Low Fat Cheesy Spinach and Eggplant Lasagna

12 whole wheat lasagna noodles, dry

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 eggplant, cubed

1 (28 ounce) can Italian herb-flavored tomato sauce

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1 cup low-fat cottage cheese

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 egg

2 ½ cups frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Drop lasagna noodles into water and add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Cook until noodles are tender but still slightly firm, about 8 minutes.

Drain water from the noodles and let cool.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Cook and stir garlic and eggplant chunks until eggplant is partially cooked, about 7 minutes.

Pour tomato sauce into the skillet and simmer until eggplant is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Combine ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper, and egg in a bowl.

Mix spinach into ricotta cheese mixture.

Spread a layer of tomato sauce mixture into the bottom of a 9x12-inch baking dish.

Place 4 noodles on top of the sauce, overlapping if necessary.

Spoon 1/3 of the remaining tomato sauce over noodles.

Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the tomato sauce

Repeat layers twice more, starting with noodles and following with sauce and ricotta mixture.

Top the lasagna with mozzarella cheese.

Bake in preheated oven until the ricotta filling is set and mozzarella cheese topping is lightly browned, 45 minutes to 1 hour.