Strawberry lasagna
30 min · 12 g protein · 194 cals / serving
The no-bake summer icebox dessert: layers of graham crackers, a cheesecake-style cream and piles of fresh strawberries, chilled until the crackers turn cake-soft, then topped with a crunchy strawberry crumble. The cream is Greek yogurt and light cream cheese, so there is far more fruit and filling per slice than cracker.
Ingredients
Cheesecake cream
- 3 cups nonfat Greek yogurt
- 4 oz light cream cheese, softened
- 4 oz fat free cream cheese, softened
- 1/3 cup casein protein powder, vanilla casein protein powder
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp stevia, liquid stevia, or to taste
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon zest
- 2 1/4 lb strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 11 full sheets graham crackers
Crumble
- 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries, crushed
- 1 sheet graham crackers, crushed
Steps
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then beat in the yogurt, protein powder, honey, vanilla and lemon zest until thick and lump-free. Taste and beat in the stevia a few drops at a time until it is as sweet as a cheesecake filling; Greek yogurt is tangy and protein powders vary in sweetness.
- Set aside a handful of the nicest strawberry slices for the top.
- Lay half the graham crackers over the base of a 9×13-inch (23×33 cm) dish in a single layer, spacing them evenly and breaking them to fit. They won't cover it completely, and that's fine: the cream fills the gaps and the crackers swell as they soften. Spread with half the cream, then cover with half the strawberries. Repeat: crackers, the rest of the cream, the rest of the strawberries.
- Cover and chill at least 6 hours, or overnight, until the crackers have softened to cake. Just before serving, mix the crushed freeze-dried strawberries and graham crumbs and scatter them over with the reserved berries.
Good to know
Do I need the protein powder?
It thickens the yogurt into a sliceable, cheesecake-like cream and adds a vanilla note. Without it, use 2 more ounces (56 g) of light cream cheese and expect softer layers and a score of about 49 instead of 53; strain the yogurt for an hour if you want them firmer.
Why freeze-dried strawberries?
Crushed, they make a pink, tart crunch that tastes like the strawberry shortcake crumble on an ice cream bar. Add it right before serving so it stays crisp.
Can I use vanilla yogurt instead?
Yes, and skip the vanilla extract. Pick one with no added sugar (sweetened with stevia or sucralose): it scores almost as well as plain. A sugar-sweetened vanilla yogurt pulls the whole dish down, because it makes up so much of it.
Per
- Calories
- 106
- Protein
- (26%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (21%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (53%)
- 14 g
- of which sugar
- 8 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 121 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2330 kcal goes into the pot and 2200 g of ingredients comes out as about 2200 g of food: 106 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.