Macaroni Lasagna

First of all, thank you for your sweet comments on yesterday’s post on why yesterday changed my life. It was so touching to see your words of encouragement, especially since some of you personally knew of my struggles during the past couple years and others of you feel like you’re in that "lost" period right now. You’ll get through it, and when you do, you can have an awesome first day of college, round two, like I did yesterday. Or wherever life leads you.

Anyway, as this week is back-to-school week for me, I spent some time this past Sunday preparing meals that we could enjoy for dinners and leftover lunches. Some meals, like the one you see here, made so much that we can easily save half for another round of meals in a month or so!

Initially this was going to be one of Ross’ favorite and most-requested  meals of all time: lasagna. Well, the dutiful wife that I am failed to take notice that I didn’t have lasagna noodles until after I already promised my main squeeze that his lasagna dreams would come true. Whoops. So I improvised with a pound of whole wheat elbow macaroni.

Just like your standard lasagna, this pasta bake still has layers, including a creamy ricotta layer.

Now, the meat sauce. The meat sauce! Oh man, I did myself proud with it. Except for one problem. I didn’t take a picture of it. foodbloggerfail. So, while I wax on about my beautiful meat sauce, you can gaze at the picture below after I already added the pasta to it.

Now, the meat sauce started with a pound of lean ground turkey (vegetarian friends, feel free to use crumbled tempeh!). I initially wanted to use an Italian-seasoned organic chicken sausage, but the lean ground turkey was leaner on both my waistline and my wallet. So, while the turkey was browning I added about two tablespoons of Italian themed seasonings (think salt, dried red bell pepper, dried onion, oregano, garlic powder, pepper, dried basil, etc.). Then, I let the meat simmer for fifteen minutes with a full jar of marinara and half a cup of red wine.

Please, for the love of Italian cooking, don’t leave out the wine! The sophistication it brings to the flavors creates a dark, sweet, depth to sauce – oh just trust me and throw half a glass in there!

Anyway, now we need to layer it. You might get dirty. Your counter may get dirty. I warned ya.

Dump (technical terms used here on Sound Eats) half your meat sauce and pasta mixture in the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan. Layer your ricotta mixture with mozzarella, oregano, and garlic powder sprinkled on top. Smooth the rest of your pasta mixture on top and cover the whole thing with more mozzarella, garlic powder and oregano.

Thirty minutes at 350-degrees plus a couple minutes under the broiler later…

Yum. Beautiful.

Even though this meal was full of healthier modifications, like the part-skim ricotta, fat-free mozzarella, whole wheat pasta, no extra sugar/ fat-added pasta sauce, and extra lean ground turkey, this still is a meal that’s a bit heavier on my stomach. So, serve yourself a smaller portion and feast on a simple spinach, tomato and balsamic salad.

Macaroni Lasagna (serves 239847298374 people…or a lot more than little ol’ me and the hubs)

Pasta Meat Sauce:

• 16 ounces whole wheat macaroni noodles
• 1 pound extra lean ground turkey
• 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning (you can use a pre-made blend or blend your own mix of Italian themed herbs)
• 1, 32-ounce jar of tomato sauce (I used light Ragu)
• 1/2 cup red wine (I used shiraz)

Boil the macaroni noodles until al dente, or with a slight bite/ slight chew to them. Meanwhile, brown your ground turkey with your seasonings. Once your turkey is browned, simmer with the wine and the tomato sauce for fifteen minutes over medium-low heat. Combine the meat sauce with your drained al dente pasta.

Ricotta Mixture and Cheeses

• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely chopped or grated
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Finely shredded mozzarella cheese (approx. 1 -1.5 cups, depending on how heavy-handed you are with the cheese)
• additional dried oregano and garlic powder to sprinkle over layers

Mix the ricotta, egg, parmesan and garlic powder.

Layer your dish with half of the pasta meat sauce mixture, then spread the ricotta mixture evenly overtop. Sprinkle a handful of mozzarella over the ricotta, then sprinkle oregano and garlic powder over the entire cheese layer. Layer the remaining pasta meat sauce and finish off with another handful (or two – again, your call!) of shredded mozzarella and oregano and garlic powder. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Kick your oven up to broil and broil the bake for one to two minutes — all broilers are different, so please be careful and watch it! — until your cheese on top is all bubbly and golden. Enjoy.