Need a lasagna recipe for picky eaters? Try my hidden veggie lasagna!
Did I tell you about the time that I married a meat-a-saurus and gave birth to a picky eater? No? Well I’ll spare you the details on all of that but the result is that I’m constantly on the hunt for how to get more lean protein and vegetables into our meals. Meals that don’t result in a battle of wills and leave me feeling like I’ve aged exponentially over dinner. Therefore I present Hidden Veggie Lasagna.
This lasagna recipe combines the classic comfort food we all love with a ground turkey substitute for beef and some cleverly inserted vegetables that go unnoticed by the “picky police.” My favorite thing about this recipe is that you can use no boil lasagna noodles (the plural of which is lasagne) which saves a ton of time and you’re still left with a perfectly tender lasagna.
I picked up my ingredients at Vons the other day before heading over to school to get Kayla and saw that Barilla makes flat no boil noodles. Which I heart because I’ve never been a fan of those crimped edges that somehow never seem to cook evenly. I added some Roasted Garlic sauce, fresh mushrooms, zucchini (swap out the mushrooms if you have a phobia) some lean ground turkey, ricotta, mozzarella and an onion and was good to go.
Back at home I poured some sauce in the bottom of the pan and laid the Barilla flat noodles on top. The key to making the no bake noodles work is keeping things saucy! Since our family likes a healthy dose of red sauce on anything, this recipe is perfect.
Next I quickly chopped up half of a sweet onion and sauteed it, throwing in about a half pound of ground turkey while the onion was cooking. A little salt and pepper to taste and I added a little more sauce on top of my noodles before adding the turkey to the baking dish.
Next I chopped up the zucchini and mushrooms. The difference between quiet happy eaters and whining about “what is this in my food??” is size. Chop the vegetables finely and you’ll be a happier person. Trust me.
For what I consider to be a more complex dish (since I’m all about keeping it simple) this really didn’t take that long. I’d say 20 minutes of prep time?
Next I just covered the top with foil and stuck it in my countertop oven at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. I took the foil off and let it cook for another 10 minutes to let it get bubbly and brown the top a bit. And that was it!
Think you might be whipping up your own Hidden Veggie Lasagna? Then I should let you know that right now you’ll save $1 when you purchase a box of Barilla Lasagne and a jar of Barilla sauce at Vons.
