Inside Out Lasagna

I love lasagna but it always makes so much! Of course I could half a recipe or freeze half, but I never think of that. I found this recipe for Inside Out Lasagna from Eating Well and it looked really good. I made just a couple of changes. I used about half of the spinach, added ground beef and italian spices. Growing up, I loved my mom's lasagna and she used cottage cheese instead of ricotta and I have to say I still really enjoy cottage cheese in lasagna. So instead of the ricotta I used cottage cheese and I also added some mozzarella cheese. It turned out really good, nice and cheesy! I'd make it again. I'm not sure it's any easier than lasagna but it's definitely good to change things up a bit.


Ingredients

• 8 ounces whole-wheat rotini or fusilli
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 lb ground beef
• 8 ounces sliced white mushrooms (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon italian seasoning (I didn't measure this, just eyeballed it.)
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup mozzerella cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta; cook until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes or according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft.
3. Add ground beef and brown.
4. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms release their liquid, 4 to 6 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, spinach, tomato paste, and italian seasoning. Increase heat to medium-high; cook, stirring once halfway through, until the spinach is wilted, about 4 minutes. Mix in cottage cheese.
6. Toss the sauce with the pasta. Top with mozzerella cheese and gently mix in.