(Healthy) Lasagna

Note: for step-by-step photos and attempts at humor, see the related blog post.

First, we make the SAUCE.

Peel and chop your zucchini. Chop up that onion. Mince up that garlic. Sauté with a smidgeon of olive oil and some salt and pepper until the zucchini is tender and the onions are soft and kinda see-through.

Drop your sauteed veggies into a blender or food processor and whir away till you’ve got a mostly-fine puree.

Crack open your cans of tomato sauce and pour them into a pot. I like to sauté my veggies in the same pot I’m gonna cook the sauce in, just to save on dish-washing.

Add your zucchini puree. Stir together, and love how it all just turns bright red. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper till it tastes wonderful. Set the sauce aside to simmer.

On to the OTHER BITS.

Split the sausage casings for both turkey and pork. Drop the meat in a pan with a bit of olive oil (not much) and brown it up over medium-high heat. Be sure to cook thoroughly, because undercooked poultry and pork is no joke.

Boil up a big pot of very salty water. Once it’s boiling happily, add your dry lasagna noodles. Cook until they’re not quite done and still a little too firm (they’ll finish in the oven).

Mix the ricotta and about ¾ of the cottage cheese together in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, maybe a bit of oregano. Add or subtract cottage cheese according to your preference for the consistency of your cheese filling.

For the ASSEMBLY:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Grab a 9×13 pan and start layering in your ingredients. The layers should go into the pan in the following order:

Sauce
Noodles (overlapping and covering the entire pan)
Cheese
Sausage
Sauce
Noodles
Cheese
Sausage
Sauce
Noodles
Etc.

Keep going till you get almost to the top of your pan. For the last layer, finish up with noodles. Then cover the last layer of noodles entirely with sauce so they don’t dry out in the oven. Then cover the whole thing with all of the full-of-fat mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for at least 30 minutes, till it’s all melty and bubbly. Then pull it out of the oven and let it rest for at least 15 minutes. Don’t worry! It will not get cold. It’ll set up for easier slicing.

Cut into squares, serve, devour!