Friday, May 18, 2012

Leftovers Lasagna!

I absolutely ADORE fresh vegetables - I keep our fridge stocked with a variety of them at all times! They're so tasty and good for you, and add a gorgeous splash of color to your plate at meal time. I mean, how great does a piece of bright yellow corn on the cob look beside your chicken and whole grain rice? Or those deliciously orange carrots tossed into your mixed greens?


I'm salivating. I love veggies.


Sometimes I go a little (okay, a lot) crazy in my local Farm Boy and buy way more than my family's four mouths can eat in a few days .. So to avoid letting those veggies spoil, we like to come up with different ways to use them and freeze them. One of our favorite things to do is make a homemade tomato sauce and dice those extra veggies to throw into the mix, or even making a batch of soup (although now that it's summer, there's more soup in our freezer than there is in our meal plan!)


Today I used tons of different veggies to make a healthy veggie lasagna. I only used two layers of noodles (no need to have the extra carbs when you can use sliced zucchini to hold it all together!) and jarred light Ragu (it was a last-minute decision to make the lasagna, no time to defrost a tub of our homemade sauce!). Then I layered in the veggies: sliced cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, green peppers, and baby spinach. The veggies had so much flavor that I needed very little cheese: I did one layer of light ricotta cheese in the middle, and a layer of a light cheese mix (our favorite - Kraft low-fat tex mex shredded cheese) to go on top .. No lasagna should go without that golden cheesy topping.


Ten minutes of prep and 45 minutes of cooking made for an incredibly tasty and healthy meal, and it was all made from things I already had in the house.


Even though this lasagna was packed with veggies, I don't believe in serving a meal without a side of veggies (I'll blog about that another day!) so I paired it with a light Caesar salad (Dole makes the perfect kit!) .. What a great, summery meal. And for those following Weight Watchers - my entire plate costed me only eight points!!


I'm making two more lasagnas to freeze for another day. Perfect to throw in the oven when company is coming or when we just don't have the time to prepare a meal on one of those crazed days!


What are some of your favorite ways to use up what's on the verge of spoiling in your fridge? Share your tips!

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