To fight off the cold, I've been looking for excuses to turn the oven on and making lasagne was the best I could come up with. Lasagne has a bit of an unfair reputation for being a hassle to make. I certainly wouldn't attempt the traditional version with a bechamel sauce and meat ragu on a bad cooking with arthritis day, but you can knock up a lovely fresh vegetarian version in a around 20 minutes with no chopping involved. This arthritis - friendly recipe has the added bonus of being far, far healthier than the traditional lasagne and I think it is far, far tastier. So, rejoice in BST, embrace the cold, turn your oven on and get cooking.
Ingredients:
250g tub of ricotta or mashed/blended cottage cheese
350g tub of tomato sauce (or you can use homemade)
9 sheets of quick cook lasagne (about 180-200g dry weight)
350g frozen spinach (or cooled, cooked fresh spinach)
50g grated cheese
Black pepper and nutmeg to season (optional)
Serves 4
Defrost the spinach and drain off all the excess water. Put in a bowl with the ricotta and mix together. Season with a little black pepper and pinch of nutmeg.
Spoon a half the tub of tomato sauce into the bottom of the large making dish. Layer three sheets of lasagne over it. Top with half of the spinach mixture. Add another layer of lasagne sheets, then the rest of the tomato sauce. Put a final layer or lasagne sheets down and top with the rest of the spinach mixture and sprinkle with the cheese.
Pop the whole dish into the oven and bake for 30 minutes until bubbling and golden on top.
Arthritis diet notes
Whilst traditional lasagne might be delicious, it's absolutely full of saturated fats from all the cheese, beef, butter and milk. Saturated fats can exacerbate the inflammatory processes in your body so are not ideal for arthritis and diets high in these fats are a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases like health disease and stroke.
This easy, arthritis-friendly lasagne is a much better choice. The ricotta is low in fat and an excellent source of protein and calcium. The spinach is rich in folate and the tomato sauce is packed-full of vitamin C and heart-healthy lycopene.
