Every home cook is constantly trolling Pinterest for the best and easiest recipes for healthy dinners. Even if we often fall to match the very tasty looking photos of the numerous sweets, our intentions lie with finding a good, healthy dinner.

One that I recently found and modified was for Zucchini Lasagna. Note: this recipe isn’t for vegans. We will be using cheese, because what is a lasagna without cheese???

The most caloric and unhealthy parts of a lasagna are the cheese and noodles. In order to make this dish healthy, we have to eliminate—or at the very least—decrease these ingredients.

Typically, a zucchini lasagna is reserved for a vegetarian. However, I have modified this recipe by adding turkey, a healthy and lean meat, in order to make it more substantive for the health-conscious non-vegetarian.

The Ingredients Necessary (for a full 9x9 inch pan):

• 2 Yellow Squash
• 2 Zucchini
• 1 cup of Ricotta cheese
• 2 tsp Oregano (this will be divided)
• ½ tsp Garlic powder
• ½ tsp Red Pepper flakes (this will be divided)
• ½ tsp Salt (this will be divided)
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese
• 1 lb. lean ground Turkey
• Aerosol Vegetable Oil
• ½ tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1 ½ cloves of Garlic
• 1 16 oz bottle of Tomato Basil Sauce

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
2. Put foil in two large baking sheets, and spray them with the aerosol vegetable oil.
3. Slice the zucchini and squash into thin slices (lengthwise) and spread out evenly on the baking sheets. Put in the oven for 15 minutes. Then lay paper towels on top to soak up the remaining moisture in the roast zucchini and squash.
4. Take a large saucepan and put the ½ tbsp vegetable oil on med-high heat with the 1 ½ cloves of garlic finely chopped.
5. Take the 1 lb. of lean turkey and mix in a large bowl with ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes. Put this ground turkey in the pan and cook and break up until fully cooked.
6. Take the 16oz bottle of tomato basil sauce and pour into the pan. Bring the entire mixture to a simmer and add the 1 tsp of oregano.
7. Put on low heat.
8. In the 9x9 inch pan and spray with the vegetable oil aerosol.
9. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining spices (¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp red pepper flakes, ½ tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp of oregano) with the ricotta. Put this mixture to the side.
10. Now it's time to put your lasagna together! Cover the bottom of the pan with the roast zucchini/squash. Then lightly layer the ricotta cheese and then the meat sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Continue to do this until completely layered.
11. Put in the oven for 17 minutes and then broil for 3 minutes to get that nice cheesey top!
12. Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut and serve with a knife and spatula.
13. Enjoy!