This lasagne provides us with two of our five a day whilst still being low in calories and saturated fat.
Nutritional highlights
Spinach is full of important vitamins and minerals such as iron, vitamin c, folate and calcium. Spinach is also high in oxalates which can reduce the amount of absorption of calcium and iron, so lightly cooking or wilting, like we do in this recipe, can help lower the effects of these oxalates.
Calcium is an important mineral in bone health and muscle contractions with spinach containing around 19% of our daily calcium needs. Where as iron is required by the body to create the part of the red blood cell that carries the oxygen around the body.
Spinach actually provides us with half of our daily vitamin C intake which helps protect cells, maintain healthy skin, blood vessels, bones and cartilage. Folate, also known as vitamin B9, is needed to form red blood cells with spinach containing about 45% of our daily intake.
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Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
- 320g spinach
- 500g chicken mince
- 2 red onions
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 200g fat free cottage cheese
- 6 lasagne sheets
- 2 large courgettes, sliced
- ¼ ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp oregano
Method
Pre-heat the oven to fan 180C.
Put the spinach into a colander and pour over a full kettle of boiling water and allow the spinach to wilt.
Add the spinach to a tea towel or kitchen roll and squeeze out water then roughly chop and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a pan with the onions and cook until soft or about 8-10 minutes then add the chicken mince and fry until cooked through, brown and any water has evaporated.
Add the garlic, courgette, and oregano and cook for 3-5 minutes until the courgettes are soft and any water has evaporated.
In a bowl add the spinach, cottage cheese and nutmeg and mix together.
In a baking dish add a third of the chicken and courgette mixture and top with a third of the cheese and spinach mixture. Then lay over a third of the pasta sheets to cover.
Repeat two more times with the cheese mix being the top layer.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbling on top.
Leave for 10 minutes to cool then serve.
Healthy swaps/tips
Swap the lasagne sheets for gluten free lasagne sheets.
Top with some parmesan.
Make it vegan by swapping the chicken mince for plant-based mince and vegan cheese. Do double check the pasta, as fresh pasta normally uses egg.