Wednesday, February 1, 2012

No-Noodle Lasagna

We moved and we are now writing to you from the Boston area. (Will have to rework the blog a bit.) It's been a big adjustment - for starters we now have a car! Moving to Boston during winter isn't ideal. One - it's a little grey and cold to get out and walk around to explore our new neighborhood. Two - local food is hard to come by making it extra difficult for us newbies to find all the locally sourced milk, eggs, veggies and meat we love. Apparently, we took all those wonderful greenmarkets of NYC for granted. Boston does have winter greenmarkets, but they are farther from home and have fewer vendors. Our next plan is to head out to some of the farms to try out their farm stores. Might as well take advantage of having a car, right?



We are working on not eating sugar, flour and grains for a few weeks. This has left us eating a lot of dinners of meat, winter squash and kale. It was time to mix it up a bit, so I headed down to the neighborhood grocery store to see what organic veggies I could scrounge up. I came up with zucchini and eggplant (out of season in Boston, but you do the best you can). I decided to make some lasagna using slices of zucchini and eggplant as the noodles.

In this recipe, I used a jar of organic spaghetti sauce. I have read about canned tomatoes leaching BPA out of the can lining, and I haven't been able to find tomatoes in jars. So, I have resorted to using jars of spaghetti sauce instead. Do you know where to find tomatoes in jars?

No-Noodles Lasagna
2 T olive oil
2 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise
1 medium eggplant, sliced lengthwise
1 lb grass fed ground beef
28 oz spaghetti sauce
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 t dried parsley
1/2 t dried basil
1/2 t dried oregano
8 oz mozzarella cheese, grated

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Oil two baking sheets and place the the slices of zucchini and eggplant on the sheets. Bake until softened - about 15-20 minutes. While those are in the oven, brown the ground beef, and mix in the spaghetti sauce. In a separate bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, eggs and spices. Layer the ingredients into a casserole pan. I put a bit of sauce in the bottom of the pan, eggplant, sauce, ricotta mixture, mozzarella, zucchini, sauce, ricotta mixture and mozzarella. Bake for 45 minutes to warm it through.

*I like pre-baking the veggies because I think there is nothing worse than under cooked zucchini and eggplant. Years ago, I made this for a party but didn't pre-bake the veggies. I baked it for more than 2 hours and they were still not quite done.

This post is part of Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday, Jenny's Alphabe-Thursdays, Frugal Food Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, and Make Ahead Monday.

18 comments:

anitamombanita said...

Yay for you! I'm always trying to stay away from the grains, sugar, gluten, anything processed, etc...and trying to find good locally grown, etc... this looks like a great recipe. I'll have to give it a go!

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

This looks wonderful, even for those of us who eat whatever they want!

Judie said...

This is just an excellent idea! I definitely will try your recipe. When I lived in PA, I loved going to the greengrocer and the meat market. As for the jars of sauce, I find that if you add red wine to the store-bought sauce, it gives it a richer flavor. I use merlot.

Unknown said...

It looks and sounds great. I'll have to add it to the list of things to try:-)

Betty said...

Maybe you'll find some canned tomatoes in jars at the farm stores? I'm not even sure what a greengrocer is...maybe only organic food? I buy organic on occasion, but it's so much more expensive in the regular grocery store. Your lasagna sounds good to me, but I'm afraid my husband would comment on the lack of noodles. Hope you enjoy Boston.

Fresh Local and Best said...

This is a terrific idea! I love the idea of using eggplant and zucchini in place of noodles.

Tracey Davis said...

Here is a link to finding BPA free tomatoes:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/are-your-canned-foods-safe-to-eat-a-bpa-free-buying-guide/#axzz1jYveze1e/

I've gotten the tomatoes he mentions and they are fantastic. Thanks for your post. We are following the Primal Blueprint diet right now, so I'm on the lookout for grain free recipes.

http://chaospatrol.blogspot.com

City Share said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
City Share said...

Thanks so much for the suggestion on the tomatoes. I will check it out.

Splendid Little Stars said...

sounds very interesting! I will try it! I've heard stuff about cans before. Now I'll be sure to check it out.

storybeader said...

great idea and looks delicious. Enjoy your new surroundings - lots of history! {:-Deb

momto8 said...

I tried a version of this last summer when we had so much zucchini...the adults liked it! but the kids missed the noodles..I will keep trying!!
I am your newest follower...pls follow back if you can!

Miz Helen said...

I just love your No Noodle Lasagna. The combination of flavor in the recipe will sure be a hit here at The Cottage, can't wait to try it. Hope you are having a wonderful week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen

Sarah said...

This looks great, and a great way to put more veggies into a hearty meal!

I would love for you to come share this recipe on my link-up, Make-ahead Mondays, at Raising Isabella!

http://naturalparentingunnaturalworld.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-ahead-monday-6.html

Hope to see you there!

-Mrs. Robinson said...

I just found you through Frugal Food Thursday. I'm also avoiding grain, flour and sugar right now, and this looks fantastic! I hope to try it sometime soon.

Jenny said...

I love using eggplant in place of lasagna noodles! Eggplant grow extremely well here so I've done this quite a few times.

It's also fun to make eggplant roll-ups like lasgagna roll ups filled with ricotta and mozzarella cheese.

Thanks for a delicious link to the letter "K".

A+

City Share said...

Mmm, no-noodle lasagna roll ups are a good idea.

Sarah said...

Thanks for sharing this post at Make-ahead Monday! I hope to see you again next week!

Sarah @ Raising Isabella

http://naturalparentingunnaturalworld.blogspot.com

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