Prep time: 30 min
Bake temp: 350
Bake time: 30 min
What's in it:
- (3) Jennie-O hot Italian sausage links - casing removed (11 points)
- (1) onion (chopped), (1) package fresh of mushrooms: (0 points)
- (2) medium eggplants, sliced longways about 1 inch to resemble lasagna "noodles" (0 points)
- (1) 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and (1) 14.5 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes (0 points)
- 2 C of fresh spinach, chopped (0 points)
- 1 C of fat free cottage cheese (3 points)
- 1/2 C Light Ricotta (4 points)
- 1 & 1/4 C mozzarella cheese (13 points)
- 3 TBS of "sprinkle" parmesan cheese (3 points)
- 1/4 C of shredded parmesan cheese (4 points)
- 1 TBS Agave Nectar (1 point)
- 1 Egg (0 points)
- Seasoning: Fresh garlic (or garlic powder), salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, Italian seasoning, spray olive oil (PAM), red pepper flakes (0 points)
How to make it happen:
- Pre-heat oven to 350: salt & pepper sliced egg plant generously then spray with olive oil spray. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper facing down - bake for 10-15 min, flipping over 1/2 way
- In a large sauté pan, add roughly chopped spinach + fresh garlic and sauté for 3 min or until spinach is wilted - remove and set aside to cool
- Using the same large sauté pan add onion and mushrooms, cooking until soft
- Add uncased hot Italian turkey sausage, cooking until browned and season with garlic salt & pepper, remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside (discard the drained fat)
- Add crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted tomatoes, agave, fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning to a sauce pan, let simmer for 10 min (season to your discretion)
- While sauce is simmering, add cottage cheese, ricotta, "sprinkle" cheese, chopped sautéed spinach, 1 egg, 1 tsp of cinnamon, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to a mixing bowl - mixing with a fork to incorporate all ingredients
- Mix mozzarella & shredded parmesan on a separate plate
- Remove roasted eggplant and set aside
Now let's build this thing!
- in a glass baking dish ladle 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom of the dish
- add layer of roasted eggplant (i used about 6 pieces)
- top eggplant with sausage mixture
- top meat with ricotta mixture and 1/2 of the mozz/parm mix
- top ricotta mixture with sauce
- ^ repeat ^ (eggplant, sausage, ricotta, SAUCE, then top with the rest of the mozz/parm mix)
- Bake at 350 for 30 min or until the sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted
Slice into 8 pieces @ 5 points per slice
Side Note: Leave out the sausage to and add more spinach to make this vegetarian and reduce the points per serving. I served this with a salad with 1 point caesar dressing (Recipe here). This was a labor of love, but it was totally worth it - you (and your family) won't be disappointed!
