Butternut Squash Lasagna- GF

One thing I have missed from time to time is my cheesy, enormous, best tasting lasagna! It probably had a days worth of calories in one serving, but I always got so many compliments on the taste!

Where I am right now with my food choices and how I eat, I honestly don't crave cheese any more and red meat. I do love pasta, but it's always good to balance your carbohydrate intake, for me especially....Pasta is my love!

Sundays are usually when I'll prepare a meal that uses meat. I don't know why, that's just how it's been working out, I stick to lean poultry and always have it balanced well with vegetables and fruits. This meal made it onto the weekly meal list. When I found it here, it sounded great, it was healthy, it used poultry, and I hoped beyond hope that it would stop me missing my old lasagna recipe at some point! I did make a few tweaks to fit our tastes.

I can tell you I thought it was wonderful! It didn't have the cheesy taste, but that was okay with me. It still tasted like an awesome Italian dish, but no pasta. I don't know why I didn't think of something like this before. I've used zucchini squash before to replace pasta with my zucchini noodles. I really enjoyed the texture of the squash and mixed with the turkey sausage I put in it was awesome! I do think if your looking for vegan this would taste just find with some more vegetables thrown in there to give more variety and just X out the meat.

My daughter is having a battle day. She tried it once and said she didn't like it. She saw me squirt some lemon juice on my broccoli so she asked for some. Apparently she doesn't like that taste either. So I said, you eat either all your broccoli or all of your squash. Well she just left the table with all of her lasagna finished. I asked her if she liked it and she just said, "I do like it!" It just takes kids getting over new tastes I think before they realize...hey wait a second this is kinda good!!! At least that's the way it goes in our house. I've stopped listening to the protests and just keep saying okay well you need to try everything! Keep introducing those foods, remember it can take 8-10 times before a kid likes something! Luckily it just took a few more bites for my daughter to like this one! My son is napping, so I don't have a report from him :)

Butternut Squash lasagna

1 Butternut Squash

1 package of Italian Turkey Sausage or chicken

1 recipe of easy marinara sauce

1 bay leaf

1/2 T parsley to sprinkle on top

Easy Marinara Sauce

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 can tomato paste

1/2 28 oz crushed tomatoes

4 garlic cloves

1/2 onion

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 T Italian Seasoning

1 T parsley

2 T Italian dressing

1/2 T basil

Peel squash. I've found if you poke holes in the squash before then throw it in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds it is soooooo much easier to peel and cut! Cut lengthwise in half and remove the seeds. Slice into thin slices

and place into a deep baking dish. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook sausage in skillet over med-high heat until completely cooked through. Leave sausage in skillet and add your ingredients for the marinara sauce. Simmer for 10-12 minutes then add sauce to the butternut squash, stir in the extra bay leaf, cover and bake for about 45 minutes or until the squash is very tender. Top with parsley. We enjoyed this with steamed broccoli, but you can go all out with garlic bread, salad the real deal if you want a real Italian meal!!!