Meat and Cheese Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound turkey Italian sausage
• 1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
• divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• divided
• 3 cloves garlic
• minced
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 (14-ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
• diced
• 1 cup chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh oregano leaves
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 12 medium button mushrooms (about 1 cup)
• store bought and pre-sliced (from produce aisle)
• 1 large zucchini
• chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 4 lasagna pasta noodles
• cooked al dente per directions on noodle box

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Remove the casing from turkey sausage and discard.
3. Heat a nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat.
4. Add the turkey sausage and brown until thoroughly cooked, about 1 1/2 minutes.
5. Drain and discard any grease in the pan.
6. Remove sausage from heat and add the ricotta and 1/2 cup mozzarella.
7. Stir until well blended.
8. Set aside.
9. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a small, non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat.
10. Add the garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and chopped basil and saute until the garlic just begins to soften, about 1 minute.
11. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
12. Remove from heat and set aside.
13. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat.
14. Add onion, oregano, parsley, and thyme and saute until onions are just soft, about 2 minutes.
15. Add the mushrooms and zucchini and continue sauteing until the vegetables are tender, about 2 minutes.
16. Remove from heat and add half of the tomato sauce to the sauteed vegetables.
17. To assemble, line the bottom of a lasagna pan (roughly 13 by 9 inches) with 1/4 of the tomato sauce.
18. Top with 2 lasagna noodles.
19. Then spread half of the sausage mixture on top of the pasta.
20. Cover the sausage layer with about half of the vegetable mixture.
21. Top the vegetable layer with the remaining sausage mixture.
22. Then top that layer with the remaining lasagna noodles and add the remaining tomato sauce over top.
23. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella.
24. Bake for 25 minutes.
25. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.