500 Calories or Less, Posts 
1 Comment Skillet Lasagna
Lasagna, comfort food at its finest. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or patience to boil noodles, and then layer and wait for baking time. Plus, I’m pretty sure my husband once voiced his distaste for lasagna. That said, I did make him my mom’s Fish lasagna [LINK] with a white sauce and he seemed pretty happy about it. This week seems to be dragging. Midweek can feel either closer or further away from the weekend, depending on how Monday and Tuesday panned out. This week, Wednesday felt a long way away from Friday. The thought that Friday wouldn’t get here any sooner only made me lazier, not wanting to run errands or tidy around the house. Instead, I started dinner, and curled up out on our small but quaint balcony with my new favorite app – iBooks.
I go through book-reading phases. My longest-lasting phase was about three years ago when I decided to read a number of books for which movies would be released. Not really sure why, since the books are always better than the movies. At that time I had gone through a couple Nicholas Sparks books; The Last Song, Dear John; My Sister’s Keeper; The De Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. Let’s not forget about The Time Traveler’s Wife, oh and my 5 day Twilight Saga reading marathon. While I love holding physical books and turning the pages, I’ve followed the latest trend and started a trilogy. I started with a hard copy, but when I was left hanging at the end of book one, I couldn’t wait. That’s when I downloaded iBooks. And I wouldn’t trade it in for the world. My initial worries about the bright screen affecting my vision were subsided when I realized I spend longer staring at my computer screen at work.
Do you have any other e-reader apps you enjoy?
Skillet Lasagna
Adapted from Tracy’s Culinary Adventures
Ingredients
2 14oz cans Petite Diced Tomatoes 1 tablespoon Olive Oil 1 Onion, chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 Garlic Cloves, smashed or minced Red Pepper Flakes, to taste 1 lb Ground Beef, 93% lean 10 lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch pieces 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste mixed with ½ cup water 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese 1 cup Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Basil
Directions
Add 1 can diced tomatoes along with their juice to a 2 cup measuring cup, then add enough water to bring it up to 2 cups. Repeat with the second can. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and salt and sauté for 5 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and red pepper. Add ground beef. Cook until browned. Add the noodles, without stirring. Pour diced tomatoes and tomato paste mixture over the noodles without stirring. Once simmering, turn down the heat so that it remains at a steady simmer for about 20 minutes. Carefully stir occasionally. Turn off the heat and stir in ½ cup parmesan. Drop heaping spoons of ricotta, cover and allow to soften. Sprinkle with basil and remaining Parmesan and serve warm.
We had tons of extras, so after cooling, freeze in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag.
Servings: 6
Nutrition Information: Cals 407. Carbs 39g. Fat 14g. Sodium 577mg.
This looks super easy.. and super gorgeous! Great post Zayna — keep em coming! You keep me drooling