Zucchini Lasagna That's Easy, Tasty, and Nutritious

In a food rut? My suggestion is to make Zucchini Lasagna, like I did this week. This gluten free plant-based dish is sure to perk up your taste buds. It's a simple-to-follow recipe that's delicious as all get out. Zucchini is featured in place of lasagna noodles. Tofu, which contains 8 grams of protein in every 3 oz. portion, also contains 15% of the RDA of calcium. What a nutritional punch.


No need to puzzle about handling tofu. The secret to making this bland tasting high protein ingredient flavorful is to season it well. Use plenty of spices and herbs that are customary to Italian-style dishes. Your meal mates and you will smile with glee. Although Zucchini Lasagna is low-carb, it's hearty and filling. It's the perfect dish to serve on the weekend, either for brunch or dinner. It serves 4-6 generous portions, with leftovers.

With no cholesterol and moderate cost to boot (organic tofu is approx. $1.50 lb.), this entree is healthy and economical.


Let it bubble away in the oven, while you read the Sunday paper, watch the game, or prep it a day ahead so the flavors meld. Allow a half hour prep time and an hour cook time. Whenever you decide to cook it, take it from me, it's fun to assemble, cook, and serve.

Now on to the recipe for Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 14 oz.-16 oz. container firm or extra firm organic tofu that has been drained. Here's a simple way to drain the water out of a brick of tofu.

4 medium organic zucchini

2 15 oz. cans crushed, chopped, or diced organic tomatoes including juice

1 can (4 oz.) organic mushrooms or 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms chopped

1 medium chopped organic onion

5 fresh grated garlic cloves

1 cup fresh chopped basil (1/2 cup for sauce and 1/2 cup for tofu)
2 teaspoons dried thyme (half for sauce and half for tofu ) or 2 Tablespoons Fresh chopped thyme (half and half)
2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped sage (half for sauce and half for tofu) or 2 teaspoons dried sage (half for sauce and half for tofu)

1/4 cup fresh oregano (half for sauce and half for tofu)

Optional: Adding extra items to the sauce adds depth, increases thickness, nutrients, and calories: 1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, 1-6 oz. can organic tomato paste, 2 organic chopped carrots, 1 organic red pepper chopped, 1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes, bunch organic parsley chopped, rosemary, and other veggies or seasonings you enjoy.

What to Do:

1. Gather all ingredients including a 13"x9"x2 1/4" baking pan or similar. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mash or chop drained tofu. 

2. Cut off end pieces of 4 medium organic zucchini and scrape clean. Slice each with a mandolin slicer or by hand. Make pieces about 1/8 " thick. Here's a photo to show you how 2 zucchini look, after they have been scraped clean, and the other two have been sliced thin.

3. Chop onion and grate garlic.  Directions provided in step 2 of this link explains how to grate garlic as well as brown garlic and onion without using oil. After onion and garlic are brown, put half into the tofu.


4. Put ingredients for the sauce (tomatoes, half the onion and garlic, mushrooms, and half the herbs and spices) in the same pot that you used to brown the onion and garlic. Blend them all. 

Note: I learned from my experience cooking this recipe the first time, to add an optional ingredient, a can of tomato paste to the mix. Two cans of tomatoes make a slightly watery sauce, one that is thinner than I like a sauce to be. I suggest you either pour off some of the juice from the tomatoes (it’s good to save the liquid for soup stock) or add a can of tomato paste to the ingredients above.

5. Spread a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish and put a layer of zucchini over it. 

One layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, layer of zucchini goes next

6. Spread the tofu mixture over that. Top with a third layer (zucchini layer). Top zucchini layer with the remaining tomato sauce. Grind on fresh pepper and salt to taste.

7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 400 degree oven for approximately one hour or until zucchini noodles are soft, but not mushy. Test by seeing whether a knife will cut through a piece easily.

See how much fun it was to make? Only seven steps and you're done!

