Cheeseburger Zucchini Boats

Winter is here!!!! :) We had snow yesterday and I love it!!! It is mostly melted now but still, snow falling is one of my favorite things!!! It is just so beautiful!!! :) 

Good news -- Yesterday was my first alone day with the kiddos. That is right, no help and I made it without any contractions!!! I even prepared a delicious meal that everyone enjoyed! Yesterday was a good day!!! 

Towards the end of each pregnancy I begin to crave cheeseburgers. I think mainly the burger and cheese! :) Yesterday was a craving day and I came up with this take! 

Don't those good yummy!!! Much better than a bun or even lettuce!!!

The Ingredients:
2 medium sized zucchinis - center scooped out
1 small onion, diced
1 lb ground beef
1 can of tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)
basil, nutmeg, garlic

EXTRAS - black beans, olives, tomatoes, green peppers or even jalapenos.

The Directions:
Scoop out the middle of the zucchini. Cut zucchini inside into smaller pieces and set aside.
Brown meat and diced onion until the meat is completely browned. Drain grease.
Add zucchini pieces and any extras to pan and begin to cook. After 2 minutes add the meat back to the pan and mix together. Add tomato sauce and seasonings.

Scoop meat mixture into zucchini boats and top with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered or until the zucchini boat is tender.

ENJOY!!!!

Fried Zucchini with ground beef

The Indiana State Fair is in town!!!! I am not sure if we will make it this year but it is always so much fun to go and walk around! I love people watching and the State Fair is the PERFECT place to do so!!!! Lots of interesting people and things and food to watch. 

Yes, I said food watch! Have you ever noticed the foods at the Fair? I swear our State Fair comes up with something new to Fry each year. Some of the creations could be good but others, I just think WHY?!?! :) 

In honor of The Indiana State Fair I fried up some Zucchini in Coconut Flour and Coconut Oil. I do not think that these bad boys come close to the fried-ness the state fair fried foods get.

The Ingredients:
1 medium large zucchini sliced
1 can tomatoes
1 lb ground beef
1 brown paper bag
coconut oil
nutmeg, 21 seasoning salute, lemon pepper to season meat

The Directions:
Cut zucchini into thin slices. Add zucchini to a brown paper lunch bag. I started with just a TBSP of coconut flour and gave the bag a shake. It actually doesn't matter how much flour you add because the extra will just stay in the bottom. In a frying pan warm up coconut oil  (you can use Olive Oil). The more hot the oil the faster and more brown the zucchini will get. I added a layer of zucchini and cooked each side for about 2 - 5 minutes. thinner slices cooked much faster. As soon as both sides are cooked and crispy, cool zucchini on a plate with a paper towel. This also soaks up the extra oil. Continue until all the zucchini is cooked.

Brown ground beef with one small onion and one garlic, minced. Season meat with nutmeg, 21 seasoning salute, and lemon pepper. Any seasoning will do. Drain grease from meat and pour meat back into pan. Add 1 can of tomatoes and mix in. Add zucchini at the end and serve!!!

My family really enjoyed this and the zucchini was great!!!

ENJOY!

Real Food Wednesday, Works for Me, What's on your Plate,  Healthy Today Wednesday, Cast Party Wednesday, Delicious Dishes, ChowStalker, Pennywise Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Turning the Table Thursday

Zucchini Lasagna and Blackberry Cobbler

I love when a meal comes COMPLETELY from local farmers! Last night for dinner I made a delicious batch of zucchini lasagna with homemade tomato sauce.

The Ingredients:

1 large zucchini, sliced into thin slices

1 pound ground beef (seasoned with nutmeg, garlic powder and basil)

homemade tomato sauce

1 bell pepper

1 onion

1 garlic clove, minced

Cashew Cheese:

1 cup soaked cashews

Almond Milk

Basil

Salt and Pepper

The Directions:

 I blended up tomatoes in my VitaMix and followed these directions.

 I decided to add a green bell pepper, onion and minced garlic. Sauted first!

 I also decided to add a pound of ground beef.

Then I started to layer!!!

 I topped the delicious zucchini lasagna with a cashew cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. You want to make sure the zucchini is tender and not mushy!

ENJOY!!!!

I didn't stop there!!!

I made a quick and easy dessert!!! 

Blackberry Cobbler

The Ingredients:

1 bin of fresh blackberries (I just picked ours up from CSA!) about 3 cups

honey

1 1/2 cup Almond Meal (ground up almonds)

1 egg 

2 TBSP melted Coconut Oil

Cinnamon

The Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Wash and Pat dry the blackberries. Add into a pie dish. Drizzle with honey. 

