz. container of fat-free ricotta cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
(optional) 1/2 can of pitted black olives sliced
(optional) sliced mushrooms


Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions (you might be able to just put the uncooked noodles in and they will soften while it is baking, but I have never tried it with whole wheat noodles, so I don't know if that will work). Drain, rinse and set aside. Brown ground beef with with chopped onions and garlic. In the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, spread a thin layer of pasta sauce, then layer four lasagna noodles. Next spread half of the container of ricotta cheese on the noodles. Put half of the ground beef mixture on top of that. Then put half of the remaining sauce on top of that. Put about half of the parmesan cheese on the sauce, then about half of the mozzarella cheese on top of that. Then layer four lasagna noodles on top of the cheese. Repeat all of the layering reserving about 1/3 cup of mozzarella cheese and a Tablespoon of parmesan cheese for the top. On top of the last layer of noodles put the remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheese and also the 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese. I usually add sliced olives to the top, but didn't have time yesterday. You can also add sliced mushrooms to the top (I just don't like them so I usually don't add them).


Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for about an hour (until sauce is bubbling and cheese on top is melted).


I would usually give my lasagna 3 stars, but I usually put more cheese and sauce in and don't use fat-free ricotta cheese, so I would give this version just 2 stars. If you don't care about points, add more cheese and sauce.

I served it with a green salad full of lots of different veggies and garlic bread and fruit.


(For those of you who are curious, I calculated it to have about 11 points per serving if it is divided into 8 servings--so a smaller serving would be fewer points).