"Light" Lasagna

I'd been craving a baked pasta dish and wanted something easy to prepare on Sunday to have Monday night. I found this lasagna recipe in our Favorite Brand Name Light Cooking book.

The recipe seemed easy enough and fairly different from other lasagna recipes. I have to give Nate all the credit for this--he spent about an hour putting it together Sunday night, as I was laying on the couch with back pain. He even took all the pictures!

Here's the recipe:

"Light Lasagna"

-1 teas. olive oil

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-2 cans (14 oz. each) no-salt-added Italian-style tomatoes, undrained (we didn't use the no-salt kind)

-1/2 teas. dried Italian seasoning (we used a mix of oregano and basil)

-8 oz. lean ground beef (we used about 12 oz. ground turkey)

-1 large onion, chopped

-8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

-2 zucchini, shredded

-8 oz. uncooked lasagna noodles

-1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese

-1 cup nonfat ricotta cheese (I used low-fat)

-1 cup (4 oz.) shredded mozzarella

-2 egg whites

-2 tbs. Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes and seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 20 to 25 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add beef and onion; cook and stir until beef is browned and onion is tender. Drain. Stir in mushrooms and zucchini; cook and stir 5 to 10 minutes or until tender.

Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt. Drain. Rinse under cold water; drain well. Combine cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and egg whites in medium bowl.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13x9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place layer of noodles in bottom of pan. Spread half of beef mixture over noodles. top with half of cheese mixture and noodles. Repeat layering process, ending with noodles. Pour tomato mixture over noodles. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover; bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake 10 to 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. (Makes 8 servings)

The lasagna was pretty tasty and a nice change from the super heavy and cheesy lasagna I'm used to. It was a bit watery, though--I'm not sure if that was from the zucchini or what. But all in all, it was quite good!