Squash Lasagna: A Light Italian Recipe Perfect for Warm Summer Nights

During the late summer months who wants to be stuck in a hot kitchen making dinner? While cool and refreshing, salads, sandwiches and grilled meals only last so long before a little menu planning variety is needed. Here is one of my favorite recipes that limits time spent in the kitchen, is light and refreshing and still falls under the category of a home cooked meal. Squash lasagna is perfect for these warm weather months. All you have to do (once you’ve cooked the meat) is put it in the oven and go cool off by the swimming pool until it’s done.

Squash Lasagna:

Ingredients:

• No boil lasagna noodles (opt for the whole wheat variety)
• 1 jar pasta sauce (only need about half the jar)
• ¾ pound of ground beef (choose ground round for a leaner cut or turkey for a lean lasagna)
• 4 tablespoons Kraft Parmesan Cheese
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• Ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
• Cream cheese
• 2 large yellow squashes (finely sliced)
• Olive oil (for greasing the pan)

Directions:

• Cook the ground beef or turkey in a pan until meat is no longer pink. Add about 1 ½ cups of pasta sauce and the diced tomatoes (remember to drain the diced tomatoes before adding them or your lasagna will turn out watery). Allow meat sauce to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Next layer your lasagna in a casserole dish lightly greased with olive oil. I generally follow this pattern: 1 layer of noodles, one layer of ricotta cheese and cream cheese mixture (proportion of 1 tablespoon of cream cheese per 3 tablespoons of ricotta cheese); one layer of meat sauce, one layer of sliced squash, repeat. This pattern is flexible…play around with what your family likes best by adding extra cheese, noodles, meat sauce, or squash. Have fun with it and get your kids involved. It’s hard to mess up lasagna!
• Sprinkle the lasagna with a few tablespoons of Kraft Parmesan Cheese, cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil and place in a pre-heated oven on 350 degrees for 40 – 50 minutes. Allow to cool and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese to taste.

This recipe is the perfect combination of comfort food meets light and healthy so you won’t feel weighed down by a heavy meal. Pass the Parmesan cheese, please!

Bethany began writing lifestyle content for a web television company while in college. She has since written for a number of publications, events, and blogs. She is happily married to her prince charming and blogs about their life together at www.ForeverAfterBlog.com