Paleo Lasagna, Simplified

I originally found THIS recipe on Health Bent, and it was delicious. It did take some prep time, though, and I wanted to simplify it a bit for a quick dinner idea that the kids would still enjoy. The squash was a little difficult to cut up. Also, the last time I made it, the kids weren’t really excited about the chunks of butternut squash, but I still thought it was great.

I was at the store looking for a butternut squash, but couldn’t find any. The produce guy told me they didn’t have any whole squashes, but did have the cubed ones. I decided to go for that, and figured I could find some way to cut them up later.

That afternoon, I thought, “What if I were to process the chunks in the food processor until they were smaller and then make the dish into more of a casserole?” The results were a big success. Here’s the recipe!

Recipe: Paleo Lasagna Casserole

2 lbs cubed Butternut squash

1.5 lbs ground sausage

One 15-oz jar spaghetti sauce (I found some good no-sugar added stuff at Whole Foods)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until mostly brown. Set aside.

Put the squash cubes into a food processor and pulse until chopped into small pieces (you may need to do a couple rounds if your processor isn’t big enough–you don’t want to pack it in, or it will turn to mush):

Pour a bit of spaghetti sauce into bottom of a 9×13 pan (enough to cover the bottom lightly). Sprinkle on some meat. Add a layer of the chopped squash. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used up:

Lay a piece of foil over the dish (you don’t need to put it on tightly), and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and cook for another 5 minutes to allow the top to brown a bit.

One of the great things about this dish is that I was able to freeze it successfully. Butternut squash will normally get really mushy after being frozen, but this casserole was still great, even after being thawed. I made two lasagna casseroles and froze one for future use–I’ll just have to pull it out of the freezer and cook for about an hour. Nice!

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