Hello my healthy meal planners!

This week, I’m spicing it up a little! I’m not just sharing with you a healthy recipe from my personal pantry—instead I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes peek at how I take a recipe and give it a Plante Life reboot.

There are so many small changes you can make to a recipe you see in a cookbook or on Pinterest that can have a big impact on the nutritional value of your meal. You just have to take the time to look at the ingredients and make some healthy ingredient swaps. And don’t worry if you’re not sure what those are! Next week, I’ll be giving you a quick guide to help you give any recipe your own healthy reboot.

So here’s how I put a traditional meat lasagna recipe under the microscope and created a whole new entree that is both better for you and still super yummy. Plus, I may have added a few delicious bonus recipes!

Quick note before we start: There are lots of variations you came make depending on your diet. I am going to transform this into a veggie-heavy, dairy-free, meat-free dish, but I add some Paleo tips too.

Here’s the ingredients that were included in the traditional meat lasagna recipe:

One or two boxes of lasagna noodles
2-3 pounds of lean ground meat
2 cans of Italian stewed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
Ricotta cheese or small curd cottage cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese (about two shredded large packages)
Garlic, minced
Salt and pepper

Right off the bat, my first thought is, “That’s a lot of cheese!” And not just that, but a lot of cow dairy, which is harder for your body to digest and much higher in fat.

So first, I’m taking this lasagna dairy-free and only using vegan nut-based cheese. If you don’t want to go that far, I recommend using a goat milk cheese instead of one from cow milk.

For this recipe reboot, I recommend a Basil-Cashew Cheese (see recipe below) or an almond ricotta, which you can get at the grocery. I like Kite Hill.

Basil-Cashew Cheese

INGREDIENTS

1 cup unsalted cashews
½ cup unsweetened almond milk
¼ cup fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
½ teaspoon sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak cashews in water for at least 30 minutes. Drain and rinse well.

2. Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth.

Done and done! You can even make a little extra to store in an airtight container in the fridge and use in other meals over the next few days.

—

If you’re a carnivore through and through, you can still keep meat in the dish, but make sure it’s pasture-raised or even better, opt for ground turkey, which is lower in fat and a delicious heart healthy option.

For the filling, if you want to use store-bought tomato sauce or paste, just make sure it’s organic with no added sugar or salt. You don’t even need to use tomato sauce; diced tomatoes are a fresher option. Either way, you can add your own better quality seasoning to taste.

Below is my recipe for an artichoke-tomato sauce that packs a punch of antioxidants and fiber, and adds another layer to the flavor.

Artichoke-Tomato Sauce

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
14.5-ounce can of no salt diced tomatoes
8-ounce can no salt, sugar free tomato sauce
1 cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add diced onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the onions are softened.

2. Add garlic and cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant.

3. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, artichoke hearts and basil leaves. Season with red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper.

4. Bring the sauce to a boil and then simmer on medium low for 10 minutes.

—

Pasta noodles in general are just not good for you, so at a bare minimum, swap those white flour, enriched classics for ones made from brown rice or quinoa. I personally wouldn’t use pasta noodles at all, and so instead, my recipe reboot contains zucchini slices, making this a delicious veggie lasagna packed with flavor and vitamins.

Zucchini Lasagna

INGREDIENTS

6 medium zucchinis
Basil-Cashew Cheese (see recipe below)
Artichoke-Tomato Sauce (see recipe below)
Coarse sea or kosher salt
Fresh basil, for garnish
Olive oil, for drizzling

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Slice each zucchini into ¼ – ⅛-inch thick slices. Don’t worry too much about getting this exact, but err on the side of making them too thin instead of too thick.

3. Sprinkle the kosher salt on both sides of the zucchini slices and let them sit on top of paper towels for 20 minutes to drain the water out. Squeeze as much water out of the zucchini slices as possible, otherwise you’ll have watery lasagne!

4. Spread a few tablespoons tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish. Lay one layer of zucchini slices side-by-side to cover bottom of the dish.

5. Top the slices with ½ cup tomato sauce and ¼ cup cheese. Add another layer of zucchini slices.

6. Repeat with the remaining ingredients, ending with a final layer of sauce and cheese. Garnish with more fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

7. Bake covered for 30 minutes and then bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until the top of the lasagna is golden brown. Let the lasagna sit for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

 —

NOTE: Let’s face it, sometimes you just need Parmesan cheese! So in keeping with the health tip here and not using dairy, here is an awesome Paleo and Vegan Parmesan Cheese Recipe!

Vegan Cashew Parmesan

(Makes about 3/4 cup)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small food processor, combine all of the ingredients and process until a crumbly texture is created. Feel free to adjust the flavor to your taste, then serve over your favorite dish.

2. Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a month.

—

So now that your pantry is stocked with new healthy recipes to try, I want to hear, and more importantly SEE, how it goes.  Post the pics of your Zucchini Lasagna and Cashew Cheese successes on my Facebook Page here, and save me a seat at your next home-cooked dinner! 😉

–

LOVE + zucchini lasagna!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save