In another bowl mix together the Almond Meal, egg and coconut oil. 

Do not over mix... 

crumble the topping onto the blackberries. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

ENJOY --- AGAIN!!! :) 

Part of : Full Plate Thursday

Pennywise Thursday

Zucchini Breakfast Egg Casserole

Pregnancy has been having me crave, more like desire foods I would not normally eat. It has been a challenge but I have fallen off the wagon. The only thing that has sounded good and has stayed down during my difficult weeks is grains. I had been hard core no grains for sometime now but if eating grains means I am not going to get sick or throw up, I prefer to keep my food down! :) 

Now that I am 13 weeks, I am hoping to go back to little to no grains. For sure cut out the gluten. I just cannot handle the gluten. 

Check out this delicious Gluten Free Breakfast Casserole!!! DELICIOUS!!!!

 The Ingredients:
1 cup of Pamela Baking & Pancake Mix
1 zucchini grated, about 2 cups
5 - 6 eggs
1 cup of cheese (i only had about 1/4 cup but could have used more!)
2 TBSP Olive Oil

syrup for topping!

The Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Wash and Grate Zucchini. Add to mixing bowl. In a small mixing bowl, mix eggs and Olive Oil. Add eggs to zucchini mixing bowl. Then add the Pamela's Pancake and Baking Mix. Mix well!!! Add cheese and mix again!

Add mixture to greased casserole dish. You can use a pie dish or a 9x9 will do! Bake for 50 minutes!

We topped ours with just a little Maple Syrup.

ENJOY!!!!

p.s. I think Basil would go nicely in this dish! Next time!!!! :)

Part of : The Healthy Home Economist - Monday Mania

Make them extra sloppy

Gotta love being pregnant and craving and wanting everything I see!!! 

A few weeks back, my friend PW posted a status update about her surplus of sloppy joe mix and she had not made sloppy joes in 10 years!!!  Thanks for putting sloppy joes on my mind! 

Then yesterday, another friend, JS posted a picture that made me hungry and made me want to make sloppy joes... SO I DID!!! 

 I did not have seasoning mix, which I am thankful because I came up with a WONDERFUL combination and WOW was it AWESOME!!!

The Sloppy Joe Sauce:
1 can of tomato paste
1 TBSP 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (that is all that was left in the bottle!)
1 - 2 TBSP Coconut Aminos (Soy Sauce or Braggs Aminos would do!)
a dabble of Maple Syrup (I think I did 1/ 2 tsp)
1 - 2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all the ingredients together and taste and add what you think. Mine needed a little more garlic powder so I added just a little bit more!

The Directions:
Add 1 TBSP Olive Oil to frying pan. Saute 1 small onion for 3 minutes and then add 2 garlic cloves minced ( I used 1 HUGE garlic clove). After 2 minutes add 1 lb ground beef and brown. Drain and light rinse the ground beef. Add seasoning and mix in well. Cook on a low heat until the sauce is warm.

Yellow squash - I used cut the squash by hand instead of using my handy mandeline. In a boiling pot of water cook squash for just a few minutes or the squash will become to soggy and taste mushy.

We served green beans steamed for 5 - 10 minutes and seasoning with a little Olive Oil and Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute!

This meal hit the spot and I am thankful for the two hints from two great friends!!! :) Might I also add that this meal besides seasoning was all from local farmers!!! :) I love when that happens!

I hope you ENJOY!!!

Part of : Miz Helen's Country Cottage - Full Plate Thursday
GNOWFLINS - Simple Lives Thursday
The Nourishing Gourmet - Pennywise Thursday

Zucchini Spaghetti with grilled chicken

I have made this before... super quick and easy and a great way to enjoy the summer zucchini

2 zucchini's sliced with mandeline. You can do it by hand. 

2 chicken breast, marinaded and grilled

1 jar of tomato sauce

seasonings

In boiling water add sliced zucchini. Cook for only a few minutes (5 - 10 minutes) you need to watch it because if it goes to long it will be mushy. 

Drain the water and add the sauce. Once chicken is done cut chicken into pieces and add chicken and zucchini to the pot. 

ENJOY!!! 

SUPER EASY SUPER QUICK!!! 

Thai Noodles

I haven't had a WOW dinner moments lately. I have been struggling to make much of anything with flavor... I have these moments every so often because, well, I try to come up with something new each meal. Maybe a new spice on the meat or a new side dish. That is a lot of pressure I put on myself. 

This week I came up with AN AMAZING side dish. I took zucchini and made noodles. Added some seasonings and hubby said that this tasted like Thai Noodles. 

