Lighter Cooking Light Recipe!

 

Last weekend Sean and I were meal planning. I also like to call it cleaning out the magazine pile! lol I gave him a stack of magazines and he picked out a couple of dishes. He also said, “can you please make something that I pick out this week.” making me feel a little bad. Ya see the thing is that Sean ALWAYS picks out pasta. lol This time it was no different. Mushroom lasagna was his choice. Yes, it was from an issue of Cooking Light, but it was a creamy sauce and according to the stats listed was going to be one of those small portion- high PointsPlus meals. Sigh.

For those of you who know me, and have followed my blog for any length of time- you know that I like more bang for my buck! I enjoy sitting down to a large portion. Call me greedy, but I do. So when it comes to a pasta dish that I know I wont be able to have a nice size portion of, I normally pass.

I wanted to make Sean a happy camper so I set off to make the recipe he picked out LIGHTER! Yes, a Lighter Cooking Light Recipe!

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL RECIPE-

MY CHANGES ARE IN RED

From Cooking Light Magazine

Mushroom Lasagna
Ingredients

1 cup boiling water
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms –I skipped this ingredient entirely. never used it before.
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided- 1 teaspoon
1 1/4 cups chopped shallots (about 4)
1 (8-ounce) package presliced cremini mushrooms
1 (4-ounce) package presliced exotic mushroom blend- I used white mushrooms and added another 4 oz. to make up for not using the porcini’s
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
6 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 cup (3 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese- 3 light laughing cow wedges-original flavor
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk, divided- Fat Free Milk
1 1/10 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/4 cup)
Cooking spray
9 no-boil lasagna noodles- 4 ounces Whole Wheat
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese- 1 TB just sprinkled on the top

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine 1 cup boiling water and porcini. Cover and let stand 30 minutes; strain mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve over a bowl, reserving liquid and mushrooms. I skipped this step- did not (have these mushrooms.

3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan(I left out the oil on this step); swirl to coat. Add shallots to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add cremini and exotic mushrooms(or white, like I used), 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; sauté 6 minutes or until mushrooms are browned. Add thyme and 3 garlic cloves; sauté 1 minute. Stir in wine; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Remove from heat; stir in cream cheese- or add Laughing cow like me! and 1 tablespoon chives. Add reserved porcini mushrooms.skipped

4. Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon (I used 1 teaspoon)oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add remaining 3 garlic cloves to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add the reserved porcini liquid(SKIPPED THIS) , 2 3/4 cups milk, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper; bring to a boil. Combine remaining 1/4 cup milk and flour in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to milk mixture, and simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk.

5. Spoon 1/2 cup sauce into an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray, and top with 3 noodles. Spread half of mushroom mixture over noodles. Repeat layers, ending with remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese over top. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden. Top with remaining 1 tablespoon chopped chives.(I didn’t have more chives- so I topped with fresh Italian parsley)

**I also decided to make these in smaller stoneware serving pieces.

Are ya ready for the stats?

Ok well this original recipe serves 6 for 10 PointsPlus.

My version: Serves 4 at 9 PointsPlus each! Whoohoo! High five for lightened up recipes!

Just goes to show you that SIMPLE changes can equal BIG changes. Just a few swaps of ingredients made this dish lower in PointsPlus and a heartier serving size. We enjoyed this dish with a simple side salad. Oh and I must say, it was quite tasty too! Good choice Sean! 

Do you lighten up already lightened up dishes too? I was kinda shocked that the small changes I made had that much of an effect on the nutritional stats on this dish. I loved making it even healthier!

Have a great day everyone!

BYE!