I’m going to get honest. Most of the recipes that I have shared on here do not take much time to prepare. But lasagna just takes a while to put together. In our house, my husband doesn’t eat a whole lot of carbs so in general our meals are not carbohydrate heavy. But lasagna is good comfort food so I had to find a way to make it less carb heavy. The inspiration came to me when I was in the pasta aisle of the grocery store and noticed hearts of palm lasagna sheets. Inadvertently, this recipe is also gluten-free.
What You’ll Need:
2 12 oz pouches of hearts of palm lasagna (I found Palmini brand at the grocery store)
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 Lb ground beef
1 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 16 oz jar of ricotta (I get the full fat ricotta)
1 8 oz package of shredded Italian or mozzarella cheese
Dried parsley
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Salt
Pepper
- In a pot, brown the beef. Drain the excess fat. Once the fat is drained, add diced onion and minced garlic to the pot. Sautee.
- Add the tomato paste and diced tomatoes (including juice) to the beef mixture. Add generous helpings of dried oregano, parsley, and basil. I say at least 1 tablespoon of each. Add some salt and pepper to taste. For some extra heat, consider some dashes of paprika. Once cooked, set this aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese with half the bag of shredded cheese. Add generous helpings of dried oregano, parsley, and basil (again, at least 1 tablespoon of each). Add some salt and pepper to taste.
- Drain the bag of hearts of palm lasagna. In a 13 x 9 pan, form the bottom layer with the palm lasagna sheets. Put all of the beef mixture on top of this layer of palm sheets. Form a layer of palm lasagna sheets atop this beef mixture. Put all of the ricotta cheese mixture atop this second layer of palm lasagna sheets. Form a layer of palm lasagna sheets atop this ricotta cheese mixture. Put the rest of the shredded cheese atop this third layer of palm lasagna sheets.
- Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake at 350°F for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, uncover the lasagna and bake at 350°F for an additional 10 minutes. After a total of 45 minutes baking, broil on low for 2 minutes.
If you haven’t noticed already, I’m not a huge fan of saucy lasagna. I don’t typically buy pre-made tomato sauces because they generally contain more salt than I like. And given that I don’t like lasagna with a lot of tomato sauce to begin with, my recipe with just tomato paste and canned diced tomatoes is perfect for me.