Clean Eating Lasagna

So what's the difference between Clean Eating lasagna and your regular homemade lasagna? Shhh don't tell anyone, but the answer is ... nothing. The whole point to Clean Eating is making food using whole food ingredients. It's not complicated and it's something everyone can do.

And chances are you're already doing just that if you're already opting to make your lasagna at home.

There are a couple of tweaks we can make to make this meal a little healthier, but overall, it's a goodie and you can feel pretty good serving this up to the family.

Healthy Homemade Lasagna That Kids Eat!

Lasagna seems ton be one of those dinners loads of kids instinctively like. There are no really overwhelming flavors and the cheesiness makes it something familar to kids, who often love cheddar, so it's unlikely to be a huge issue getting them to eat this.

In good news for us parents cooking, lasagna is a fairly easy to out together before letting the oven do the cooking.

More Clean Eating Dinner Recipes

• Clean eating butter chicken
• Kid friendly stir fry noodles
• Thai pork noodles
• Pork tenderloin with mushroom sauce
• Mushroom and mozzarella bake
• Chicken and mushroom curry

How To Eat Lasagna

• Hide the Veggies - If you have a few fussy eaters in the house, add hidden veggies to the sauce. Sneak in a layer of spinach or grated veggies (carrots, celery and zucchini are great). 
• Reduce the Cheese - Limit the amount of cheese you use in the dish by only adding it the top rather than between all the layers and leave it out of the white sauce completely. Trust me ,they won't even notice.
• Watch your portion sizes. The easiest way to limit massive serves is to offer it with a salad. Don't use a side dish for the salad, but rather pop salad and lasagna on the same plate so that half the plate is taken up with the side salad.
• Opt for Wholegrain Pasta. Personally, although wholegrain is higher in fibre, pasta is not what I would consider an everyday food. The important part of the meal is what goes with it. If your family prefers a more refined pasta, then don't let that be the reason you're not making it. Try and choose an Organic Lasagna but since most of the flour we eat these days has been genetically modified, it becomes a little like chasing your tail. If you're really worried about making the best pasta choice, then take a look at Einkorn pasta. It's made with my favorite ancient grain flour (read more about why I love it here). 
• Cheat Cleverly - If you make your lasagna using bottled pasta sauce - and there are plenty of times when I do this too - choose organic whenever you can and check the ingredients. Make sure your pasta sauce contains only real food ingredients. There are tons of well priced, good quality bottled pasta sauces on the market now. You don't have to settle for less.

Making Ahead

Lasagna is one of the best make ahead meals out there.

Depending on the use by date on your beef, you can make this up to 2-3 days ahead, and then pop it into a hot oven for 40 minutes when you want to eat it.

I find this really useful if I know I'm going to have zero time to cook one evening during the week or even if we've got people coming over and I don't want to be hanging out in the kitchen when they arrive.

The flavors in lasagna seems to marinade and intensify when you make it ahead so feel free to get this put together well before you need it.

Storing Leftovers

Any of this lasagna you have leftover can be kept, covered, in the fridge for a day or two. It's delicious as a leftovers lunch the following day.

You can also freeze this lasagna if your minced beef wasn't frozen to start with. I freeze this in portions so I can take out and defrost only what I need to minimise waste.

To defrost lasagna, take it out and put it on a plate and leave it covered in the fridge overnight until it's completely thawed. You can then either reheat this in the microwave or a hot oven, making sure it's piping hot throughout.

How To Make Clean Eating Lasagna

Ingredients

• Bolognaise Sauce (Makes 4 Cups)
• 600g Minced beef
• 2 Cans Chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 Onion Peeled and diced
• 1 Carrot Peeled and grated
• 1 tsp Dried Oregano
• 2 cloves Garlic Peeled and crushed
• Salt and pepper To Season
• White Sauce
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 3 tbsp Flour
• 2 Cups Milk
• Cheese and pasta
• 1½ Cups Cheddar Grated
• 1 Packet Fresh lasagna sheets Or dried

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°
• Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until slightly translucent. Add garlic, mince and oregano
• Fry until moisture has evaporated and mince is lightly browned. Add carrots, tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to combine
• Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes
• Set aside to cool slightly
• To make the cheese sauce, place the butter in a saucepan and melt at a medium / low heat. You don't want the butter to brown or burn
• Stir in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes until the mixture begins to bubble. The mix will darken slightly
• Slowly add the milk, a cup at a time, whisking until the sauce is smooth before adding the next cup
• Remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper
• In a 20cm x 30cm baking dish, layer your lasagna like this: A spoon or two of Bolognese sauce, a handful of grated mozzarella and a layer your lasagne pasta
• Repeat the layering twice more, until you've used up all the ingredients. This can take a little guess work, but I work on a third of mince sauce per layer
• Finally, on your last layer of lasagne, pour over the cheese sauce and the remaining grated cheese
• Bake in the oven for 40 minutes until golden brown
• Take it out the oven before serving and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. This lets the lasagne 'stick together' more so it doesn't collapse once you pop it on the plate

Clean Eating Lasagna Recipe

Shortcuts

• Batch cook and freeze HUGE Portions of Bolognese Sauce to use in this recipe. 
• Instead of making up a white sauce, mix together 1 tub of Riccotta cheese (or cottage cheese) and two eggs. Layer on top and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake as usual.
• You can opt for Store bought, organic pasta sauce in the bottle if you are short on time. Simple Replace Tomatoes, puree, oregano and garlic with two bottles of pasta sauce. There are quite a few good quality pasta sauce options available in most supermarkets. Make sure you check the ingredients to make sure it contains only tomatoes, herbs, garlic, onions and salt and pepper. Here's one of the brands I use.