EBD Recipe: Lasagna

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1-4 hours (8-10 hours if using slow cooker)

Special Equipment: none

Ingredients

• 3 pounds ground beef
• 1 tablespoon butter (or fat from beef if you are using grass fed meat)
• 3 onions
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup red wine
• 5 small tomatoes chopped or 3 large
• 2 carrots finely chopped, about ½ cup
• 2 celery ribs finely chopped, about ½ cup
• 2, 8 ounce packages of mushrooms, sliced
• 2, 29 ounce jars tomato sauce
• ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ½ cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2, 454g containers cottage cheese (highest fat content you can find)
• 4 cups raw mozzarella cheese grated
• 1 cup raw parmesan cheese
• 1 large spaghetti squash

 Steps

1. Cook ground beef until brown and place in slow cooker.
2. Leave some fat in the pan or melt butter.
3. Add red onions and cook until translucent, adding garlic in at the last minute of cooking.
4. Pour red wine in pan with onions and scrape off any bits stuck to bottom. Increase heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally until wine is completely absorbed into the onions. Add to slow cooker.
5. Add tomatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms, tomato sauce and cayenne pepper.Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
6. In the meantime, cook the spaghetti squash. Then proceed to layering the lasagna.

*You can use a soup pot instead of the slow cooker. Cook the onions first and then add the beef. Cook the meat sauce for 1-4 hours over low heat.

Spaghetti Squash

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. Cut lengthwise and remove seeds.
3. Bake cut side down until the skin is tender, about 40 minutes.
4. Using a fork, pull the spaghetti squash away from the skins (it will come out like spaghetti).

Layering the Lasagna

1. Add fresh parsley and basil to meat sauce.
2. In a baking dish evenly spread out half of the spaghetti squash.
3. Using a slotted spoon add half of the meat sauce.
4. Evenly spread one container of cottage cheese over meat.
5. Top with ½ of the mozzarella cheese.
6. Repeat steps 1-3. Sprinkle a small amount of Parmesan on top.
7. Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes. Broil for a few minutes at the end to brown the cheese.
8. Using a baster, remove the juices from the lasagna. Cool for 10 minutes and serve.

Yields 8 servings

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