Italian-Style Turkey Lasagna Roll-Ups ~ Clean Eating

During my quest to shed a few pounds, I almost resigned myself to the frozen food aisle ~ you know; Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, Weight Watchers, etc.  But I couldn't see myself eating that way long term ~ at all.


To me those meals are "okay" in a pinch, but I have never been very satisfied with the flavor or seasonings used in most of them. The tomato based sauces always taste cloyingly sweet, and the remainder of the ingredients are invariably bland in almost all of the entrees, imo. And you just know they don't use the same quality ingredients that you would choose yourself if you were making the dish, plus the fresh taste is missing , not to mention the chemicals and other additives which are incorporated into the frozen meals. :p


 As I said, for me, they are "okay" once in a while ~ BUT

I knew if I was going to stick with this change in my way of eating I was going to have to find a way to make the lower fat/calorie meals way more palatable.

The good news is there are plenty of magazines and cookbooks designed to assist in keeping meals healthy, lean and delicious. 

Here is an example of that kind of recipe; it was originally published in Clean Eating magazine ~ I missed it in the magazine, but

I found it in the cookbook ~




 The Best of Clean Eating: Over 200 Mouthwatering Recipes to Keep You Lean and Healthy

Here's the assembled dish before baking

They are a little time consuming to make, but the good news is that they can be made ahead, covered and refrigerated until you're ready to bake and serve them.

Although I haven't tried it yet, I suspect these would be a good candidate for freezing, either individually or in multiples that would work for your family.

The recipe makes a 8 generously sized rolls so I ended up dividing the recipe in half, and along with a green salad one roll made a good size serving ~ in fact, I couldn't finish the entire roll and the remainder was great reheated for lunch the next day.

To bump the nutrition us you can use either whole wheat lasagna noodles or whole grain. I substituted fresh spinach for frozen that the recipe called for, simply because I had it on hand ~ and the remaining ingredients are:

a small onion, clove of garlic, lean ground turkey breast, 28oz jar of tomatoes in juice, low fat ricotta cheese, an egg, reduced-fat mozzarella cheese. I added some freshly ground black pepper, dried basil and oregano to the sauce, and a tablespoon of red wine as well.

Each roll provides 234 calories, total fat 3g, sat fat 0, carbs 27g, fiber 5g,

sugars 7g, protein 28g, Sodium 508mg, Cholesterol 76mg


And! 90% of your daily vitamin A requirements, plus 366mg calcium. :)

One serving ~ delicious, and more than I could eat at one meal (reheats beautifully)




Definitely a keeper!  I would gladly make these again.

You'll find a printable copy of the recipe is over on Once Upon a Plate ~ The Recipes:   click HERE.




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If you would like to learn more about "The Best of Clean Eating" cookbook, just click the link below.  (It's a wonderful cookbook.)

I've been really pleased with this cookbook ~ everything I've tried so far has been very flavorful and easy to prepare and I like the fact that it contains the best of the Clean Eating magazine's recipes all indexed and in one place. If you like flavorful, light and healthy cuisine, I think you'll like this one.