Lite Eggplant Lasagna with Spinach

There's nothing more comforting than lasagna, but for the longest time, I avoided making it because I assumed it would be a huge pain in the butt. However, I can now confirm that it's actually super simple, even if you choose to go the extra mile and substitute eggplant for pasta.

I know, I know; it's hard to imagine lasagna without the carb-y goodness that is pasta, but using eggplant actually has a ton of upsides that won't leave you missing pasta in the slightest. First, and most obviously, it reduces the calorie count by a sh*t ton, which allows you indulge in all the cheese that this dish involves without worrying about consuming an entire day's worth of calories in a single meal. Second, the firmer texture of the eggplant gives the dish a heartier bite that serves as a nice contrast to the creamy layers of cheese.

To make this dish even heartier, you can add cooked ground beef or ground turkey to the tomato sauce . This would definitely take it to the next level for all my fellow non-vegetarians out there. As with all my recipes, this one is very flexible. If you really love ricotta, add more ricotta. Or if you really love spinach, add more spinach. That's the beauty of cooking, you can really tweak anything to your liking.

Lite Eggplant Lasagna with Spinach

Serves 2-3 (or if you're me, just 1)

Ingredients

• 1 medium/large eggplant (it's always better to end up with too much eggplant and not use it all than to not have enough)

• Salt

• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 2-2.5 cups spinach

• 1/2 cup ricotta (I use skim ricotta)

• 1/2 egg

• 1/4 cup parmesan

• Around 4 oz of fresh mozzarella

• 1 cup of your favorite tomato sauce (I use Prego)

• 1 tbs basil (chopped)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.

• Slice the eggplant vertically into 1/4 inch slices and lay them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle them with salt and bake for 10 minutes. This eliminates their excess moisture.

• Meanwhile, sauté the spinach in a nonstick pan with the garlic. I add a tiny bit of water to keep the spinach from sticking or getting too dry, but feel free to use olive oil. Once the spinach is wilted, remove it and the garlic from the heat.

• In a bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, cooked spinach, and 1/2 of the parmesan, saving the rest of it for topping later.

• Once the eggplant is done roasting, you can begin to layer the lasagna in a baking dish. Depending on what size dish you use, it will determine how many layers your lasagna will have. Deeper dishes with smaller dimensions will allow for a taller lasagna with more layers, while dishes with longer dimensions will do the opposite. The dish I used that can be seen in these photos only allowed for 2 full layers, so next time I would likely use a smaller, deeper dish.

• To begin with, spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Then lay down slices of eggplant to cover the pan (and yes it's okay for there to be gaps). Next, spread a layer of the cheese mixture over the eggplant, followed by thin pieces of the fresh mozzarella (a little goes a long way with this, so don't be alarmed by the mozzarella looking really spread out). Then top with another thin layer of sauce and repeat this process until the ingredients are used up. Once you've reached the top layer of mozzarella, sprinkle the remaining parmesan from earlier and top with a small amount of the remaining sauce.

• Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30-35 mins.

• Remove the foil, sprinkle the chopped basil on the top, and broil the dish for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese has browned.

• Let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting and enjoy!