My Life in Meals

Lasagna has a ton of ingredients and many different steps, so I am going to break this recipe down by component to make it easier. You can also replace the ground turkey with ground beef if you prefer!

For the turkey:

Ingredients:

• 1 (20 ounce) package ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 jalapenos diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, paste
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine turkey, with garlic paste, oregano, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Mix well with hands and set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add chopped garlic, jalapeno, and onion. Saute until light brown, approximately 5 minutes. Then start adding ground meat. Mix well.
4. Cook for approximately 10 minutes on medium heat, breaking down the meat into small chunks with the end of your spatula.

For the sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle store bought tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure:

1. On medium heat, saute chopped garlic in olive oil.
2. Add red wine and let reduce, approximately one minute.
3. Add tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil.
4. Let simmer on low approximately 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

For the ricotta mixture:

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) container fat-free ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper, to taste
  

For the pasta:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 9 packaged lasagna noodles 
• 1 teaspoon salt

Procedure:

1. Add salt, olive oil and lasagna noodles to a pot of boiling water.
2. Cook about 10 minutes on medium heat (or follow package instructions).
3. Drain water from lasagna noodles using a colander, and set aside to cool.

Now putting it all together………..

1. In a aluminum foil or oven safe glass pan, coat the bottom with a light layer of sauce.
2. Add 3 lasagna noodles on top of the sauce.
   
3. Spread ricotta cheese mixture across the noodles.
   
4. Top off the ricotta mixture with the ground turkey.
   
5. Repeat steps 1-4 two more times.
6. Top off with one last layer of sauce and one package shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese.
   
7. Bake on 350 degrees for 1 hour covered with aluminum foil. For a little additional browning and crispness, broil on high for 5 minutes uncovered (keep an eye on it however so it does not burn).