Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Gluten Free Turkey Lasagna Recipe

awaygluten.com
I make this Lasagna for my large family gatherings. As I have mentioned before, I am the only gluten intolerant person in my family but they all enjoy this and don't know it gluten free. Here are my tricks.

Lasagna is notorious for being fattening so I have tweaked things slightly to shave off some of the calories. I use low fat cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese and I find there is no taste differences but the calorie difference is major. Although not quite as creamy, cottage cheese has a similar mild taste, fewer calories and less fat than ricotta cheese (81 calories and 1 gram of fat for low-fat cottage cheese vs. part-skim ricotta, which has 171 calories and 10 grams of fat). 

I did a review on DeBoles Gluten Free Rice Lasagna Noodles. I really enjoy them and have found they work the best. When using these noodles make sure they are completely covered in sauce. Any exposed edges will turn hard and crunchy. No-boil noodles expand during cooking it's best to slightly overlap them so they're not touching the sides of the dish and more likely to expand up the sides of the dish and become exposed

DeBoles rice lasagna noodlesIf you are accustom to making homemade tomato sauce then try making it a little on the thinner side so the noodles have extra liquid to soak up. I haven't delved into making sauce from scratch yet but I do like to tweak sauce right out of the jar. I listed the seasoning I use within the sauce but it's optional for your taste buds. All Ragu varieties are gluten free and Campbell's provides an updated List of Gluten Free Prego Sauce

I use Jennie-O 2lb package of ground turkey 85/15. This product is a little tricky for me to find sometimes. I like it because it has a bit more fat in it. It has 15% fat which is more than its leaner counterparts. The regular lean ground turkey has 7% fat but the extra lean has 1% fat. In a pinch I will use the lean 93/7 version but DO NOT use the extra lean 99/1 at all - - NEVER! The meat comes out too dry. You need the fat to pull the dish together. Remember there is less fat in ground turkey than ground beef so you are already saving calories with the one change. Also, any of the Jennie-O ground turkey products are gluten free. 

Total Time: 1 hr 50 min
Prep:          30 min
Cook:         60 - 75 min
Yield:         10-12 servings

Calories:     320

Ingredient 

2 Boxes Gluten Free Lasagna Noodles
2 lb       Ground Turkey
1 tsp     Salt
1 tsp     Granulated onion 
1 tsp     Granulated garlic
1 tsp     Cayenne pepper
1 tsp     Italian seasoning
1 tsp     Oregano
16 oz    Frozen Chopped Spinach
8 oz      Shredded Mozzarella
8 oz      Cottage Cheese
48 oz    Tomato Sauce (2 jars) 

Optional to add into Sauce
1 tsp   Granulated onion 
1 tsp   Granulated garlic 
½ tsp   Brown Sugar
1 tsp   Italian seasoning
1 tsp   Oregano 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
 


Thaw half of the bag of spinach and squeeze out all excessive moisture until it is dry, set aside in refrigerator.

In a sauté pan, add the ground turkey and seasonings. Cook meat for 14 to 16 minutes making sure to break any large lumps. The meat will be fully cooked when it no longer is pink in color. Stir in spinach and set aside.

Empty both jars of tomato sauce in a pot (don't throw away jars, put them aside for later) over a very low fire, add optional seasoning or season to taste. Remove from heat once it starts to bubble. Slowly add about 1/4 (12 oz) of the tomato sauce into the cooked ground turkey and stir. Don't add too much sauce. You should use just enough to cover the meat but do not saturate.

On the bottom of a 15 x 10-inch baking dish, spread the tomato sauce so the entire bottom is covered with sauce. Then arrange the pasta sheets side by side, slightly overlapping each other until the bottom of the baking dish is covered. 

Now evenly spread a layer of the meat sauce on top of the pasta then spread a layer of cottage cheese on top of the meat, lastly take a couple of handfuls of shredded Mozzarella and sprinkle all over the top.

If you see any exposed noodles cover with the tomato sauce. Then arrange another layer of pasta sheets and layer of the meat sauce and spread a layer of cottage cheese on top of the meat, then top off with a couple of handfuls of shredded Mozzarella sprinkle all over the top on top. Again, if you see any exposed noodles cover with the tomato sauce. Repeat layering process if necessary. 

Top off with the final layer of pasta sheets making sure to overlapping the edges. Completely cover the top with the remaining tomato sauce (set aside any extra sauce), sprinkle a couple of handfuls of the shredded Mozzarella cheese on top of the tomato sauce.

Cover with aluminum foil. Put on the middle rack of the oven. Bake until you can see bubbling inside the baking dish which will be about 50 - 60 minutes. Take out of oven and remove foil, the noodles may have curled up a bit. If so, get a spatula and press down to flatten the noodles to ensure that they are completely covered by the tomato sauce. It's alright to add additional sauce if needed to cover the noodles. Place aluminum back on baking dish and put back in oven for an additional 10 -30 minutes of baking.

Please Note:
If you find that you didn’t put enough sauce on the top before putting it in the oven, it may look dry at the 50 min check in. If that happens, add more sauce to the top layer. In the event that you are short on sauce, add a little water (about 3 tbsp) in each jar, twist on the top and shake to get all the residue sauce stuck inside the jar. Then combine it with whatever tomato sauce you have leftover in the pot. I know this sounds a bit wacky but this will save you from having a dry lasagna. Enjoy!

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