Low Carb Lasagna - An Italian Classic Reinvented

It's winter and wrestling season is upon us! Supporting my first-born to be successful, I have been researching and experimenting with low-carb meals to help him maintain his weight class. With a love of comforting and classic lasagna, I made my first low carb lasagna with with layers of palmini noodles, sliced zucchinis, spicy ground chicken, cheese, pulled together with a hearty vegetable marinara sauce. It was a comforting classic!

The palmini noodles assemble much like sheets of lasagna, but they are smaller, thicker and slightly wet. I removed them from their packaging and placed them on parchment paper and put paper towel in between each layer to remove some excess moisture.

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Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 2 lbs ground chicken

• 1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, chopped

• 1 - 10 oz container of baby bella mushrooms, chopped

• 1 zucchini, chopped

• 1 -3 teaspoons of red pepper flakes, to taste

• 2 jars of RAO Marinara sauce

For the cheese filling:

• 1 cup ricotta cheese

• 1 large egg

• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

• 2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese , divided

• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley

Other Ingredients

• 3 - 12 oz Palmini Hearts of Palm Lasagna Sheets

• 2 sliced zucchinis for middle layer - seasoned with salt & pepper and slightly broiled to brown and release water

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare your sauce. Using a large skillet over medium high heat, add the garlic and onion. Let it cook until fragrant and onion is translucent. Add mushrooms & zucchini, let it simmer for 2-3 minutes . Add the ground chicken and chop with a spatula to break into small, bite sized pieces. Cook until it just begins to brown. Add your sauce to and stir to combine. Turn the heat to low and simmer 10-15 minutes.

3. Prepare your ricotta mixture. Stir together the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, egg, and parsley.

4. Assemble your lasagna. In a 9X13 inch, the base layer should be as follows: sauce, then palmini noodles, then spoon fulls of ricotta cheese mixture, then sauce mixture. I also like to sprinkle some parmesan cheese, before beginning the next layer - which will begin with slices of grilled zucchini. Once you layer the zucchini - then layer spoon fulls of ricotta cheese mixture, then sauce mixture. The top layer will be palmini noodles - drizzled with sauce mixture then sprinkled with mozzarella cheese.

5. Bake the lasagna in the in oven for 45 minutes covered with foil. Then remove foil and allow for the lasagna to "dry out" for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.