Are you on a low carb diet and find yourself craving carb packed meals every now and again?
This is totally normal and the temptation can become too much after a while — we’ve been there and binged on Pizza or pasta and the results are not pretty! Having your belly blow up like a balloon afterwards does not make things any better.
Luckily, for those of you that crave the delicious, creamy and rich taste of lasagna, we now have a low-carb-friendly option that replaces those carb-packed lasagna sheets with sheets of something with almost zero calories — sheets of courgette, believe it or not!
The following recipe uses sheets of courgette rather than pasta and other substitutes to produce an incredibly healthy version of an Italian favourite, yet with the creaminess and hearty sensation that your usual lasagna will provide.
We love to see your versions of our recipes – share your photos and opinions of this low-carb lasagna recipe with us via Twitter (@TrainEatGain).
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Ingredients
Serves: 1
Macros: Calories 362 kcal, Protein 33g, Carbs 23g, Fat 15g
- 1 large courgette
- 100g lean beef mince meat
- 150g chopped tomatoes
- 30g onion
- 30g bell pepper
- 15g beetroot (adds colour and provides essential nutrients for brain functioning and blood flow)
- 1 finely chopped garlic clove
- 1 tsp oregano
- 30g low-fat cheese (we used cheddar)
For the healthy cheese sauce:
- 120ml semi-skimmed milk
- 60g natural cottage cheese
- 10g whole-wheat flour
By all means, choose your own vegetables and spices aren’t a necessity, we just believe they go well with the dish and add an extra Italian flavour.
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Costs
- To buy the ingredients: £8.49
- To make the recipe: £1.55. This means you’ll have leftovers from all bought ingredients.
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Method
- Chop the vegetables (minus the courgette) and the garlic and add with the mincemeat to a medium heat pan. Fry off until the mince is browned and the veg has had time to sweat down.
- Add in the chopped tomatoes and oregano and reduce to a low heat.
- With a peeler, peel the courgette into long thin strips at least an inch wide (this acts as the pasta) and prepare the low fat cheese by grating.
- In another pan on a low heat, combine the cottage cheese, milk and flour and stir continuously until the sauce has thickened.
- At this stage you may which to blitz the sauce in a blender to smoothen the cottage cheese, but this isn’t necessary.
- Pre-heat an oven to 180°C. In a dish suitable for lasanga and an oven you can now start to layer the ingredients. Start off with a layer of the mince, then the cheese sauce and grated cheese and then layers of courgette. Be sure to lay the courgette strips above each layer with no gaps. Repeat this technique for as many layers as you desire and finish off with a final layer of cheese sauce and cheese.
- Place the dish in the oven for around 20 minutes, then tuck in!
