Perfect Lasagna

Been a while since I've updated the blog, but it has definitely not been a while since I've cooked!! I've made a whole lot of new recipes lately (big and small) and just need to find the time to post them.

The same day I grocery shopped to make salmon patties, I stocked up on the ingredients for lasagna. I've been wanting to try my hand at lasagna for a long time and now that I have Pyrex and some cooking confidence, it was time. I followed Rachael Ray's recipe for Kinda-Classic Lasagna and it came out great!

Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb. Cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 9 8-inch lasagna noodles (I used whole grain)
- 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 6 oz. low-fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
- salt and pepper

Directions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and half the mushrooms, season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with 1 tbsp oil and the remaining mushrooms.
- In the same skillet, heat the garlic over medium-low heat and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir 3/4 cup of the tomato sauce into the mushrooms, season with pepper.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 deg F. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- In a food processor, puree the cottage cheese, egg white, and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Season with pepper.
- Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish and spread 3/4 cup of the remaining tomato sauce in the bottom. Place 3 noodles on the sauce and spoon half the mushrooms on top; top with half the cottage cheese mixture. Top with a third of the mozzarella and repeat with another layer of noodles, the remaining mushrooms and cottage cheese mixture and another third of the mozzarella. Top with the remaining noodles and 1 cup of tomato sauce.
- Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove the foil and top with the remaining 2 tbsp Parmesan and the remaining mozzarella and bake until melted, about 5 minutes. Dollop with the remaining tomato sauce.

Lasagna in Steps... layer #1, pre-cooked, final yum!

The original recipe said it made 6 servings, but I cut it into 9 and froze half. This was awesome! So tasty straight out of the oven and the next day for lunch. It was a lot easier than I expected it to be and can't wait to try another lasagna, especially knowing their are no-boil noodles out there (I didn't use them this time, but they exist)! The recipe also came out to 6 PointsPlus/serving (9 servings), so definitely worthwhile! Mmm mmm. See below for the perfect slice and the most perfect bite!