Zucchini Lasagna
Sometimes, you need something dense, heavy and warm to fill your belly. That’s me most Sunday nights anyway. There’s something about Sunday to me that says "big meal, comfort food please!” This Sunday-ish dinner is one of our faves because it’s easy to prep—you don’t have to do a lot to the ingredients except assemble them. We also love it because it’s a big meal that fills us up physically and emotionally for the week ahead, and there’s always leftovers!
What You’ll Need:
5 smallish zucchinis
1 bag/container pre-diced mirepoix
21 tbsp cooking oil
3 cups kale/spinach
1.5 lb ground beef
1 jar your favorite sugar-free tomato sauce
1 cup cashew cream, or 1 container Kite Hill almond cream cheese or ricotta
1 TBSP Italian sesoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
What I Did:
Preheat the oven to 350.
Heat 1 TBSP oil in a skillet until hot, but not smoking. Add the mirepoix and sautee until soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add the kale or spinach and sautee until wilted. Remove from heat.
Heat the other TBSP of oil and add the ground beef. Sautee until most of the pink is gone. Season with salt and pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
Slice the ends off of zucchini, and then stand zucchini vertically. CAREFULLY, use a sharp knife to create thin, vertical strips of zucchini. (If you have a mandolin, you can use that to get uniform slices).
Add a thin covering of tomato sauce to the bottom of a pyrex baking dish or casserole pan. Add zucchini ribbons until the bottom of the pan is covered.
Layer ground beef, veggies, sauce on top of zucchini. Then, take a small spoon and blob teaspoon sized amounts of cashew cream or Kite Hill “cheese.” This isn’t super spreadable, so you will end up with dots of cheese, rather than a full layer.
Add another layer of zucchini, followed by veggies, sauce and cheese. Repeat until you reach the top of the pan.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350, or until the zucchini are al dente. Enjoy!