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

Ingredients

• 2 large eggplants, peeled, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch noodle-like strips
• cooking spray (olive oil spray is best)
• salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 lbs turkey breast or 1 1/2 lbs 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 1 cup 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)
• 2 cups low-fat ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 3 cups shredded lowfat mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray cookie sheet, arrange eggplant slices and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook slices 5 minutes on each side.
4. Lower oven temp to 375.
5. Brown meat, onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes.
6. Add red pepper and mushrooms, and cook 5 minutes.
7. Add spinach, tomatoes, tomato sauce, spices and wine and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
8. Blend ricotta, egg and Green onion.
9. Blend together Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese.
10. Spread 1/3 of meat sauce in bottom of 9” x 13” glass pan.
11. Layer ½ eggplant slices
12. Dollop and Spread ½ ricotta
13. Layer 1/3 mozzarella/parmesan mixture.
14. REPEAT
15. Add last layer of sauce, then mozzarella/parmesan mixture on top.
16. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.
17. Remove foil and bake or broil another 5-10 minutes until cheese is browned.
18. Let it rest 10 minutes before slicing, if you can wait that long!