{GF} Chicken Zucchini Lasagna

Green onions, green beans, beets, zucchini, & concord grapes.

My garden is literally exploding with produce right now, and I couldn't be happier!  Every day, supper is planned not around what is in the fridge, but what's ready to come out of the garden.  And right now, the zucchini is ripening by the pound!  

DH's favourite food is lasagna.  I love it, too, but I haven't made it in the past 2 years because A) it's really a lot of work! and B) I haven't been able to find gluten free lasagna noodles made out of anything but rice - and I've gotta be honest: rice noodles are gross.  However.  I hauled a 2+ lb zucchini out of the garden yesterday and thought, Huh.  I bet that I could make a pretty fantastic 'lasagna noodle' with that zucchini!  And so I did.  It's pretty easy, it doesn't take much time, and the end result is SUPER tasty and quite filling.  It does end up being a bit soupy, but that had no effect on the taste.  It just didn't look picture-perfect.

{GF} Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 baseball bat zucchini (you know the size I'm talking about if you grow it!) or 3-4 small zucchini
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 28 oz Spaghetti Sauce
• 6-8 cups raw spinach, swiss chard, or beetroot leaves
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 green onions, chopped
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1-2 tbsp high heat oil, such as peanut oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil
• 1 cup ricotta 
• 1 500mL container cottage cheese
• 1 large egg
• 4 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Over medium heat, heat oil, add greens, & cook down for 2 minutes.  Turn heat to low, add garlic & green onions, and simmer for 5-10 minutes (10 if using mature leaves, 5 if using baby leaves).
3. While greens are cooking, combine chicken & spaghetti sauce in a medium sized bowl.  Add salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.
4. In another medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, & egg.  Mix well & set aside. 
5. Slice zucchini, lengthwise, in 1/8"-1/4" wide strips.  
6. Cover the bottom of a 9x13" (or 2 8x8" dishes - that's what I did - one for the freezer!) with zucchini strips, as you would regular zucchini noodles.  Spread a layer of meat sauce on, then cheese mixture, then greens, then shredded cheese, then zucchini noodles repeat until you run out of toppings, being sure to end with shredded cheese.
7. Cover with foil.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Then, remove foil, turn oven down to 275, and bake for a further 25 minutes.
8. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Need more zucchini recipes?  Give these a try!