Ingredients

• 3-4 Zucchinis, washed, dried and sliced lengthwise
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Onion, chopped (can use frozen onions for young chefs)
• 3 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 4 Ounces Fresh Mushrooms, chopped fine (such as with a food processor or chopper)
• 12 Ounces Smart Ground, Non-GMO meatless ground soy (such as LightLife)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning (plus salt & pepper to taste optiona)
• 24 Ounces Tomato Basil Sauce (jar)
• 16 Ounces Cottage Cheese (we used 1%)
• 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
• 1 Teaspoons Parsley flakes
• 1 Egg
• 1 Cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Carefully slice zucchini using a mandolin (with guard) or knife to 1/4″ thick.  Lay zucchini slices on a flat surface and sprinkle salt all over.  After 10 minutes, blot with paper towel to remove water from zucchini slices.

Bake Zucchini slices for 20 minutes to help dry them out.

Sauce

Heat olive oil in medium pan.  Saute onion, garlic and mushrooms until soft and fragrant.  Stir in ground soy and sprinkle with Italian seasoning (and salt and pepper if desired).  Stir in tomato basil sauce.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Cheese Filling

Combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, parsley, and egg.

Begin to layer lasagna:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish and begin to layer the following:

-1/3 sauce

-1 layer of zucchini “noodles”

-1/2 cheese filling

-1/3 sauce

-1 layer of zucchini “noodles”

1/2 cheese filling

-1/3 sauce

-1 cup shredded mozzarella

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes until bubbly and cheese on top is melted.

Remove from oven and allow to cool to firm.

*Note:  Zucchini by nature has a lot of water in it so drying the zucchini first and slicing in 1/4″ slices will help to reduce the moisture.