Tag Archives: zucchini

Zucchini Squash Caserole

I was a little skeptical that this would be good. I’m glad I was wrong. This is an awesome side dish and it is also awesome on a sandwich with some bacon and avocado!

What You Need:

2 medium crooked neck squashes (or whatever you have in your garden/kitchen)

1 zucchini ( or a quarter of a giant one)

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice if one lemon

3 cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley

6 oz feta cheese ( I used one mixed with Mediterranean herbs)

2 cups tomato sauce

What You Do:

Slice zucchini and squash lengthwise.

Marinate zucchini and squash with oil, lemon, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl or ziplock bag in fridge for one hour or so.

Place a layer of squash, then zucchini, then cheese. Continue until all your ingredients are gone. (I had enough for 2 layers of each)

Top with tomato sauce.

Cook at 350F for 30 minutes covered until veggies are tender.

Enjoy! 20140811-135322-50002854.jpg

Kale Walnut Pesto Pasta with Zucchini Meatballs

What You Need (meatballs)
This recipe was inspired by this one here.

Onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
Salt, to taste
Everyday Spices by trader joes (contains garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper)
3 tablespoon parsley
1 pound grass fed ground beef
2 eggs
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup shredded Quattro Formaggio cheese
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Stir or mix well with hands until all ingredients are combined well.

Shape mixture into balls and lay on cookie sheets. (For easy cleaning cover cookie sheet with parchment paper)

Bake until cooked through 25-30 minutes.

What You Need (pesto):

One bunch kale
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup Walnuts
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Blanch kale for approximately 1 minute. Drain and rinse with cold water. Pat dry and put in food processor or blender.

Add the rest of ingredients and pulse instill well chopped and combined.

**Time management. Prepare meatballs first. Boil pasta and make pesto while meatballs are baking.

Let me know what you think! 🙂

Spring/Summer Zucchini Lasagna

I came across this recipe for spring greens zucchini lasagna in Experience L!fe magazine. I finally had a chance to try it last night. It came out pretty good and I was particularly excited about the roasted carrot sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce. Let me know what you think, here are my adaptations.

carrots

What you need:

  • 4 large, whole carrots, washed and trimmed
  • 1 red pepper
  • 5 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
  • Salt and black pepper (I used pink salt and peppercorns)
  • 1 bag power greens (baby spinach, baby red chard, baby kale)
  • 11/2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 4 cloves garlic, (1 pressed 3 roasted)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 tbs. chopped fresh dill
  • 1/4 cup shredded quattro formaggio cheese (or any shredded cheese you like)
  • 8 lasagna noodles (optional)

zucchini lasagna

What you do for sauce:

Preheat oven to 375.

Roast carrots, red pepper and 3 cloves of garlic for 25 minutes or until tender.

Mix carrots, pepper, garlic and fresh dill in blender with 2 cups of vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: I would have preferred more sauce, next time I will do 6-8 carrots and 3 cups of stock

cooked zucchini

What to do:

While carrots are roasting slice zucchinis lengthwise.

Mix ricotta cheese with egg, garlic, lemon zest and salt and pepper

Pour a layer of sauce at the bottom of a 9×12 pan and put down a layer of zucchini

Pour half of ricotta over first layer. Add half of your greens.

Put a second layer of zucchini, a layer of noodles (optional) and a layer of sauce

Pour half of ricotta and rest of greens.

Layer of zucchini and noodles. Pour rest of sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 covered for 35-45 minutes and uncovered for 10-15 or until cheese is melted.

 

***The original recipe roasted all the veggies first before making the lasagna. If it was early spring I would probably roast everything because the weather is still cooler or more back and forth and the roasting adds a warming element to the recipe. Because it was in the 80s yesterday and we are closer to summer than spring now I did not roast the veggies except for the sauce so that it is not quite as warming in nature. Also it was less time with an oven on! 🙂