Zucchini Lasagna with Snap Pea Salad, Oil and Vinegar

For an added treat: Check out an original recipe that describes How-to-Make-Eggplant-Lasagna

Please comment below. Do you think you'll make this recipe? Can you offer ideas about other optional veggies that might be good to add? If you like what you see, please share the love. Thanks for the visit, and please come back again. 

The quote for today comes from Jane Velez-Mitchell. "Cholesterol does not exist in vegetables. Vegetables do not clog arteries." 
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/janevelez641583.html

This post has been shared at Angelas's Link to the Sunday Fitness and Food #44 and Ilka's Link to the Link-up


This post has been shared at Let's Get Real Blog Hop #170


This post has been shared at Pin-Junkie-Pin-Party-192


This post has been shared at Healthy-Living-Link-Party-88


This post has been shared at No Rules Weekend Blog Party #208


This post has been shared at The-Plant-based-Potluck-Party-Link-up-110


This post has been shared at Share the Wealth Sunday Link-up 82


This post has been shared at Happiness-is-Homemade-Link-Party-147

Versatile Vegan Tomato Sauce with a Secret Source of Veg Protein

Yum, yum. This is Scrumptious Pasta and Sauce!

Want to prepare a sauce that's packed full of nutrition, and looks, smells, and tastes great? It features the bright Mediterranean flavors of tomatoes, basil, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes. A secret ingredient, pinto beans, adds deliciousness, heartiness, and increased protein. Beans make the sauce a perfect thing to combine with pasta, legumes, veggies, brown rice, and many other foods. All beans provide a powerful helping of plant based protein, so perhaps this blog post will encourage you to eat beans more often. 

Look below to see how easy, cost effective, and fun it is to cook with them. You might be tempted to keep the sauce ingredients on hand to enhance the taste of all your favorite veggies. I revealed my secret ingredient so you'll try it. Maybe it will be your clean eating go-to gravy. One I love so much.

Versatile Vegan Tomato Sauce with a Secret Source of Veg Protein, Served on Gluten Free Fusilli Pasta

Ingredients

For Pasta

1 12 oz. package gluten free pasta (I used organic brown rice and organic quinoa mix fusilli) and fresh water to cook it in.

For Sauce

2 14.5 oz. Organic San Marzano Style Diced Tomatoes

2 14.5 oz. Organic Tomato Sauce

12 Organic cherry or grape tomatoes or 2 small whole ones

1 4 oz. can Organic Sliced Mushrooms or 1/2 cup fresh ones

1  15 oz. can Organic Pinto Beans

Sprig of Fresh Organic Basil

1 teaspoon Dried Organic Oregano or sprig or 2 of Fresh Oregano 

1 teaspoon Dried Sage and 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme (optional)

2 Organic Garlic Cloves minced

2 Organic Zucchini 

2 Organic Carrots

1/2 Organic Yellow Onion (can substitute red onion or scallions)

Salt to taste (I prefer mine with no added salt, because canned tomatoes and tomato sauce have a lot of added salt)

Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Notes: Feel free to add other veggies if you like. A few ideas are red pepper, string beans, kale, capers, and celery. When you add additional veggies, it makes the sauce thicker, increases nutrients, and heightens taste even more.

I always use organic ingredients when available, because organic means produce is not genetically modified, not sprayed with chemicals, and is not grown in soil that contains chemical fertilizers.

How to Make It

1. Open diced tomato cans, tomato sauce cans, and rinse fresh tomatoes. If you're using fresh tomatoes, chop them in the bowl of a food processor until chunky. Place all in a large saucepan that has a cover. Add minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and bring all ingredients mentioned in this step to a boil. Stir and turn heat to simmer. Then cover and cook for 15 minutes. While tomatoes are simmering on the stove top, do the next step.

