Meatless Meals

Well, I’ve been looking for new meatless meals to try and this week’s is from Finding Joy In My Kitchen.  Zucchini Parmesan is our new meal for the week. I’m really excited to try it. Not everyone in my family like zucchini but many of us like vegetarian lasagna that we’ve had at Circa ’21. So, I’m hoping this one will work well for at least some of us.

Anyway, here is the link to her recipe, but I’ll be copying it directly from her site:

• Zucchini Parmesan – (Modified from Swimming in Jell-o)
• 3 medium/large zucchini
  1-2 tsp. Italian seasonings
  sea salt, to taste
  ~2 C spaghetti sauce (we used homemade)
  1 C ricotta cheese
  1 egg
  2 tsp. basil (dried)
  1/2 C bread crumbs
  1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
  1/4 C Parmesan cheese, shredded
• Slice up your zucchini lengthwise into layers (think like noodles!). Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with Italian seasonings and sea salt.
• Put these into the oven to roast at about 425/450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Check on them to make sure they are not burning, and flip once while cooking.
• While zucchini roasts, lightly scrambled egg and basil in a medium-sized bowl.  Add in the ricotta cheese. Stir to combine.
• Pull the zucchini out when it’s roasted, and allow it to cool before you decide to pick up the pieces Transfer the pieces to the bottom of a lightly greased 8×8 inch glass baking dish. You can put as much zucchini in as you want — this was what I had, so we went with it. I’d easily cover the whole bottom with zucchini next time.
• Top with half of the bread crumbs (about 1/4 C)* Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the zucchini. Top with half of the spaghetti sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers, again adding as much zucchini as you have prepared.
• Finish by making the top cheesy — adding the remaining mozzarella and the Parmesan cheeses to the top.  Bake uncovered for ~40 minutes at 350. Move the dish to the top rack about 10 minutes before serving so the cheese browns nicely. Slice and serve.
• This dish has great flavor and we loved all the veggies in it when we made it with our homemade sauce.
• The bread crumbs are not crispy in this recipe, which didn’t bother us. But, I might suggest lightly sauteing the bread crumbs in a tiny dollop of butter and allowing them to crisp up, and then sprinkling them on the top after baking. Or, sprinkle them on the top when you move the dish to the top rack to brown… and let the oven do the crisping for you Enjoy!

So, if you have a meatless meal you’d like to link to, please post the link below.  If you have don’ t have a blog but have a recipe to share, post it in the comments. I love finding new tried and true recipes!