Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

Our first lasagna recipe we've made together - can you believe it? The photos don't really do the meal justice. Michael's mom made a really great lasagna dish over the holidays that didn't require cooking the noodles ahead of time first. We may be posting that one soon too.

So we haven't quite racked up on a broad variety of cooking dishes yet. You should be able to put this meal all in one dish, but we had to split it into our only two small baking dishes. It was actually kind of fortunate because we ended up freezing one and reheating it the next week. You could really even double it, make a ton, and freeze some. It still super tasty reheated and you will be very grateful on a crazy weeknight when all you have to do is zap it to reheat! Recipe modified from Eating Well. Serves 10. Takes about 2 hours to make - so plan ahead. You can also make steps 1-5 ahead of time (up to a day).

Ingredients

• 8 ounces whole-wheat lasagna noodles
• 1 1/4 pound lean spicy Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
• 8 oz. package sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 10 oz. packages chopped, frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably chunky
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese, divided
• 2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until not quite tender, about 2 minutes less than the package directions. Drain; return the noodles to the pot, cover with cool water and set aside.
3. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 4 minutes.
   
4. Add mushrooms and water; cook, stirring occasionally and crumbling the sausage more, until it is cooked through, the water has evaporated and the mushrooms are tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
   
5. Squeeze spinach to remove excess water, then stir into the pan; remove from heat.
6. Mix tomatoes with basil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.
7. To assemble lasagna: Spread 1/2 cup of the tomatoes in the prepared baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on top, trimming to fit if necessary. Evenly dollop half the ricotta over the noodles. Top with half the sausage mixture, one-third of the remaining tomatoes and one-third of the mozzarella.
   
8. Continue with another layer of noodles, the remaining ricotta, the remaining sausage, half the remaining tomatoes and half the remaining mozzarella. Top with a third layer of noodles and the remaining tomatoes.
9. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake until bubbling and heated through, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove the foil; sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is just melted but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.