Simple Lasagna with Mustard Greens
Make this easy lasagna recipe next time you’re craving something pasta-y and cheesy! This simple lasagna with mustard greens recipe takes just 30 minutes of prep time! Made with seasonal Nature’s Greens mustard greens grown on local-to-me WP Rawl Farm!
This post was sponsored by Nature’s Greens. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make this blog possible!
When I experience a strong food craving, most of the time it’s for one of three things:
Sushi
A freshly baked chocolate chip cookie
Something cheesy and pasta-y
As you can imagine, the latter inspired this simple lasagna with mustard greens recipe. That, along with a beautiful bag of seasonal Nature’s Greens mustard greens, fresh from local-to-me WP Rawl Farm. If you remember from last year, I collaborated with them to bring you a series of recipes featuring their seasonal mustard greens, and I’m so excited to be working with them again! They are one of the nations largest growers of leafy greens, and right now they are literally doing heroic work harvesting crops to keep us fed during this time of national emergency. I had the opportunity to take a tour of their farm last year and I was so impressed with their food and worker safety programs, so I know they are taking great care of their farmworkers right now too.
For this month’s recipe, they asked for me to talk a bit about food cravings along with creating a recipe. Since I don’t really know how well mustard greens would work in sushi, and I definitely don’t think mustard greens would be a tasty chocolate chip cookie addition, I decided to make this simple lasagna with mustard greens, and honor my cheesy, pasta-y cravings.
I define a food craving as an intense desire for a specific food or taste. Food cravings can simply be the result of a strong taste hunger for a certain food. However, physical hunger and strong emotions can both heighten, or even trigger a craving. For example, if you’re feeling extremely hungry, that might show up as a strong desire to eat something sweet. Or, if you were feeling really stressed, you might notice a craving for something like chips in front of the TV to distract yourself from the uncomfortable emotion.
If you’re like most clients I work with, experiencing a food craving can feel incredibly distressing. It’s highly likely you try to cope with a food craving by suppressing it. When I Google “how to stop a food craving,” I get almost 85 million results! Often it looks like trying to eat a “healthier” version of the food you really want. Or, it involves trying to distract from the craving by taking a walk, drinking water, meditating…I’ve literally seen people recommend tapping yourself on the forehead to make a craving disappear. Oh diet culture and your endless amounts of ridiculous suggestions!
The thing is, these tricks rarely work. Usually, it results in your eating a lot of random, unsatisfying foods, or obsessing about the food you’re craving until inevitably giving in to it. And even if it does “work,” food isn’t anything to be afraid of! You may have just missed out on a really enjoyable eating experience.
So how do you deal with a craving? Satisfy it! There’s no need to avoid the foods that you love. Give yourself permission to eat what you’re craving, shame free, and you’ll be able to move on and concentrate on things besides food.
That said, there’s no harm in getting curious about a craving rather than immediately acting on it. Investigating your craving will help you respond in a more appropriate way. For example, if you’re craving candy but the thing that’s brought the craving on is hunger, you can still eat the candy, but you might actually want to eat something more filling first. Or, if you notice your craving was brought on by an uncomfortable emotion, you can still use food as a way to feel a bit better, but are there other self care tools that you might be able to try first?
Next time you’re experiencing a cheesy, pasta-y craving, I highly recommend whipping up this simple lasagna with mustard greens recipe. This lasagna really isn’t that time consuming as far as hands on time goes, especially since Nature’s Greens mustard greens are already washed, chopped and bagged. All you have to do is sauté the greens in a bit of olive oil while the lasagna noodles cook. Then layer the noodles, cheese, greens and sauce in a casserole dish before baking.
I love how mustard greens have a slightly bitter flavor that makes this basic lasagna recipe a little unique. Mustard greens remind me of Greek food, so I feel like it gives this simple lasagna recipe a Greek flare. If you can’t find ricotta cheese, which happened to me making this (thanks a lot pandemic!) just puree full fat cottage cheese. For mozzarella, I like to use low moisture (as opposed to fresh mozzarella sold in water) which has a better texture in this recipe. You can also add Italian sausage, which is a natural pairing with mustard greens (see my mustard green and sausage orecchiette for evidence!).
If you like this recipe for lasagna with mustard greens, follow my vegetarian pasta Pinterest board for more recipe inspiration.
Simple Lasagna with Mustard Greens
Makes: 1 dish
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
12 ounces lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-lb bag Nature’s Greens Mustard Greens
1 clove garlic, minced
25 ounce jar tomato-basil sauce
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 lb low moisture whole milk mozzarella cheese, grated
Fresh basil, optional, for garnish
Instructions:
Cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside until ready to use.
While noodles are cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add mustard greens and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring frequently, until wilted and tender, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook one minute more.
While assembling the lasagna, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9 X 13-inch casserole dish. Top with a layer of noodles, 1/2 the ricotta, 1/2 the mustard greens, 3/4 cup tomato basil sauce, and 1/3rd of the mozzarella. Top with another layer of noodles, followed by the remaining ricotta, mustard greens, 3/4 cup tomato sauce and 1/3rd of the mozzarella. Finish with a final layer of noodles, the remaining tomato sauce and remaining mozzarella.
Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted and lightly golden. Let sit 10 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh basil, if desired.
If you like this simple lasagna with mustard greens recipe, you might also like:
Mustard Greens Greek Salad
Mustard Green and Sausage Orecchiette
Barbecue Chicken Pizza with Mustard Greens Pesto
