Zucchini Fettuccine Alfredo

Jerry's zucchini is coming in!!  For those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, my neighbor Jerry always provides us with some amazing produce every summer.  Last week he brought us a bagful of fresh zucchini, so I quickly went to work making some dark chocolate zucchini brownies and zucchini fettuccine Alfredo.  It was a yummy night!

First batch of the summer!

If I weren't serving kids, I probably would have omitted the fettuccine and just made zucchini Alfredo.  But I knew that wouldn't go over well with the little ones.  The goal was to have fettuccine noodles and zucchini noodles, but I got distracted while cooking and ended up with zucchini pieces mixed in with noodles.  It really doesn't take long to cook the zucchini.

For the sauce, I started with a recipe I got from Christina, one of the ladies at church.  She's the source of the original Caesar salad dressing that I altered to make my own.  I also altered the Alfredo recipe to accommodate my family of six.

You will notice that most of the sauce ingredients are high in fat.  This is definitely one of those special-occasion recipes.  And of course, you could always add chicken for some protein.

Zucchini Fettuccine Alfredo
1 lb. fettuccine noodles
1 stick butter
2 c. heavy cream
3/4 tsp. salt
1 lb. zucchini, cut into noodles
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil fettuccine according to package directions.  Meanwhile, melt butter in large skillet (large enough for sauce and pasta) over medium to medium-high heat.  Add cream and 3/4 tsp. salt.  Bring to simmer and continue to cook about five minutes, being careful not to let it boil.

With this much butter, you know it's going to be good!

And then comes the cream!

During the last one to two minutes that the pasta is cooking, add zucchini.  Drain fettuccine and zucchini ; toss into skillet with sauce.

Add Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste; toss.  Serve immediately.

With a side of crusty bread, of course.

Zucchini Pizza Casserole--This One Deserves a Second Look

My apologies for this late and unoriginal post.  Robbie and I have been sick since last weekend and this bug just won't go away.  Consequently, new posts are not on the top of my priority list right now.  I thought I'd bring back one of my past zucchini recipes, since zucchini is coming in here.  This is a great way to get your kids to eat zucchini and use up the abundance of your garden.  I have a bunch of great posts waiting in the wings---hopefully I'll be able to get them finished up for next week.

I was browsing through our Near to Nothing Great Grandmother’s cookbook a couple weeks ago when I found this recipe for zucchini pizza casserole.  Since zucchini and ground beef were on sale, I just had to try it!  The results?  Delicious!  Keanna, who normally doesn’t eat anything with zucchini in it, asked for seconds!

One great thing about this recipe is that it is gluten-free.  For those of you who do not normally cook GF, a few words of caution if you are serving this to someone with gluten allergies.  Though you would not suspect it, gluten can be hiding in ingredients that you would think are GF.  For example, pre-shredded cheese is often coated with flour or other floury powder to keep it from sticking.  Simply buy cheese in a block and shred it yourself to ensure that it is GF.  Also, be sure the sauce you choose is GF.

If you are wary of trying to pass off zucchini on your family, you could probably substitute shredded potatoes for the zucchini.  I haven’t actually tried this yet, but it seems like it would work.  In that case, you probably wouldn’t need to squeeze the liquids out, but you would still want to add the salt for flavor.

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

4 c. zucchini, shredded

½ tsp. salt

2 eggs

½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 lb. ground beef

½ large onion, chopped

2 c. pizza or spaghetti sauce (or 1 can tomato sauce, 1 tsp. basil, ½ tsp. oregano, ½ tsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. salt, and a few dashes pepper)

1 medium green pepper, chopped

Preheat oven to 400°.  Place zucchini in strainer over bowl; sprinkle with salt.  Let stand 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, break up eggs in medium bowl.  Mix in Parmesan cheese, 1 c. mozzarella cheese, and ½ c. cheddar cheese.

Squeeze moisture out of zucchini; mix into egg and cheese mixture.

Press into greased 9”X13” baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown ground beef and onions.  Drain off grease; stir in sauce (and seasonings if needed).  

Spoon over baked zucchini mixture.

Top with remaining cheeses and sprinkle with green pepper.  Bake an additional 20 minutes.

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

I was browsing through our Near to Nothing Great Grandmother’s cookbook a couple weeks ago when I found this recipe for zucchini pizza casserole.  Since zucchini and ground beef were on sale, I just had to try it!  The results?  Delicious!  Keanna, who normally doesn’t eat anything with zucchini in it, asked for seconds!

One great thing about this recipe is that it is gluten-free.  For those of you who do not normally cook GF, a few words of caution if you are serving this to someone with gluten allergies.  Though you would not suspect it, gluten can be hiding in ingredients that you would think are GF.  For example, pre-shredded cheese is often coated with flour or other floury powder to keep it from sticking.  Simply buy cheese in a block and shred it yourself to ensure that it is GF.  Also, be sure the sauce you choose is GF.

If you are wary of trying to pass off zucchini on your family, you could probably substitute shredded potatoes for the zucchini.  I haven’t actually tried this yet, but it seems like it would work.  In that case, you probably wouldn’t need to squeeze the liquids out, but you would still want to add the salt for flavor.

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

4 c. zucchini, shredded

½ tsp. salt

2 eggs

½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 lb. ground beef

½ large onion, chopped

2 c. pizza or spaghetti sauce (or 1 can tomato sauce, 1 tsp. basil, ½ tsp. oregano, ½ tsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. salt, and a few dashes pepper)

1 medium green pepper, chopped

Preheat oven to 400°.  Place zucchini in strainer over bowl; sprinkle with salt.  Let stand 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, break up eggs in medium bowl.  Mix in Parmesan cheese, 1 c. mozzarella cheese, and ½ c. cheddar cheese.

