Zucchini “Lasagna”

I usually chop the zucchini and eggplant into bite size pieces – my family likes it better that way than the thin sliced ‘noodles’, so it actually is more like a hot dish but I cook it like lasagna.

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Zucchini "Lasagna"

Author: Dr. Christine

Ingredients

• Ground turkey venison, or hamburger
• Worcestershire
• Onions
• Red/Yellow peppers
• Pepper
• Salt
• Garlic Salt
• Basil
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Tomato sauce
• Full Circle Italian style diced tomatoes
• Dried Red Pepper flakes
• Ricotta or Cashew 'Ricotta' See notes.
• Parmesan

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 9 x 13 glass pan with coconut oil
3. Brown turkey burger, venison, or hamburger. Sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce.
4. Add in chopped onions, red/yellow peppers and sauté
5. Add in spices; pepper, salt, garlic salt, basil, oregano, parsley
6. Saute zucchini and eggplant. I usually chop into bite size pieces, my family likes it better that way rather than the thin sliced 'noodles', so it actually is more like a hot dish but I cook it like lasagna.
7. Drain the liquid from the pan- the veggies will make a lot of water and don't want that in the lasagna pan.
8. Layer the pan with burger/veggie mix.
9. Add layer of tomato sauce
10. Here's where I add a splash of canned Full Circle Italian style diced tomatoes
11. Sprinkle with dried red pepper flakes
12. Plop some 'ricotta' on the tomatoes around the pan. I either use Ricotta cheese or I have found I LOVE making a cashew 'ricotta' instead of having all that dairy (recipe below)
13. Sprinkle with Parmesan
14. Layer some meat/veggie mix again
15. Tomato sauce
16. Italian style diced tomatoes
17. Ricotta
18. Parmesan
19. Bake 350 degrees for 45 min to 1 hour
20. This freezes really well and is a great gift idea for new moms, families with illness or hardships, and tastes great.

Recipe Notes

Optional Cashew Ricotta:
Cashew Ricotta
Basil, chives/onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt
1/4 cup non-dairy milk (coconut works great)
3 TBPS lemon juice
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups raw cashews
Put in a blender (I have used my magic bullet just fine) and blend well into a paste. It will still have some tiny nutty chunks in it, but it works really well just like that.

I hope that is enough direction to get you going with a tasty meal. It never tastes the same to me each time, but that is the fun of it. You can also play with extra veggies. I have added finely chopped broccoli, cabbage, or even cauliflower when I have that instead of the eggplant.

To go even further dairy free; you can make the Parmesan from raw cashews and Brewers yeast, salt and pepper. Also a very tasty alternative. The cashew mixtures actually sweeten the recipe up, so if there are kids or people who don’t like bitter veggies, the cashew recipes work wonders.