Low-carb Lasagna

With my sister’s wedding coming up in just a few weeks, I’ve been trying to cut out a lot of the carbs from my diet. Eating fewer carbs has been surprisingly easy. Coming up with family-friendly meals that are low in carbs has been more difficult. I’ve been eating a lot of stir fry without rice, tacos without shells, and salad.

I saw a Vegetable Lasagna Throwdown a while back and Bobby Flay’s competitors used fried zucchini instead of noodles in their lasagna. I decided to try my own zucchini lasagna, but to make it a little healthier I oven roasted the zucchini.  It turned out really well; I didn’t even miss the pasta. Even Josue, who’s more of a carb lover than a veggie lover, enjoyed it.

Low-carb Lasagna

• 3 large zucchini
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 pound mushrooms (optional)
• 1 pound turkey sausage
• 15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Marinara sauce
• 8 ounces shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into 1/8 inch thick slices. Place the slices on baking sheets, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Roast the zucchini until it’s tender, 15-20 minutes. Slice the mushrooms and saute them in a large skillet over high heat in a little bit of olive oil. (Pre-cooking the mushrooms will prevent them from giving off water inside the lasagna.) Cook the mushrooms until they’re browned. Remove them from the pan and use the skillet to brown the turkey sausage. In a small bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, the egg, the herbs, the black pepper and the Parmesan cheese together.

To assemble the lasagna, coat the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan with a thin layer of the marinara sauce. Cover the marina with a third of the zucchini “noodles.” Spread half of the ricotta over the zucchini, cover with half of the turkey sausage, half of the mushrooms and cover with marinara sauce. Repeat this process with a second layer. Finish with a layer of zucchini covered with marinara and topped with mozzarella. Bake the lasagna until it’s heated through and the cheese is browned, about 30 minutes. Allow the lasagna to stand for 15 minutes before serving to give it time to set up.