Lasagne - how to make it healthier?

ClaireLR

I hope someone can help with this.

I want to make lasagne to freeze and want to make a healthier version than I usually make/buy.

So far I've come up with less meat in the filling, and drain off the fat. Bulked out with chopped onions/carrots and tinned toms and possibly some lentils.

What I'm really stuck with is the white sauce/cheese part. Is there a way of making white sauce without as much/any fat? And is there a substitute for the cheese I can use?

Any other ideas? Thanks!

Buddingblonde

Dont make as many layers so you are only using white/cheese sauce on the top

Make the white sauce with skim milk and cornflour

Buy the strongest cheese possible and use the smallest amount for flavour and add some mustard to the sauce to bring out the cheese flavour

ClaireLR

I usually only put the white sauce/cheese on the top anyway!

How do you make white sauce with just milk and cornflour please?

MadMonkey

Use quark mixed with 1 tsp of mustard powder and some cooking cheddar (available from markets).

Blend carrots and parsnips into your tomatos to make the red sacue.

LeeSouthEast

Swap out the beef for quorn. I doubt you'll notice the difference particularly, and you'll cut out significant amounts of fat and particularly the saturated fat. Use extra virgin olive oil to up the monounsaturated fat content of the dish, which will (among lots of other things) help lower cholesterol and blood pressure!

Bulk it out as you said, consider mushrooms, lots of tomato sauce, onion, etc. etc. Add some light spice to it as well for a different taste altogether and boost the thermic effect of the dish.

ClaireLR

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Swap out the beef for quorn. I doubt you'll notice the difference particularly, and you'll cut out significant amounts of fat and particularly the saturated fat. Use extra virgin olive oil to up the monounsaturated fat content of the dish, which will (among lots of other things) help lower cholesterol and blood pressure!

Bulk it out as you said, consider mushrooms, lots of tomato sauce, onion, etc. etc. Add some light spice to it as well for a different taste altogether and boost the thermic effect of the dish.

I would have thought about this but have 4 packs of whoopsied lean steak mince (£1 from Co-op!) that have to be used up!

LeeSouthEast

Oh well. It's an idea for the next batch

VfM4meplse

If you decide to use white sauce for the toping only,why don't you consider beating an egg into some natural yoghurt and using that instead (a la moussaka).

Paulie'sGirl

Hi,

As OH doesn't eat cheese, we don't have a cheese sauce or cheese on top. I infuse milk (semi skimmed) with onion, bayleaf and pepper corns by putting it all in a jug and nuking for a couple of minutes. Then I make a plain white sauce, and add a touch of nutmeg.

If you made a cornflour white sauce rather than by a roux there's very little fat at all.

PGxx

daska

ClaireLR wrote: »

How do you make white sauce with just milk and cornflour please?

think bird's custard powder or blancmange - the only difference is that the custard powder has flavouring and colouring added.

If you're too young for custard powder and have only experienced the tin/tetrapak ready made versions:

Add cornflour to a small amount of the cold liquid, mix well, add to larger volume of cold/warm/hot liquid, stir constantly while heating to a boil...

Pink.

Hi Claire,

I make it in the same way as daska has described using skimmed or semi-skimmed milk and cornflour. Then if you wish to add cheese, use mature cheddar as a little goes much further than mild with some powdered mustard (made up with a little cold water) to enhance the cheese flavour.

There's an earlier thread with more ideas:

Low fat white sauce

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink