Turkey Spinach Lasagna

     With all of the desserts and the feel-good southern food I post I'm sure some of you are wondering "how do her and her husband not weigh over 500 pounds!" Well, Adam and I like to eat healthy during the week and we splurge on the weekends. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, we eat by these rules. During college I thought "healthy cooking" meant a turkey sandwich. Well that's no fun. But after realizing I should focus more on what I am eating (vegetables, types of fats, protein, carbs), finding healthy recipes to cook became more fun. Every Sunday I sit down, pull out my grocery note pad (it's from RealSimple. Here is a link to it RealSimple Grocery Check List) and my laptop, and begin planning our menu for the week. This allows me to plan for healthy meals, and it also helps me save time and money at the grocery store because I have a plan. It saves me from walking through the isles, trying to decide what to cook, letting my mind pick out what looks good to me (normally not very healthy things). 

     One sunday while planning our weekly menu, I stumbled across a recipe for Turkey Spinach Lasagna on TastyKitchen.com. It looked scrumptious-- and really simple. Just the ticket for a great weeknight meal. I also thought it would be something good for Adam to pack for lunch. And it turned out to be all of those things! I have made it twice now and both times I have been very pleased with the results. Here is what you will need to make it:

Ground turkey, chopped onions, garlic, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese, oregano, basil, spinach, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, and lasagna noodles.

For the full list of ingredients with measurements click here: Turkey Spinach Lasagna Recipe.*

*The recipe calls for frozen spinach and that is what I used the first time I made this. But the second time I made this I used fresh spinach that I steamed in the microwave and I thought the taste was slightly better. But either will work! Also, the recipe calls for no-boil pasta noodles... I couldn't find them anywhere in the grocery store, so I just boiled regular lasagna noodles for about 10 minutes to soften them before layering my lasagna.

The first thing you need to do to make this lasagna is...

Brown the ground turkey in a large skillet with chopped onions, garlic, and a little bit of oil.

Cook until the meat is no longer pink!

Next add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and herbs.

I cheated and used a quarter of a jar of leftover spaghetti sauce I had in the refrigerator. I thought it added a lot to the sauce taste-wise.

Here are some add-ins of my own. I seasoned the sauce to my taste with garlic powder, Tony's, salt, and onion powder. Hey! I'm the one cooking it, and I can do what I want! 

After zhuuzhing it up how you like it, let it simmer for about 15 minutes. 

In a large bowl combine the cooked spinach, cottage cheese...

and I added a little flavor here too (garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, basil)...

... and a little cheese. Mix together and set aside. 

If you have no-bake pasta noodles then skip this step:

Boil regular pasta noodles in a quart of water with a glug of oil and a sprinkle of salt, for about 10 minutes. DO NOT boil them till they are mushy. This is very bad.

Cook's Note: I'm not sure if me using the regular pasta noodles that I boiled caused this, but my lasagna was a tad juicy when it first came out of the oven (yes I sampled it). But luckily Adam didn't get home for another hour so it had time to sit, which allowed all of the juices to be absorbed. It was perfect! -- but it needed an hour. The second time I made it I cooked it an hour ahead of time on purpose, and when we were ready to eat it was amazing once again! I would suggest you doing the same if you use regular noodles.

Now to assemble this puppy!

Gather your ingredients (sauce, spinach mixture, noodles, and shredded cheese) around a 9X13 casserole dish.

Ladle one-third of the sauce into the bottom of the pan, and then cover with three noodles.

Spread the spinach mixture over that...

and repeat until you have three layers of sauce and two layers of spinach. End with the sauce... does that make sense? I hope so.

Finally sprinkle it with cheese, and bake covered for an hour at 350 degrees. Then uncover and bake an additional ten minutes.

Before going in the oven...

... after being in the oven. Bubbly, yummy, cheesy.

This is a definite keeper!

Thanks for reading today everybody! I hope you are having an amazing day! Try not to get too chilly in this nippy weather! Love y'all!