Foodie Friday - Zucchini Lasagna

Even though Eight Ball Zucchini are round and small and cute, like other zucchini, they can be abundant.

And yes, they are great for stuffing but I decided to do something else with my Eight-ball zucchini - make lasagna!
First I sliced them thin and sprinkled them with salt to draw out moisture.

While they were sitting I went out in the garden and gathered a bell pepper, oregano, basil, parsley and swiss chard, and took a garden grown garlic and an onion from the pantry.

I began sauteing some grass fed ground beef and then added the onions, peppers and garlic. After they had softened, I added a 12 oz. can of tomato paste and a 15 oz can of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of red wine and the herbs to make a meat sauce.

I cooked the chard in boiling water to soften it.

I shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese, and mixed ricotta cheese with an egg.

I layered the meat sauce, the zucchini slices (patted dry with a paper towel), ricotta mixture, mozzarella, chard and sliced baby bella mushrooms, then layered the remaining meat sauce, zucchini, ricotta and mozzarella, topping it all with the parmesan cheese. It baked in a 325 degree oven for about an hour, covered with foil the first 45 minutes, then 350 when the foil was removed. I will admit, we were getting hungry near the end so I didn't keep it in the oven for the last 15 minutes, more like seven, so it is not as brown on top as it should be. It was still delicious.

You can find the original recipe here. It was a great way to use up too many zucchini.