Day 24: Zucchini Lasagne

Wow, I rarely receive such a response to a dinner idea that I post on FB. I was amazed! Sounds like everyone wanted the recipe. I’m happy to oblige!

 

But first, a tidbit about me. I love to read food blogs. There are a few in particular that I follow and get many many ideas from; Kalyns Kitchen (first and foremost), The Polymath Chronicles (though I often enjoy reading about them more than actually making them as they are at a slightly higher skill level than I), and Siriously Delicious (I actually have yet to try any of hers but they look so great!). I love that they show step by step pictures of what they did. So helpful. I love to hear their personal stories of the trials and victories.

 

As I mentioned yesterday, Google is the other main way I get recipes. I particularly like when google gives me links to “allrecipes” or “cooks.com”. Great!

 

This now brings me to last night’s recipe “Grilled Zucchini Lasagna.” I got it from Kalyn’s Kitchen.
 

Now I’ll tell you another truth about me. I’m not great at following recipes. I’ll make substations if needed (I.e. I don’t have a grill, I just have my oven so I broil rather than grill). Also, not great at reading them to make sure I have all the ingredients (which means I was about to make Lasagne with no cottage cheese!). So here is what I ended up doing (though I’m sure it would have been even better had I followed her recipe to a T).

 

Grilled Zucchini "Lasagna" with Ground Beef

 

(Makes 6-8 servings, recipe created by Kalyn and altered by Tara.)

•  6 small zucchinis, cut into lengthwise slices about 5/8 inch thick (enough zucchini slices to make three layers)
• Pam Spray
• 1 Jar of Hunts 4 Cheese Marinara
• 1 small package of Ground Beef (or really any type of meet, cooked and chopped in to small pieces)
• 3 cups grated mozarella cheese (I’m fairly certain this recipe would also be great with soy cheese if you can’t do dairy).
• 8 large mushrooms

Spray pan with Pam Spray so Zucchini won’t stick.

 

Turn your oven on to Broil.

 

Cut Zucchini into slices about 5/8 inch thick.

 

Broil zucchini slices on one side until it is tender, but not fully cooked, about 7 minutes.

 

Make your Marinara/Meat Sauce Mix. I cooked my ground beef in garlic and onion salts. I then sautéed my mushrooms, sliced, in becel with garlic and onion salts and then combined both of those things with my jar of Sauce. (If I’d have had more time I would have added more veggies…like peppers, asparagus, etc).

Preheat oven to 400F.

Spray heavy ceramic or glass lasagna dish with non-stick spray or olive oil. (Be sure your dish isn't too shallow; I use a dish that's 3 inches deep, and 9" by 11" long.) Then layer “lasagna slices”, a layer of sauce, and a layer of cheese. Top with next layer of grilled lasagna slices, sauce, and cheese. I made 3 layers and then of course, made sure there was much cheese on the top level.

 

Bake about 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and browned on top and mixture is slightly bubbling.

Let sit at least 10 minutes before cutting, then cut into pieces and serve hot. Because I was missing some of the ingredients from the original recipe, my “lasagna” was quite runny, but oh so tasty so we didn’t mind.