Ww Watch Your Weight Lasagna With Meat Sauce

Robin W's Note:

A wonderful tasting lasagna - you would never know it's weight watchers! Each piece is 6 points.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 lb lean ground beef (10% or less fat)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 2 (15 ounce) containers refrigerated marinara sauce
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions.
2. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
3. Toast and grind the fennel seeds by placing them in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat.
4. Cook, shaking the pan and stirring constantly until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Watch them carefully- they will burn quickly!
6. Remove from pan and grind to a powder.
7. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
8. Add the oil, then add the beef, onion, bell pepper and zucchini.
9. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef browns.
10. Stir in the marinara sauce and fennel, bring to a boil.
11. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened and the flavors blend, about 10 minutes.
12. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
13. Spread one-fourth of the meat sauce in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
14. Top with 3 of the noodles; spread with 1/2 cup of ricotta.
15. Repeat the layering twice, ending with the meat sauce.
16. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.
17. Remove the foil and sprinkle with the mozzarella and Romano.
18. Bake until heated through and cheeses are lightly browned, abut 20 minutes longer.
19. Let stand about 10 minutes before serving.

Reviews

[Mustang Sally 54269]

We rather enjoyed this very nicely. The extra vegys were a nice addition. I'm not a hugh fan of fennel so I was tempted to use rosemary instead, after reading the reviews. I felt it would change the flavour of the dish quite abit so decided to try the fennel, just cut it back to 3/4 tsp. I think secret is in the toasting & grinding of the fennel, we loved it. I used homemade marinara sauce (#256373 from Potluck) which had great flavour also. Other than that I increased the beef & cheeses abit. Thanks for sharing.

[Redsie]

This was amazing! Great WW recipe! Used one can of diced tomatoes and one container of marinara sauce. Also used low-fat cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese. Thanks Robin! :)

[Chef #739140]

I make this recipe all of the time, I leave out the fennel seeds, my family loves it.