I must admit, these were delicious!!! :) 

The Ingredients:
3 zucchini (from our CSA)
2 carrots
1/2 cup peas (from our CSA)
2 TBSP Sunflower seed butter (almond butter would do too)
1 - 2 TBSP Coconut Aminos (Braggs Amino Acid would do)
1 TBSP Coconut Oil

The Directions:
Using a mandolin make thin zucchini noodles. You can use a knife to cut the noodles, but it may just take a little longer. Add zucchini and coconut oil to frying pan and being to cook noodles. After 5 minutes take carrots and use potato peeler and peel the carrot into the pan. In a small bowl mix sunflower seed butter, coconut aminos and just enough water to thin the sunflower butter. I used about a tsp. Mix until thinned and smooth. Add mixture to the zucchini and carrots. Melt and mix evenly. Add peas and cook on a low heat, covered for a few minutes.

Serve right away or set aside for later!

THIS WAS AWESOME!!! I am exited to see what I can add to this basic Thai Noodle recipe. ENJOY!

Stir-Fry and Zucchini Noodles

If you are a follower of my facebook page, you know I tried something new last night. It was something that I thought about for awhile and was hoping it tasted as good as I imagined.... I was wrong. It was terrible... well, the boys ate it. Hubby and I just could not... Hubby said it looked amazing but tasted just ok. I have not had a complete fail in awhile so I guess it was bound to happen! Ha! 

Thankfully - I have this delicious meal that we had before we left on vacation and have not blogged about! Lucky you --- you still get a recipe today even when such a FLOP yesterday! :) 

I love throw together meals with meat and vegetables! I love stir-fry! I love chili! I love anything you can make with loads of vegetables and meat! 

 This time I browned ground beef with onion. Added Broccoli, carrots, red bell pepper, 1/2 can diced tomatoes, hand full of cherry tomatoes and seasonings.

 I love using zucchini as noodles! Just an extra way to include another vegetable!!!! :)

Topped the noodles with meat mixture!

Full of flavor and super quick! The most time consuming part was using the madeline for my zucchini noodles. It was a real quick meal!

The Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion
1 cup broccoli
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
10 + baby carrots diced
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
Trader Joe's 21 seasoning salute
garlic powder
nutmeg
basil

The Directions:
Brown ground beef and onion. Seasoning meat after draining the fat with nutmeg and garlic powder. Add broccoli and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Cook on Medium heat. After 5 - 10 minutes add carrots, tomatoes, peppers, diced tomatoes and the rest of the seasoning.

In a boiling pot of water add the zucchini for 2 - 5 minutes. Strain water.

Top the zucchini noodles with the meat and vegetable mixture.

ENJOY!

Check out my friends blog who is hosting a giveaway!!!

Spaghetti Squash with ground beef and vegetables

Last week was a weird week in cooking. Let me explain!

Like every Saturday, I went to the store and bought groceries. I bought a lot of what I normally bought but for some reason, last week when I would get ready to plan dinner, I couldn't find anything. 

Last week was a struggle for me!!! We made it through it and are back on track!!!

Spaghetti Squash, Ground beef, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Zucchini, Coconut Aminos, Lemon Pepper, Garlic

I love this kind of recipe because it is easy to change or add things too! So many options!!!

Do you have days that meals are just a struggle??? Even when you have all the ingredients???

Nut Granola Bars

I mastered the Zucchini Spaghetti this week! If you remember, in this post, I made slices of zucchini. It was good but this time I used my mandolin and julienne cut the zucchini... 

DELICIOUS!

I added 1 cup of diced tomatoes to the sauce. 

Want some better news??? 

I made granola bars for my boys... no oatmeal and no corn syrup 

Don't those look wonderful?

The Ingredients:

1 cup Almonds

1 cup Pecan

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup cranberries

1 TBSP coconut flakes (I would have used more but I only had a TBSP)

1/2 cup raw honey (1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup molasses) I might only do a total 1/4 cup next time

1/2 cup Almond Butter

1/4 cup Coconut Oil

The Directions:

Add Almonds and Pecans into the food processor and rough chop. Pour them into a bowl and add pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cranberries and coconut flakes.

In a sauce pan add raw honey, almond butter and coconut oil. Once it is smooth and creamy add the nuts. 

Pour mixture into a 8x8 (with parchment) pan and spread evenly. Put in freezer for 2 hours to chill and set. 

ENJOY!!!! 

