Pasta has got to be one of my major weaknesses, but how does one make any type of pasta dish healthy? One of the instructors passed on a great healthy recipe and I was insipired by it. I've been going through this jicama [hee-kuh-muh] kick, for those of you who are scratching your heads thinking what is this so-called jicama she is talking about? Well it originates from South America, and it is a vegetable that you can eat raw or cooked. I personally like it raw it has this nice crunch like a potato chip, but has this unique taste between a carrot and a sweet apple. Back to my jicama kick, i've been eating it this entire week practically just plain as a snack, and a light bulb turned on and I thought I wonder how jicama would taste in a lasagna? Well, I put it together and surprisingly it turned out GREAT. Still iffy about it? Well I can tell you I had no left overs! Also this recipe meat/veggie sauce for this lasagna works just as well for a spaghetti sauce just use whole wheat or brown rice noodles or jicama! : )
Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey breast
1 jar of Sorrisos (tomato basil) any flavor tomato sauce or any other brand, I like Sorrisos, because it's low sodium/sugar/calories, and it's it made in Firth, Ne
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium sized Jicama (you can get this practically anywhere in the produce I know for sure any Asian grocery store it's cheaper there too)
2-3 bell peppers - diced (1 green, 1 yellow, 1 orange; you don't have to use what I used you can use all green or use red ones, it's whatever you like don't like it then don't use them!)1 yellow onion- diced
3 garlic cloves- minced
1.5 cups of sliced mushrooms
1 small (12 oz) container of 1% lowfat cottage cheese
optional -1.5 cups of spinach
Directions-
In sauce pan add 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, then add 3 minced garlic cloves till lightly brown, then brown your ground turkey breast and season (I used Mrs.Dash Onion & Herb and Garlic & Herb, and black ground pepper), then add tomato sauce, and your the rest of your vegetables minus the spinach that will be for layering later. Let that cook for about 10-15 minutes on low-medium heat, basically until your veggies are slightly cooked.
Jicama- cut in half, peel and then cut in 1/8 inch slices
In 9 x 13 baking pan spray with cooking spray layer the bottom with jicama until covered and then layer with your meat sauce, layer spinach (spinach is optional!) then spoonfuls of cottage cheese wherever , and layer again with jicama and repeat and end with jicama on top with cottage cheese and bake for 45 mins - 1 hour. I like my jicama kind of crunch so I let it bake for 45 minutes then cool for and serve. Note that it isn't like a normal lasagna where everything holds into place with the cheese and the lasagna noodles.
