Like Garfield, I loves my lasagna! Unfortunately since my lapband surgery I do not handle pasta very well. Actually that’s a blessing since pasta is one of the dishes that I overate for many years. My workplace has a farmer’s market several days a week where local farmers bring in produce and fruit to sell. Earlier this week there were some beautiful eggplants. I bought two and was planning on making eggplant Parmesan.

Tonight on my way home I decided to try something different than the regular eggplant Parmesan. I decided to use the eggplant like lasagna noodles and add some lean ground turkey breast to make a healthier version of classic meat lasagna. The finished dish turned out very good and really resembled lasagna. This is a good recipe variation that is higher in protein and lower in fat and carbs. I used eggplant as the substitution for noodles. I think zucchini or summer squash could also be substituted for the noodles with very similar results. I used my favorite marinara sauce recipe for the pasta sauce.

Lost my Noodles Lasagna

2 medium eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 pound lean ground turkey breast
1 cup of white flour
1/2 cup of EggBeaters
1 cup of seasoned bread crumbs
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cups of prepared marinara sauce
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 350.

Peel the eggplant and cut into rounds approximately 3/8” thick. Place on a paper towel and lightly salt. This will remove some of the moisture.

Brown the ground turkey breast with the minced onion and garlic.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Roll eggplant rings in flour until well coated. Dust off excess. Dip eggplant slices in egg and milk mixture. Roll in season bread crumbs. Brown the eggplant in the skillet for approximately 2-3 minutes per side until they are nicely browned. Set aside rounds as you prepare the remaining rounds in batches.

Assemble the lasagna: Spray a 11” X 7” baking dish with non-stick spray. Cover the bottom with 1/2 cup of pasta sauce. Add a layer of eggplant rounds. Add 1/3 of the browned ground turkey. Ladle 1/3 of the remaining pasta sauce over turkey. Top with basil. Sprinkle 1/3 of mozzarella cheese on top and dust with Parmesan cheese. Repeat this layering more 2 times.

Make an aluminum foil tent and place over the casserole. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil tent and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Makes 6 generous servings.