I Lost My Noodles! Low Carb/South Beach Eggplant Lasagna

Ingredients

Mock Noodles

• 2 large eggplants, peeled, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch noodle-like strips
• cooking spray (olive oil spray is best)
• salt and pepper

Meat Sauce

• 1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin or turkey breast or Italian sausage
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 (16 ounce) package sliced mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons italian seasoning (or mix of oregano, basil and thyme)
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed (optional)
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if you dare!) (optional)
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
• 1 cup red wine (optional) or vodka (optional)
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce (or large jar sugar free sauce if you can find it)
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes (for less sugar, 3 chopped roma tomatoes)

Cheese Mixture

• 2 cups low-fat ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 3 cups shredded lowfat mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Directions

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. 2

   Spray cookie sheet, arrange eggplant slices and season with salt and pepper.

3. 3

   Cook slices 5 minutes on each side.

4. 4

   Lower oven temp to 375.

5. 5

   Brown meat, onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes.

6. 6

   Add red pepper and mushrooms, and cook 5 minutes.

7. 7

   Add spinach, tomatoes, spices and wine and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

8. 8

   Blend ricotta, egg and onion mixture.

9. 9

   Spread 1/3 of meat sauce in bottom of 9” x 13” glass pan.

10. 10

    Layer ½ eggplant slices, ½ ricotta, 1/3 mozzarella and parmesan.

11. 11

    Repeat.

12. 12

    Add last layer of sauce, then mozzarella and parmesan on top.

13. 13

    Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.

14. 14

    Remove foil and bake or broil another 5-10 minutes until cheese is browned.

15. 15

    Let it rest 10 minutes before slicing, if you can wait that long!