I have another delicious clean eating recipe for you that involves playing with your food.  Personally I love to get down and dirty when I’m cooking, so I think you’ll have a blast rolling these up.   I found one roll to be more than enough for a meal, which should ring in around 300 calories. (This is an approximation, I do not know the exact calorie amount)  J did complain it lacked a little salt, so feel free to add more salt and pepper to the spinach filling if you prefer.  I was trying to keep this as clean as possible, so I opted for less.  However, the cinnamon and nutmeg make for an amazing flavor in the sauce.  I was a little skeptical at first, but it tricks your mind into thinking it’s a sweeter dish when it contains no added sugar.  Do be careful of hot wet lasagna noodles.  They’re slippery suckers.

I think this is the perfect dish (without the turkey) for little tots.  They can use their hands and get extremely messy.  The kind of messy where you know they’ve enjoyed every bite.  My only word of advice for that is to make sure you really cook the lasagna noodles so they don’t choke on any al dente pieces.  If you end up feeding this to your kiddos, please let me know how they like it.   I love feedback from the tots.

 

Turkey Pasta Rolls
adapted from: Clean Eating Magazine
  • 1 tsp safflower oil
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 lb ground turkey breast
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 26-oz can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 6-oz can tomato paste
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 8 sheets dried whole-wheat lasagna
  • 1 10-oz box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
  • 1 15-oz container ricotta cheese (nonfat if you prefer)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (reduced fat if you prefer)
Cooking Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Once cooked, rinse, pat dry, and set aside to cool.

In a large skillet, heat safflower oil over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and cook for one addition minute. Turn up heat to medium-high and add ground turkey meat along with salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. As the turkey cooks, break up with spatula untiul all small pieces are cooked thoroughly. Once turkey is cooked, add in tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir until combined. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low, allowing sauce to simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally and remove from heat once finished. In a medium bowl mix together drained spinach, ricotta cheese, egg, and 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella. Stir until combined.

Spread one cup of the tomato sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Roll up your pasta noodles by placing a flat noodle on a clean surface and spreading 1/8 of the ricotta mixture out flat, leaving a little room at the finished end. Roll up the lasagna noodle and place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat for the seven other noodles and cover with remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over the top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and remove aluminum foil. Turn your broiler on high and heat pasta rolls for an additional 5 minutes under the broiler, or until cheese starts to brown and bubble. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!