LASAGNA WITH HAM "PASTA"
1 pound ground beef
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups Amy's Marinara Sauce
15 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
8 ounces ham slices *
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Brown the ground beef along with the garlic; season with salt and pepper. Drain the fat and stir in 1 cup of the marinara sauce reserving 1 cup of plain sauce. In a small bowl, blend the ricotta cheese and the egg; season with a little salt, pepper and garlic powder. Grease an 9x13" baking dish; spread a small amount of the plain sauce over the bottom of the pan. Layer the ingredients in this order:
1. Single layer of 4 ham slices
2. Half of the meat mixture
3. Ricotta mixture
4. Half of the mozzarella
5. Single layer of 4 ham slices
6. Remaining meat mixture
7. Remaining mozzarella
8. 1 cup plain sauce
9. 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Sprinkle some garlic powder over the top. Bake at 350º 30-40 minutes until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Makes 8 servings
* I used 8 slices from a 10 ounce package of Krogers cooked (not smoked) ham slices with about 1/2 carb per slice. It comes in large 4x6" rectangular slices which work perfectly for the pasta. There were 10 slices in the package and I used 4 per layer. They perfectly fit the bottom of my baking pan.
Per Serving: 357 Calories; 23g Fat; 29g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 7g Net Carbs
This is very similar to my other Lasagna recipe but I used ham instead of turkey slices and I increased the amount of ricotta cheese. One pound of ground beef is stretched pretty far in this recipe. I would prefer to use 2 pounds but then more sauce would be needed and the carbs would increase quite a bit. As it is, there is plenty of meat and cheese. Although the ham doesn't really have the same consistency as pasta, I thought this was very tasty. Click the photo to see a close-up.