Vegetarian Zucchini Lasagna - Dinner for August 28

Brown over medium heat in large saucepan:

1# ground meat (optional)

1 medium size onion – chopped

8 +/- cloves fresh garlic – smooshed and chopped

Use a bit of olive oil if not using meat

Add:

1 can (16oz) tomato sauce

1 can (16 oz) diced tomatoes or two large tomatoes diced

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 TBLsp sugar

Salt to taste - go light on the salt as the cheeses will add quite a bit

½ cup red wine (optional)

Cook over low heat at least 20 minutes but up to several hours.

Mix in bowl:

~12+ oz cottage or ricotta cheese [more will add bulk]

~6+ oz finely grated parmesan cheese [more will deepen the flavor]

~8+ oz grated mozzarella cheese [more will firm up the texture]

Large handful of chopped fresh picked herbs: parsley, basil, oregano

  Adjust flavors if you use dried basil &/or oregano

2 zucchini about 10” long – wash, cut off ends, slice about 1/8” thick.  You can either cut the zucchini into rounds or long strips that look like lasagna noodles.

Layer in 9X13 pan:

Zucchini

1/3 of tomato sauce

1/3 of cheese mixture

Repeat X3

Cook at 350F for 60 minutes uncovered

The Zucchini adds a lot of liquid so this can be rather runny, especially if the tomato sauce mixture is not cooked down very long.  Thank goodness for bowls and spoons, eh?

If you want to make a bit extra, add another can of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes, and another 12 oz of cottage or ricotta cheese.  Then adjust up the spices a bit.  With additional zucchini, this should make enough to fill both a 9x13 plus a 9x9 pan.