I’ve seen tons of recipes all over Pinterest that substitute veggies for pasta – one of the most popular ones seems to be zucchini lasagna. I thought it would be worth a try! I have my own preferences for what I like to include in my lasagna, but as far as how to prepare the zucchini itself I found a recipe at skinnytaste.com to be very helpful.
I compared several recipes, and the biggest thing I learned from this site was the importance of drawing the excess water out of the zucchini: those who skipped this step had an extra soupy outcome! I was very happy with the consistency we got with our attempt… very similar to our pasta version {not to mention that the gluten free lasagna noodles aren’t exactly cheap, so it’s an extra awesome alternative for us!}
You’ll notice the “prep time” below is an entire hour {in addition to the hour it takes to bake!} It’s definitely a little more time consuming than regular lasagna, but it’s a lot healthier too. Of course I also had a cranky toddler I was dealing with, so maybe that time could be cut down under more ideal circumstances 🙂
Zucchini Lasagna Ingredients:
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside 2/3 cup of the sauce and mix the rest with cooked hamburger in medium bowl. Next all you have to do is layer your ingredients! You don’t have to do it exactly like I did, but I have found having a “middle layer” of just cheese really helps the lasagna to set up nicely after it comes out of the oven. Here’s what I did: –> 1/3 cup “plain” sauce, zucchini, 1/3 ricotta, 1/4 mozzarella, 1/2 beef sauce, 1/4 Parmesan Top with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered. Let sit at least 10-15 minutes before cutting. |
Hi Kate, just stopping by to say how delightful your blog
is. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now
following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you
would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs,
Chris
http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca/
thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I've wondered how the texture of the zucchini is compared to regular pasta. Does it hold its shape or turn into mush?
It actually holds up really well! Definitely no mushiness or even breaking apart… especially compared to gluten free noodles. You might even say it's slightly chewy – but not in a super noticeable kind of way 🙂
Oh that looks so good! I just pinned a pin yesterday about this!
That's awesome! I'll admit, I was pretty skeptical before I tried it, but I love how it turned out!
you make me hungry!! lol
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thanks for following, i'll check out your site as well 😉
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