Making a Healthier Lasagna

I love lasagna but I wanted to make a recipe that was “healthier” than traditional lasagna. Lasagna at a well-known Italian restaurant chain can easily be 850 to 1170 calories, 47 to 68 grams of total fat, 25 to 39 grams of saturated fat, and 1830 to 2830 milligrams of sodium for just one serving! Ugh!

So, I began with browning ground turkey, 93% lean which was available in my market for $3.99 a pound. To this I added chopped onion and seasonings. Then I added the zucchini and yellow summer squash and frozen broccoli (you can use fresh broccoli instead, if you prefer). I cooked this mixture on top of the range for several minutes.

Instead of ricotta cheese that can be loaded with fat and sodium, I decided to try a mixture of 1% cottage cheese that comes as “no salt added” and has only 75 mg of sodium per serving and farmer’s cheese, which was also no salt added. You have to look hard in the supermarket for the no salt added cheeses. You probably have to go to the larger supermarkets that offer a greater selection of cheeses.



I don’t like the fuss of lasagna noodles that you have to boil in a big pot of water. I always make lasagna now with the “no boil” style of lasagna noodles.

Assembly is like any lasagna, rows of sauce, noodles, more sauce, cheese and then gets repeated for several layers. With the no boil lasagna noodles, I’ve learned over the years that you have to be sure to spread the sauce evenly over the noodles because the dry noodles take the moisture from the sauce to rehydrate. You don’t want to leave parts of the dry noodles exposed without sauce.

And, here is the final product. A tasty, hearty lasagna with a lot fewer calories, sodium, and saturated fat. One serving (1/9^th of a 9x13-inch baking dish) provides only 325 calories, 8.9 grams of total fat, 3.7 grams of saturated fat, and 350 milligrams of sodium.

Click here for the complete Turkey & Vegetable Lasagna Recipe.

Farmer’s Markets A Great Place to Shop

I went food shopping yesterday at a farmer’s market that is unusual in that it is open year round and has an actual permanent storefront location. It features regional produce, but also displays many non-perishable foods, especially ethnic foods from many regions of the world.

I spent $11.30 and got the following fresh produce items:

8 oz. baby portabella mushrooms

3 bunches of scallions

2 large heads of broccoli crowns

4 plum tomatoes

2 bell peppers, one green and one yellow

4 avocados

2 bunches of cilantro

4 lbs of bananas

Right now I have garden fresh lettuces (romaine, red leaf, and others) growing in my backyard. So I can make a hearty vegetable salad every day for a week with the items I purchased at the farmer’s market combined with my homegrown lettuces.

I can enjoy bananas as a snack or in cereal or on whole grain toast. Of course, you could also make some guacamole with the avocados, green onions, plum tomatoes. I would just add a fresh chopped jalapeno pepper, some lime or lemon juice and seasonings. One of my favorite seasonings currently is ground chipotle pepper. It adds pizzazz to many dishes.

Fresh Strawberry Pie Helps Celebrate Spring

For our Easter Sunday meal I wanted to create an impressive looking, but healthy dessert. With strawberries on sale for $2.00 per pound, I decided that I had to do something with them. I subscribe to Cook’s Illustrated magazine and enjoy reading the research and strategies they employ for each recipe. Their May/June issue featured a fresh strawberry pie. 

Well, I rarely follow any recipe exactly. I love to make a recipe my own. Sometimes I want to vary the recipe to make it healthier. In the case of the strawberry pie, I wanted to improve upon the crust instead of using a “traditional” pie crust. A traditional pie crust of flour, butter or vegetable shortening, and water may have 7 grams of total fat for 1/8 of the crust. If you use the already prepared pie crusts, watch out. They use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. The already prepared refrigerated pie crust where all you do is press it into a pie plate has 2.5 g of trans fat for 1/8 serving. Ouch!

I figured I could reduce the fat and especially the saturated fat by making a cookie crust. However, almost all of the boxes of graham crackers I looked at contained partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. I found that if I went to the organic/natural foods section of the store, I could find graham cracker bears and gingersnap cookies that had no partially hydrogenated fats. They cost a bit more, but I decided it was worth the added expense in this case.

So, I made my graham cracker crust on Saturday and froze it overnight.

I made the rest of the pie on Sunday. The recipe has you puree about 1/4 of the strawberries and cook it on the range top with pectin, sugar substitute, cornstarch and a little salt to thicken it.

Then you remove the gel and add gently fold in all of the remaining fresh strawberries. The pie turned out fabulous. It was impressive and healthy.

I suggest topping it with 1-1/2 tablespoons of nonfat honey vanilla yogurt.

One-eighth of the pie makes a serving and provides 214 calories, 5.5 g total fat, 0.4 g of saturated fat, and 4.5 g of dietary fiber. Because this pie is primarily strawberries, which are rich in vitamin C, you can meet 100% of the Daily Value for vitamin C with just 1 serving of this pie.

Here's the link to the full recipe. http://nutritionbudgeteer.com/strawberrypierecipe.aspx

 

Enjoy.

Don't Avoid Nutrition Labels on Indulgent Items

The results of two Harris Interactive surveys taken in the United Kingdom were revealed last week at the annual conference of the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate, and Confectionery trade group. It is no surprise to me that people don’t look at Nutrition Fact labels for indulgence items, such as cakes, sweets, and chocolates. The surveys found that while 70% of women and 63% of men will look at labels for cereal boxes, only 11% read labels for confections and sweets, 54% for cakes, and 52% for pizza.

My personal philosophy is to eat right 90% of the time and allow indulgences 10% of the time. Any when you indulge, do so with some responsibility. This means, read the Nutrition Facts panel and the ingredient statement. Try to avoid trans fats and limit saturated fats. Share your indulgence with a family member or friend so you eat a smaller portion. Eat it slowly, really taste it, and enjoy.

new website launched

Today I launched a new website, http://www.nutritionbudgeteer.com/ designed to help address the comment, "It costs too much to eat healthy." This new website, for people at any income, offers tips and strategies for every aisle of the supermarket. And, many times, the supermarket isn't the best place to get the best buy on certain foods. For example, a national drug store chain offers one of the best prices on a gallon of milk.

I'd love to hear your comments about the site, good and not so good. What kind of information would be helpful to you?