Part of  Real Food Wednesday

Saute Vegetables

I am really enjoying Paleo but I am not used to all this protein (meat). I am having to adapt to eating meat everyday. I am doing fine but last night I just wanted vegetables. MEAT FREE dinner.  

I stayed with the Paleo COLOR just minus meat.

I sided my saute vegetables with baked Brussels Sprouts. 

I told you... I was all about my vegetables! Joshua asked for seconds and thirds of Brussels! He is too cute!

The Ingredients:

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 red bell pepper

1/2 red cabbage

1 tsp Coconut Oil

Pepper

The Directions:

In the WOK add the coconut oil and bell peppers. Add the rest of the ingredients.

Simple and Easy... Perfect for those nights of vegetables only or would be a great side dish!

I just baked the Brussels Sprouts. A little Olive Oil, Braggs Amino Acids, Pepper, Garlic Powder and just a little pinch of sea salt. 

Quinoa and Black beans

I am extremely thankful for my meat guy! I feel I need to give him a shout out... His sole mission is to provide clean meat that EVERYONE can afford. He is so dedicated and affordable he has to work 2 jobs just to do so!

KUDDOS J&J KUDDOS!!!!

Do not worry I did not eat all that meat. My darling husband made my plate and ended up eating off it!

This meal is almost completely local. Quinoa and Blackbeans - NOT LOCAL but SOAKED!

Quinoa and Black beans.

The Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa (Mine was already prepared in my fridge!)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained (I made a homemade batch in the crockpot)

Zucchini and yellow squash, chopped into small pieces

The Directions:

Soaking Step Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a strainer. Allow to sit in strainer over a large bowl and add warm filtered water to cover sufficiently. Add 1 Tbsp of an acid medium (whey, kefir, yogurt, or cultured buttermilk). Cover with plate or towel. Soak 12-24 hours. Rinse once again and add 1 cup broth, and proceed. I use less than the recipe calls for if soaking, because it absorbed water in the soaking stage, and will not need as much to cook. 1 cup was perfect.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.

I cook my quinoa in my rice cooker! This time I cooked it in vegetable broth and added cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper right into the water.

(Thoroughly rinse quinoa. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.)

Saute zucchini and yellow squash in RAW butter and season with salt and pepper and Italian seasoning. Add into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans.

Mexican Zucchini Soup

My garden is doing great! Two more skinny, forearm sized zucchinis harvested!

I saw this wonderful looking recipe a few weeks back for zucchini soup. The original recipe had jalapenos, which would not mix well with a nursing mom, so I made a few changes.

My husband said this was a great soup. He was convinced there were potatoes in the soup because of the texture but no no no... no potatoes in this soup.

This is a great tasting soup, and a good use for those extra large zucchini that often appear in the garden. Of course, a normal size zucchini also is good.

The Ingredients:

2 large skinny zucchinis, chopped in small cubes

1 small yellow summer squash (I just had this on hand and needed to get rid of it - could do without!)

1/2 - 3/4 red onion, chopped

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cup yellow corn

1 TBSP Olive Oil or Raw butter

2 vegetable bouillon cubes

2 cups water

1/2 - 3/4 cup tomatillo salsa

nutmeg

pepper

salt

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (you can use more or less!)

The Directions

Saute onion in Olive Oil or Raw butter until glassy, about 3 minutes.

In a blender add zucchini, in sections, and pulse zucchini until finely mince with a few bigger pieces. You do not want to completely puree the zucchini but you do want a variety of sizes.

(this is how I tricked my husband into thinking this was a hardy soup)

Add zucchini to the onions. Saute with onions until tender. Stir in water, bouillon cubes, corn, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Bring soup to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and cook until corn and zucchini are soft but not mushy.

Add Parmesan cheese and tomatillo salsa.

Garnish with fresh Parsley. (I did not have any on hand and the soup tasted wonderful!)

Soaked Zucchini Bread

I am embarrassed to say another flop. I guess this time would be considered a 1/2 flop.

I found a zucchini bread recipe in my Nourishing Tradition's cookbook and just had to try it! Since finding out that I have an allergy to gluten, I am researching and coming up with new bread favorites.

This is not going to be easy!

I have now made this bread twice and 1/2 failed. I am pretty sure this bread will cook more evenly if I use a stoneware bread pan versus my regular bread pan. Since I do not have a stoneware pan, yet, I made both batches with my regular pan.

Outer dark brown and a few burnt corners. The inside not evenly cooked. Part left doughy while others cooked perfectly.

* Advise try cooking this with stoneware!

