I have had very little appetite ever since I became a single mother. I have to actually push myself to eat. I know this will change so I am not worried (much). Until then you may not see many posts of recipes. This one doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out but, making it the other day was O.M.G. AMAZING!!!!!! Every bite was filled with pure taste and made me grown with mmmmmmm YUM.
Simple No noodle Lasagna
- 2 large zucchini – about 6-8 inches each
I really like using zucchini, cut in thin strips, in the place of noodles. With this recipe I took a minute to thinly slice and then place the slices on a few paper towels in case they needed to weep (ok, I lied, I’m not rich enough for paper towels, it was a rag).
- 1 lb. Lauras lean ground beef, 4% fat or like in my household a mixture of this ground beef and ground turkey
- 1 cup minced veggies – I used minced carrot, celery, spinach and mushrooms (yes, I have children that cringe at mushrooms even though they are my favorite)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt *important try not to leave out the salt if you are using mushrooms.
cook in a skillet till no longer pink, then set aside.
In a pot sauté
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- 1 cup peppers diced- I used a my blend of red, green, orange, yellow and poblano
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- 1 -2 teaspoons oregano
- 2 teaspoons basil ****** fresh is always best*****
- pinch of cayenne
until onions are translucent and your house smell like supper 🙂 My mom taught me that every meal should start with an onion.
- Add 2 jars of those tomatoes you put up during the summer or if you don’t have that then 2 large cans of tomato sauce will work.
At this point you can add your meat mixture in and heat the whole thing until nice and hot. Taste it, is it good, does it need more salt, or garlic? You could take a break now and have a little lunch, maybe some miracle noodles and a bit of this wonderful sauce, yum.
- part skim ricotta cheese 1-2 cups worth depending on how thick you like this layer.
- 2 cups shredded cheese of choice
I get out my big Pyrex pan and put a bit of sauce on the bottom (just enough to coat so nothing sticks). I layer my zucchini like noodles and spread ricotta over it. Then I spread about 1 cup of sauce over that. Layer again and if lucky again and again ending with sauce. This is where I bake mine at 350*F for about 30-40 min then place the 1-2 cups shredded cheese on top and continue to bake for 15-20 minutes. Please please please let cool for about 45 min. Lasagna is one of those dishes that get better as they cool and even better the next day.
Our household had ours with a caesar salad minus croutons. everyone walked away happy. No child thought I was serving only rabbit food or my usually yucky healthy food. If my kids had it their way they would eat pizza for every meal!
ThePratusSaga 