White Vegetable Lasagna
This does not taste like a light recipe. A couple weeks ago when I made The Best Lasagna Ever, I got a request to make a lightened up white lasagna (this one’s for you, Brooke!). Since my vegetarian sister was coming home to visit this past weekend and asked me to cook for her, I thought this was the perfect opportunity. When I was younger we used to have some catered holiday meals at my grandmother’s house and the dish I remember most from those was a vegetable alfredo lasagna. I wanted to re-create the same flavors using light ingredients and I think this was a huge success. My sister and I both agreed that this dish was cheesy, creamy and really flavorful and she couldn’t believe it was light (she even made me list out all the ingredients).
I’d seen Classico’s online ads for their new light alfredo sauce, and after considering creating my own, I decided to go with the jarred kind because lasagna takes enough prep time and creates enough pots to wash already! I also considered several different vegetable combinations before deciding on spinach, zucchini and carrots. I think those three vegetables worked together really well and gave me exactly the flavors and textures I was looking for, but if you wanted to use different ones (broccoli, mushrooms, etc) I’m sure they would taste good as well. This is an Emily Bites Original so I hope you like it!
White Vegetable Lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 (10 oz) 1packages frozen chopped spinach leaves, defrosted, rinsed and drained (I put mine in a colander and ran it under warm water in the sink. Then I squeezed as much water out as I could and patted it dry with paper towels)
- 1 medium zucchini, shredded (I shredded mine using the largest holed side of a cheese grater)
- 5 oz shredded carrots
- 24 oz of light alfredo sauce, I used Classico and this equaled a 15 oz jar plus an extra cup from a second jar
- 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, cubed
- 1 cup 1% cottage cheese
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- 6 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
- 1 cup shredded 2% Mozzarella cheese
- 3 teaspoons oregano, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Pour the olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach, zucchini and carrots and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, to soften vegetables. Combine vegetables with 15 oz (1 jar if you use Classico) of light alfredo sauce and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, melt the cream cheese over medium heat. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in cottage cheese, parmesan and parsley.
- Spray a 9/13 baking dish with cooking spray and spread the vegetable-alfredo mixture evenly across the bottom. Top vegetable layer with 3 lasagna noodles, followed by the cream cheese mixture and 1 ½ t of oregano. Lay the 3 remaining lasagna noodles over the top and cover with the reserved 1 cup alfredo sauce. Sprinkle the Italian cheese over the top and the remaining oregano over that.
- Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.
Notes
249 calories, 18 g carbs, 4 g sugar, 13 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 14 g protein, 2 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com) MyWW SmartPoints per (1/9th of the recipe) serving:(SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Green: 9 SmartPoints/ Blue: 9 SmartPoints/ Purple: 7 SmartPoints Weight Watchers Points Plus:
8 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
loved this emily bite’s original! so rich and creamy…the vegetables (specifically the spinach) made it taste healthy and fresh. the leftovers were great too.
-carrie
Thanks Carrie! Glad you liked it 🙂
This was delicious. And I’m an unrepentant carnivore. You could serve this to anyone and they would not realize it was “light”. Well done, EB.
this was so freaking good! made it for the parentals last night- and they really could not believe this was *light*! it was amazing girl!
-vanessa
This is OUTSTANDING! LOVE, Love, LOVE IT!!
I made this tonight and it was delicious!!!
I left out the carrots and added mushrooms and garlic with the zucchini and spinach.
Thank you for such a great recipe!
~Kristin
Thanks everyone! I feel especially invested in this one since I made it up myself without using a base recipe. It’s great to hear everyone loved it! Thanks for your comments. 🙂
Hi Emily, can you please add the link for the points? Thanks again for all your delicious recipes.
Hi Emily… Is there a link to the points? I don’t see it unless I’m overlooking it, can you please add it when you have time, thanks for all you do and all your delicious recipes.
Emily – Have you ever made this with sour cream in place of the Cottage Cheese? I hate cottage cheese and gag even looking at it…lol. I want to try to make this, but definitely will NOT be able to bring that ingredient into my house!
I’m going to try it this week, making that substitution, and I will let you know how it goes!