Squeeze moisture out of zucchini; mix into egg and cheese mixture.

Press into greased 9”X13” baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown ground beef and onions.  Drain off grease; stir in sauce (and seasonings if needed).  

Spoon over baked zucchini mixture.

Top with remaining cheeses and sprinkle with green pepper.  Bake an additional 20 minutes.

Zucchini Lasagna

Please excuse my after photos.  Fall means not enough natural light
by the time dinner is ready and I'm not using my own camera right now.

Robbie’s parents live near Mt. Shasta.  Consequently, they didn’t get summer weather until much later than we did.  This means their harvest came in later than ours.  A few weeks ago they came to visit and brought a load of zucchini with them!

I wanted to try something new with them, so I decided to make zucchini lasagna.  I didn’t just want to add zucchini to my usual lasagna though.  I wanted to use sliced zucchini in place of the noodles to make a healthier lasagna.  The end result was a success!

I did use one layer of lasagna noodles—I just LOVE pasta too much!  But I was surprised by how much that one layer contributed to the dish.  Had I not made the lasagna myself, I would have guessed there was a lot more pasta.  Simply replace this layer of pasta with zucchini to make gluten-free lasagna.

As far as the zucchini, I tried two ways.  First, I just sliced it into flat pieces with my chef knife.  This worked really well.  The next time I made it, I hauled out the food processor to see if I liked that approach better.  While it was super fast, it sliced the zucchini a little thinner than I would have liked.

Fast, but too thin.

Going along with my goal of a healthier lasagna, I also added shredded carrots.  I found that I like the texture of the carrots shredded on the cheese grater better than those I put through the food processor.

Feel free to add whatever vegetables you desire.  The second time I made this, I added finely chopped broccoli.  Cauliflower, mushrooms, and eggplant would all work great!

As far as the cheese goes, the mozzarella/parmesan/cottage cheese mix I use in regular lasagna would be delicious!  However, I accidentally went healthy on this one.  When making my shopping list for that week, I incorrectly assumed I had plenty of mozzarella and parmesan in my fridge.  When I went to make the lasagna, I realized I had no mozzarella and only a little parmesan—I should have checked.  I ended up just using cottage cheese between the layers and parmesan cheese on top.  It was still super tasty, not to mention easier on the waistline and the wallet.

Zucchini Lasagna

1 jar spaghetti sauce

5-6 lasagna noodles (enough to cover the bottom of your pan)

1 lb. cottage cheese

2-3 carrots, shredded

1 small bunch broccoli, finely chopped

2 large or 3 small zucchini, sliced

Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°.  Spread a layer of spaghetti sauce over bottom of pan.  Cover with single layer of lasagna noodles.

Top with 1/3 of cottage cheese; sprinkle with 1/3 each of carrots and broccoli.  Spoon sauce over.

Cover with a layer of zucchini.  Create another layer of cottage cheese, carrot, broccoli, and sauce, covering with 2^nd layer of zucchini.

Repeat again.  You should end up with 1 layer of noodles, 3 layers of filling, and 3 layers of zucchini.  Pour remaining sauce over top.

Yummy layers!

Cover tightly with foil; bake 1 hour.  Remove foil and sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.  Bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until Parmesan starts to turn golden.  Remove from oven and let rest 5-10 minutes before serving.  

Gluten-Free Zucchini Lasagna

Prepare as above, replacing layer of lasagna noodles with zucchini.

Extra Cheesy Zucchini Lasagna

Prepare zucchini lasagna above.  Decrease amount of carrots and broccoli.  Replace cottage cheese with the following mixture:

1 lb. cottage or ricotta cheese

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

½ c. shredded Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

Dash each garlic powder, basil, oregano, thyme, and marjoram

End of Summer Zucchini and Tomatoes

Autumn starts this week!  I am more excited about the coming of the fall season than I have ever been--pumpkin bread, crisp air, hearty chili, sweaters, crunchy leaves!!  I love it!

But, alas, the coming of fall also means the end of the summer harvest.  I am using up the last of my tomatoes and zucchini and will soon have to resort to buying those red baseballs at the store that they label as tomatoes.  While I am sad that there will be no more garden-fresh veggies for a while, I can say I am ready to be done processing tomatoes.  All that blanching, peeling, cooking, chopping, and pureeing is very taxing, especially when you have four kids vying for your attention.

With all that said, I am now resorting to easy ways to use up the last of the harvest.  And I have to say, this is one of my favorite that I've come up with so far.  The key is to turn the heat off before adding the tomatoes so they don't cook, but just heat.  Mmmm!!  So juicy and fresh!

End of Summer Zucchini and Tomatoes
1-2 Tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
1 large zucchini
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
about 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
about 4 large tomatoes

That's a BIG zucchini!

Heat skillet over medium-high heat.  Add oil.  Meanwhile, cut zucchini into bite-sized pieces.

Add to skillet and season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Cook, stirring occasionally until zucchini is almost done.

Meanwhile, cut tomatoes into wedges.  A few minutes before zucchini is desired tenderness, add balsamic vinegar and continue to cook until just about done.  Turn off heat and add tomatoes.  Gently toss to heat tomatoes.

Turn gently to keep tomatoes intact.

Tomatoes are heated but not cooked--perfect!