Makeover Lasagna with Two Sauces Recipe

Makeover Lasagna with Two Sauces Recipe photo by Taste of Home

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To start, our home economists reduced the total amount of meat in the recipe and replaced it with a healthier alternative-bulgur, a form of cracked wheat. This resulted in a thick "meaty" tomato sauce with less fat and more fiber. To lighten the cream cheese sauce, they used less butter and Parmesan cheese, replaced the milk with the fat-free variety and used reduced-fat cream cheese in place of the full-fat kind. Finally, they used three fewer lasagna noodles. The slimmed-down lasagna has 35% fewer calories, about 60% less fat, and half the saturated fat and cholesterol of the original. After just one taste, you won't even realize it has been lightened up.

This recipe is:

Healthy

Diabetic Friendly

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Makeover Lasagna with Two Sauces Recipe

Prep: 45 min. Bake: 1 hour + standing

Yield: 15 Servings

45 60 105

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
1/2 pound lean ground pork
1 cup finely chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup dry red wine or beef broth
4 cans (15 ounces each) tomato sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Dash paprika
2/3 cup bulgur
2 cups boiling water
12 uncooked lasagna noodles
CREAM CHEESE SAUCE:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups fat-free milk
1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, cubed
1/4 teaspoon each salt and ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

In a large nonstick skillet, cook meat, onion and garlic until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the wine or broth. Simmer, uncovered, until wine is almost completely reduced. Add tomato sauce and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Place bulgur in a bowl; add boiling water and let stand for 1 hour. Drain; set aside. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions; drain. In a saucepan, heat butter over medium heat until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat. In a bowl, whisk flour and milk until smooth; stir into butter. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low; add cream cheese and seasonings. Cook and stir until smooth. Stir bulgur into meat sauce.
In a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray, spread 1 cup meat sauce. Layer with 4 noodles, a third each cream cheese and meat sauces and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles, sauces and Parmesan cheese. (Pan will be full.) Cover and bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover; bake for 15 minutes. Let stand for 20 minutes before cutting. Yield: 15 servings.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving (1 piece) equals 334 calories, 13 g fat (7 g saturated fat), 50 mg cholesterol, 926 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 20 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 2 lean meat, 1 vegetable, 1 fat.

Originally published as Makeover Lasagna with Two Sauces in Light & Tasty August/September 2004, p23