Hm, I’ve definitely never tried it with sour cream. You could always use Ricotta instead of Cottage Cheese. Whatever you do, let me know how it turns out!
Emily – I just made it on Friday with the following revisions:
sub in 3/4 c lite sour cream for the cottage cheese
put 3/4 c lite alfredo over top
mushrooms instead of carrots
whole wheat lasagna noodles..
ADD
1 tsp garlic and 1 tsp basil to cheese mixture
It was to DIE For…and it worked out to be 9 P+ per piece with my changes. All 4 people who ate it (myself included) loved it. Thanks!
Glad it worked out well with the sour cream!
I subsitituted mushrooms for carrots and added one lb of ground chicken and a little garlic. Made it 10 pts a slice and love it!! Thanks!!!
Sounds yummy! I might try mushrooms next time I make this too. It’s nice because it’s versatile so you can add whatever veggies you like. Glad it turned out well!
O-M-G!!! Steamy, CREAMY, and completely decadent! Even tempted and completely pleased my devoted two-burgers-a-day boyfriend. You could serve this at the nicest dinner party or a bridal or baby shower and nobody would EVER believe it’s not fattening. We browned some garlic cloves in the oil and removed them before adding the veggies and we also added some mushrooms that we had on hand. Emily, you are a guardian dinner angel!
I’m so glad you and your boyfriend loved this! Thank you so much for all the nice words. 🙂
I love this recipe soooo much. I add lean ground turkey to it, seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder and italian seasoning and I only use one package on spinach (very well drained). It only adds about one point to the recipe! I can eat this lasagna three times a day and everyone I have given it to, to try, has fallen over themselves for it. This is in my recipe box FOREVER!!!
Yay!! I’m glad it was a hit. This is a very versatile recipe, so I’m glad you were able to play with it to suit your tastes. 🙂
Made this for a visit from the in-laws and they were SO IMPRESSED. I ended up using one jar of Classico Alfredo and one jar of Bertolli, b/c I had a coupon 🙂 and the Classico tasted WAY BETTER. So… to all making this, make sure you use Classico. I never thought you’d be able to tell where one sauce started and ended, but you could. The Bertolli had a weird aftertaste and I don’t think it came in a “light” version, either. Classico coupons in the paper last week, so that mistake won’t happen again!
Thanks for the tip. I’ve never used Bertolli, but I do love the Classico sauce. Glad this was a hit!
Just a tip, when you make a lasagna, you don’t have to pre-cook the noodles! Lay them in raw when constructing and they cook while baking! Best thing I learned from my mom and a time saver!
My favorite recipe of yours so far!
Thanks! Glad you loved it 🙂
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Making this for the second time today. It was my Mom’s request for mothers day. Thank you Emily for this blog. I can’t tell you how many people I have referred to it.
This is so awesome! I made it for me and my friends and everyone loved it 🙂 I used ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese. I mixed regular Alfredo with Classico and it was really good! Thanks for the great recipes really helps with the weight lost! 🙂
This was awesome! I’ve enjoyed lots of leftovers for lunch and it might be even better reheated. It froze amazingly!
Could you make this with fresh instead of frozen spinach?
I really enjoyed this recipe as well, I was just wondering if you happened to have the protein and carbohydrate totals? Thanks!
When I first started my site I only posted WW points and then I started calculating the nutrition information as well. I haven’t had time to get back to my oldest recipes and calculate them yet, but here’s the nutrition calculator I use if you want to check: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
I know I’m way late on this post but I have to tell you that I just found your site through TradingCardioforCosmos and made this last night My husband and I loved it! My teenage son not so much but I’ll be making a half recipe next time since only my hubby and I will be eating it. So very good!
What type of Ricotta did you use instead of cottage cheese? Thank you
Hi Emily… Is there a link to the points? I don’t see it unless I’m overlooking it, can you please add it when you have time, thanks for all you do and all your delicious recipes.
Hi Emily… Do you have the new current points for the WW plan? And I don’t see a link or I’m just overlooking it, thanks for all you do
I just made this for a visiting cousin. She loved it, and so did I! In the past two years I’ve lost over 80 pounds, so recipes like this are essential in helping me keep the weight off without feeling like I’m starving myself. Thank you so much for this one!