Zucchini Lasagna

This week I made a delicious Zucchini Lasagna for dinner.  It was so easy - 15 minutes hands on! - AND just as good cold the next day.  So all in all a great dinner for a week night or for when you are crunched for time.  Although this lasagna has no red sauce, the cheese sauce has a pink tint from my secret ingredient (ground cayenne pepper to give it a little kick!).  This lasagna serves 4 and packs only 398 calories!

Zucchini Lasagna
adapted from marthastewart.com

Incredients -

• Cooking spray, for baking dish
• 8 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 container (15 ounces) fat free ricotta cheese
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, then sliced thinly crosswise
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 6 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 2 ounces shredded (1/2 cup) part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions -

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. 

In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, ricotta and cayenne pepper; season with salt and pepper. In another medium bowl, combine zucchini, garlic, and oregano; season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. 

Spread 1/3 zucchini mixture in prepared baking dish; top with two lasagna noodles, then 1/3 ricotta mixture. Repeat twice with remaining zucchini mixture, noodles, and ricotta mixture, finishing with the ricotta mixture.

 Sprinkle with mozzarella. 

Cover baking dish with aluminum foil; bake until bubbly and noodles are tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove foil; bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

If you are not a big zucchini fan or just want to load in more veggies (like carrots and squash), that would be a great recipe adaption.  Enjoy!