Zucchini Lasagna

           Several asked me to share my recipe for zucchini lasagna so I thought this was the easiest place to share it.  I found a recipe on pinterest and another recipe in a cookbook here at home called, Skinny Dinners, it is a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  I took what I liked out of each recipe and made up my own from the two.  I will also add, in the picture above I am using a veggie spiralizer  but you could easily use a mandolin or slice your zucchini in super thin slices with a sharp knife. This spiralizer was at the top of my Christmas list this year.  It came from Williams Sonoma and you can purchase one here .

 It is $50 and worth every penny. You can spiralize veggies to look like angel hair noodles, you can do them curled like in the picture above or you can use it as a mandolin.  I have used it to make a couple of different cold cucumber salads, pad Thai and a couple of Italian dishes substituting vegetables for my noodles.

        I made this lasagna meatless and in place of meat I sautéed spinach and portobello mushrooms.  You could easily do ground beef or ground sausage in place of the spinach and mushrooms or you could even have it as an addition.  I first preheated my oven to 375 degrees.  Next I  spiralized my zucchini using the setting that best resembled lasagna noodles. Next I chopped my portobello mushrooms into cubes.  In a hot skillet I put the zucchini in and sautéed it for 4-5 minutes. 

 

 

After the zucchini was sautéed I poured the zucchini into a strainer and let the zucchini drain.  Zucchini retains some water so I wanted to get all the water out.

 

 

While the zucchini continued to drain, using the same skillet I threw in the package of frozen spinach and the chopped mushrooms. I sautéed these until they were heated all the way through about 7 minutes. 

 

 

While my spinach and mushrooms were sautéing, in a separate bowl I put 15 oz part skim ricotta cheese and 1 egg and stirred these until well combined.

 

 

 

Somewhere around this step this little one decided he needed to help me.  He is too cute and I know I will miss him being under my feet in a few short years.

 

 

In another separate bowl I mixed my pasta sauce and 1 can of tomato sauce (I also added a generous pinch of crushed red pepper for spice).

 Now I was ready to start assembling my lasagna. I started with a layer of sauce, next zucchini, next the cheese mixture and then the spinach & mushrooms. I repeated this until I was out of ingredients.

 

 

Just before putting my lasagna in the oven I topped it with 4 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese. I cooked the lasagna at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes and then broiled it for an additional 5 minutes to make things bubbly.

 

 

This meal was a hit at our house and we will definitely have it again!!

 

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this:

 

2-3 medium zucchinis

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 15oz container of skim ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 pkg frozen spinach

2 portabella mushrooms

2tbsp of olive oil for your skillet

4 slices of fresh mozzarella (optional)