Note: Select fresh tomatoes that are bright red in color. This is a signal that they have ripened fully and are loaded with a valuable nutrient called lycopene, an antioxidant that helps prevent cancer and lowers unhealthy cholesterol. Cooking tomatoes for at least 30 minutes  releases more lycopene than cooking for less time. That's why my recipe suggests you cook tomatoes for 30 minutes total. Canned tomatoes are picked when at the peak of freshness and can be used when you don’t have fresh on hand. I buy only those that are packed in BPA free cans, because bisphenol A, a synthetic estrogen found in the epoxy coating of food cans, has been linked to many health problems. Many companies have publicly pledged to stop using BPA in their cans, but check to see that the ones you buy are labeled BPA Free.

2. Rinse canned beans, mushrooms, and all fresh veggies in cool water. Prep zucchini and carrots by washing and scraping off sand and dirt with the side of a knife. Keep as much skin on as possible, as it contains fiber and nutrients. Peel onion and garlic. Rinse basil and any other fresh herbs and veggies you want to include. Put all remaining ingredients except pasta in the bowl of a food processor and chop until they reach a consistency that you like. I like to see little chunks of veggies in my sauce as it adds bright splashes of color and texture. Chop as fine or as chunky as you wish, but for 2 minutes max. Pour veggies into simmering pot of tomato sauce, mix, and cover. Bring to a boil again and simmer for 15 minutes more. 

Zucchini on the left is scraped clean as is the carrot on the right

Basil, Pinto Beans, and Mushrooms

3. While veggies, beans, and tomato sauce mixture is cooking (the last 15 minutes of the cooking process) put up a large pot of fresh water to use to cook the pasta. Follow the package directions (the package of fusilli I used stated that 1/2 cup of dried pasta is one portion and to cook fusilli from 7-10 minutes). It's best to test pasta for doneness at 7 minutes, so it doesn't get overcooked. When done, place pasta in a colander and strain. Put individual portions of fusilli into dishes, top with sauce, and serve while still piping hot.

This is Freshly Made Versatile Vegan Tomato Sauce 

Right below is another way I used my versatile vegan tomato sauce, a day later.

I combined 2 cups of Tomato Sauce with 2 cups of Lentil Soup for this Mouthwatering Soup Transformation

For information about lentil soup see this link:

Surprising-Features-and-Recipes-for- Organic-Red-Lentils

A few days later, I served the remaining sauce on steamed green cabbage and red skinned potatoes. It looked fabulous and was so delicious. I seasoned the dish with organic garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of extra virgin organic olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, and a pinch of Himalayan Pink salt.  

Organic Green Cabbage, Organic Red Skinned Potatoes, and Sauce

When you tabulate the cost of a home-cooked meal like this to meals that have been processed commercially and frozen, or eat a similar meal in a restaurant, you'll realize you come out way ahead of the game by eating at home. You save money, are eating real food, and can trust the quality of the ingredients that are in it. My secret ingredient protein tomato sauce recipe only takes 30 minutes to prepare, so you save time too. Refrigerate extra sauce, as soon as you're finished making it. It will stay fresh for up to four or five days. Have fun inventing new ways to serve it. Other ways to use it might include to put it into gluten-free burritos or organic corn tortillas, or use it to top off spiralized zucchini. 

Don't forget to let me know what you think of my "secret ingredient" vegan tomato sauce. This is how to do it. Scroll down at the end of this post and write in the space that says "enter your comment." Then, click on "publish" after you've written your comment. Thanks so much.

The quote for today follows: "Putting even one thing in your shopping basket that's locally produced or organic makes all the difference. It's a vote for the future, for animal welfare, for the environment, for your children's children." Sheherazade Goldsmith

Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/sheherazad614251.html

This post has been shared at Share-the Wealth-Sunday-66

This post has been shared at Sunday Fitness & Food Link-Up

This post has been shared at Friday-Feature-Linky-Party-27

This post has ben shared at No-Rules-Weekend-Blog-Party-192

This post has been shared at The-Plant-Based-Potluck-Party-Link-up-95