Ingredients
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4 cups water
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6 cups sliced zucchini (about 3 medium)
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1 lb ground round (or use ground turkey, or meatless crumbles)
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3 garlic cloves, minced
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2 cups reduced-fat spaghetti sauce
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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1/2 teaspoon dried basil
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1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
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2 cups fat-free cottage cheese (may use part ricotta or goat cheese)
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1 tablespoon dried parsley
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2 large eggs, lightly beaten
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cooking spray
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1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs, divided
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1 3/4 cups preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add zucchini; cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and cool. Or you may grill or saute the zucchini if you wish.
- Place the ground beef(or turkey or crumbles) and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until browned, stirring to break up meat. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, salt, basil, and oregano; cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
- Combine the cottage cheese, parsley, and eggs in a medium bowl.
- Arrange zucchini slices in a shallow 3-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle the zucchini with half of the breadcrumbs. Spread half of cottage cheese mixture over breadcrumbs; cover with half of the meat mixture and 1 cup mozzarella. Repeat the layers with the remaining breadcrumbs, cottage cheese mixture, and meat mixture; reserve the remaining mozzarella. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes.
- Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella, and bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts.