Daughter Rachael has requested that I make a couple of make-ahead dishes that she can freeze for after baby Milo is born. His due date is March 15, so I need to get cracking on this just in case the little guy (who is now weighing in at 6 lbs, 14 oz.) makes an early appearance. I thought you might enjoy seeing the recipe I’ll be using to make a ground turkey and vegetable lasagna that is so good (and healthy) that my daughter is specifically requesting it for those first few weeks after giving birth. That is a high compliment!

The recipe below is from https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/best-ground-turkey-lasagna/

Best Ground Turkey Lasagna

• Author: Katie Webster
•  Total Time: 1 hour 40 mins

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups diced onion
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh garlic
• 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasonings, or 1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 pound lean ground turkey (see ingredient note)
• 1 medium zucchini, finely chopped or shredded on a box grater
• 8 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 28–ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh basil, plus some for garnish
• 15 or 16-ounce container part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg
• 9 uncooked lasagna noodles (Rachael requested whole wheat)
• 12 ounces (3 cups) shredded part-skim mozzarella
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9 by 13-inch lasagna pan with cooking spray.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, dried Italian seasonings, ¾ teaspoon salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until the onions are starting to brown, 4 to 6 minutes.
3. Add turkey to the onion mixture and cook, crumbling with a spoon, until the turkey is no-longer pink, and it is broken up into small crumbles, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in zucchini and mushrooms and cook, stirring often until the vegetables have let off their liquid and the liquid has evaporated, 7 to 10 minutes.
4. Stir tomatoes into the turkey mixture and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Remove from the heat and stir in basil.
5. Stir ricotta, egg and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Season with pepper.
6. To assemble lasagna: Spread 1 ¾ cups sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with three uncooked lasagna noodles. Spread 1 ¾ cups sauce on top of the noodles. Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the sauce. Top with about 1 cup Italian cheese. Top the cheese layer with three more noodles, 1 ¾ cups sauce, all of the remaining ricotta and 1 cup Italian cheese. Layer on the last 3 noodles and spread with the rest of the sauce.
7. Cover with a layer of parchment and a layer of foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the top-most lasagna noodles are soft when pierced with a paring knife, and the lasagna is bubbling along the edges.
8. Remove the foil and parchment. Top the lasagna with the remaining Italian cheese and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until the cheese on top is completely melted, 5 to 7 minutes. Rest 10 minutes before cutting into portions. Garnish with basil before serving.