Monday 6 January 2014

Recipe: Butternut Squash & Feta Lasagne


Lately, I've tried to focus my attention less on losing weight and more on living healthily. I'm not going to deny that I hoped losing weight would come with living healthily, and that I do want to lose a bit more weight this year, but I think living your life by the number on the scales leads to obsession which generally doesn't lead to a healthy mindset.

I got super into cooking last year, and what I really mastered was yummy recipes that were packed full of goodness. Honestly, it is possible to have both. They generally involve cheese. I really really like cheese.

The recipe that I always get asked about though is my Butternut Squash Lasagne. I’ve posted the recipe at Where Are My Knees before but it’s always a hot topic in my Twitter Mentions when I make it. BECAUSE IT’S JUST THAT GOOD OKAY. It is though. Super tasty and involving two types of cheese, but also crazy good for you. It’s full of vegetables and superfoods like butternut squash and spinach, and a portion comes out at under 350 calories. Oh, and you can pretty much just use whatever veg you want in whatever quantities you fancy. So if, like me, you're still feeling rather poisoned after Christmas, but don’t want to eat lame gross food, eat this! I make it every couple of weeks and I’m still not sick of it because IT’S AMAZING. See, this is how I make being healthy not unbearable, by including things I like! And instead of doing horrible exercise like running, I'm focusing on fun things like zumba and dancing.

I’ve included the calories and Weight Watchers points but even if you’re not on a diet, you should still make this as it’s insanely tasty. Don't think of it as diet food - think of it as tasty food that happens to be good for you! Serves 4 to 6, depending on how hungry you are - I always go for 6. It's pretty filling though.


Butternut Squash & Feta Lasagne
6 x Dry Lasagne sheets 
125g Light Mozzarella 
200g Feta Cheese  
1 x can Low Fat Campbell's or Bachelor’s Condensed Mushroom Soup  
1 x Butternut Squash 
200g Spinach 
1 x Onion 
1 x Pepper 
6 x Portobello Mushrooms  
4 x Garlic Cloves 
Serves 6 / 8 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per portion

1 - Peel and chop up the butternut squash.
2 - This is harder than it sounds, but I found a great tip online to cut butternut squash more easily. Put it on a microwavable plate, pierce it all over a few times and microwave for 3 mins. It’s so much easier to cut and peel, yet not too hot to handle. It's often quite nice unpeeled, too!
3 - Chop up your mushrooms, onion and pepper into chunky chunks (or whatever veg you fancy) and put into your lasagne pan along with your chopped squash. Spray liberally with FryLight (or olive oil if you're not counting the calories). Sprinkle with dried rosemary, salt and pepper and chuck some crushed garlic on, too. Roast in a 200c oven for about 25mins.
4 - Wilt your spinach by popping it into a frying pan or wok along with a tiny bit of water. It'll cook faster with the lid on, but should only take about 5 minutes. It'll look like loads, but it reduces a lot.
5 - When your veg is cooked, you can assemble the lasagne - make sure you leave the oven on! You can assemble it any way you want, but this is how I did it:
6 - Put about half the veg into the bottom of your lasagne dish (if you cooked the squash in the same dish you’re doing the lasagne in, you’ll actually need to remove half of it here, obvs)


7 - Lay 3 lasagne sheets over that and then put all the spinach over them, making sure they are evenly spread and more or less cover the surface of the lasagne sheets.
8 - Chop up your feta and sprinkle the lot over the top of your spinach, then spoon the remainder of the roasted vegetables and squash over that.
9 - Cover with 3 lasagne sheets.
10 - Over them spoon the can of mushroom soup and make sure the lasagne sheets are all covered. You can actually use any white sauce here, but mushroom soup is really easy and low fat, and I love the flavour – I use it for sauces aaaall the time.
11 - Tear up your mozzarella and sprinkle over the lasagne sheets
12 - Pop your pan in the oven - heavy, ain't it - and cook for 20-30 mins at 200c.
13 - Get it out, serve it quickly, eat it all up. This also freezes really well! I recommend adding more cheese when you reheat it, because more cheese makes everything better.


If you’re reading this all like ‘Oh, this low fat cooking lark actually sounds pretty nice...’ IT TOTALLY IS. Well, the way I do it, which is by adding things like cheese and red wine. Anyway. You should check out my recipes on Where Are My Knees, because there are some super yummy ones on there. Check out this mushroom lasagne! It made my whole house smell of garlic butter!

PS - I updated my blog layout for the first time in three years! What do you think?
PPS - A few people have asked - my lasagne dish is from Le Creuset, I got it at TK Maxx!

~+~
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7 comments

  1. DAMMIT SARAH.

    Every time I think I've had my fill of this recipe... you go and do it again. Again, I am making this tomorrow in one massive batch. Love the new blog layout too!

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  2. I need to get myself some gluten free lasagna and give this ago it sounds soooo good

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  3. I've not long had my dinner and this is making me hungry again! I think I'll give this a bash later this week, thanks for the recipe!
    Love the new layout too :)

    PS; Cheese DOES make everything better, fact.
    Amii
    x

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  4. New layout looks great. :)
    I'm planning on cooking this for the boyfriend, along with the mushroom one as they both look bloody lush!!
    x

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  5. Oh my giddy aunt, this looks AMAZING!

    Maria xxx

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  6. mmmmm I'll have to try this, looks absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing!

    xx Angie| http://www.thefashionfuse.com/

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  7. This looks amazing! Now I just have to convince my boyfriend he wants to eat veggie lasagna!

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