Ingredients:

3 cups freshly ground spelt, kamut, or whole wheat flour
2 cups buttermilk, kefir or yogurt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup grade B maple syrup
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup chopped crispy pecans

Preparation:

Soak flour in buttermilk, kefir or yogurt in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours – bread will rise better if soaked for 24 hours. Those with milk allergies may use 2 cups filtered water plus 2 tablespoons whey, lemon juice or vinegar in place of undiluted buttermilk.

Blend in remaining ingredients. Pour into a well-buttered and floured loaf pan (preferably stoneware). Bake at 350 degrees for at least 1 1/2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Note: you can substitute the zucchini for 2 ripe bananas for banana bread!

Stuffed Zucchini

What does one do with a Zucchini bigger than ones forearm?

Make stuffed zucchini!!!!

I really altered the original recipe so bare with me! :)

The Ingredients:

4 medium zucchini (I used 1 EXTRA large zucchini)

1 tsp RAW butter

1/2 small onion, finely diced

1 shallot, minced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 lb ground beef (this is optional but it was really good with it!)

1 large egg

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup fat free chicken broth

2 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs (I used planko)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp dried basil

Salt and fresh pepper

The Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out flesh, leaving 1/4" thick. Arrange in a baking dish. Chop the scooped out flesh of the zucchini in small pieces.

In a large saute pan, melt butter and add onion, shallot and garlic. Cook on a medium-low flame for about 2-3 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add chopped zucchini and season with a pinch of salt, cook about 2-3 minutes. Cook ground beef and season with salt and pepper, cooking until beef is cooked, breaking up in smaller pieces. Add paprika, garlic powder, marjoram, nutmeg and basil. Add ground beef to zucchini mixture and mix well and cook another minute.

Place zucchini meat in a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool. When cooled, addparmesan cheese and egg white, mix well. Using a spoon, fill hollowed zucchinis with stuffing, pressing firmly and top with bread crumbs. Place chicken broth in bottom of the baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake 35 minutes.

We served topped with a little homemade marinara sauce! Taste just like spaghetti.

Ratatouille

It is zucchini time! This week was a very exciting week for me! I picked, or should I say harvested, my first zucchini's, 4 to be exact! I also picked up a few large zucchini's from a fellow food sharer and my husband's uncle gave us a LARGE zucchini. We have a lot of zucchini! Oh, did I mention I also received zucchini's yesterday in our share!

I am so excited that someone suggested that I make Ratatouille. I love the movie Ratatouille! I had never heard of Ratatouille before watching the movie. Yes, I know, CRAZINESS!

Here is my first Ratatouille!!! I must say it smelt wonderful and tasted just as wonderful!

I can’t believe how well this worked out.
The Ingredient:
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant (my store sells these “Italian Eggplant” that are less than half the size of regular ones; it worked perfectly)
1 smallish zucchini
1 smallish yellow squash
1 longish red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Few tablespoons soft goat cheese, for serving
The Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Pour tomato puree into bottom of an oval baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced garlic cloves and chopped onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.
Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. As carefully as you can, trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.
On a mandoline, adjustable-blade slicer or with a very sharp knife, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick.
Atop the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping so just a smidgen of each flat surface is visible, alternating vegetables. You may have a handful leftover that do not fit.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.
Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

Zucchini Lasagna

I saw this picture on knew that I wanted to make Lasagna for dinner.

Last week, in our food share, we received a LARGE zucchini. Large meaning it was the size of my forearm! When sliced, it was the perfect size to make a lasagna with. I took the recipe that goes with this picture and made some little changes.

This lasagna came out DELICIOUS!!!

My picture did not come out as nice. To tell you the truth, I forgot to take a picture until I was cleaning up. I apologize for the not so nice picture! But trust me this is delicious and wonderful!

The Ingredients:

1 box cooked RICE lasagna noodles (look at the package - noodles might be non-cooking noodles!)

1 lb ground beef (our meat comes from a local farm)

3/4 cups RAW mozzarella cheese, grated

1 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1/4 cup RAW Parmesan Cheese, grated

1 large Zucchini, thin slices 2 1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped 1/8 tsp black pepper

The Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with vegetable oil spray.

Brown ground beef and onion.

In a small bowl, combine 1/8 cup mozzarella and 1 Tbsp parmesan cheese. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese with all of the cottage cheese. Mix well and set aside.

Combine tomato sauce with ground beef and remaining ingredients. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Add a third of the noodles in a single layer. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture on top. Add a layer of zucchini. Repeat layering. Add a thin coating of sauce. Top with noodles, sauce, and reserved cheese mixture.

Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into 6 portions.

We served our lasagna with green beans and garlic!