beautyfoodnerdrunningshoptravel

August 22, 2013

zucchini lasagna

inspired by kiki's tj stir fry, i set off to tj's to get everything i needed for zucchini lasagna. turns out, the recipe is basically meant for a tj's shopping trip. or possibly that's how it's always packaged, but i'm liking my reasoning better.

you may remember the mtv reality show the hills. it was on for a few seasons and followed a girl from laguna beach to la. somewhere along the way she met a lot of ridiculous people and ended up bailing on the show before it's run ended. while the rest of the cast is hanging on to the spotlight for dear life (those of us on the left coast are fully aware it's too cold to really be on the beach in a bikini in march) lauren "lc" conrad stepped out of it and built a fashion house (at khol's and boutiques), written some young adult books (nyt best sellers) and maintains 2 websites (beauty and lifestyle). why should you care? you probably shouldn't, but, it's where i found the recipe. i feel like i just got to my point much like billy from the family circus comic gets from the backyard to the house.



funny side note, lc and emily who runs into the gloss both appeared as vogue interns on the hills. their sites are pretty different, as are their styles being east (emily) and west (lc) coast girls.

i'm going to start giving a total cost for these meals b/c part of my goal is to spend less money buying lunch at work. sometimes it evens out, but making it at home at least ensures i know exactly what i'm eating. the cheese was by far the most expensive thing, using all but the parmesan. dividing it by 7 for the number of meals i got out of it, $3.25 ain't bad.

low carb lasagna
1 lbs ground turkey (4.10)
3 cloves garlic, minced (1.99)
1/2 onion, chopped (.69)
24 oz tomato sauce (1.79)
2 tbs basil*
3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick (2.99)
15 oz ricotta cheese (3.69)
16 oz mozzarella, shredded (3.99)
1/4 cup parmesan (3.51)
1 large egg
salt & pepper
* i bought tomato basil sauce, one less thing to chop

it's like it was made for tj's
so a few things about the prep. i don't have a mandolin slicer but man it would have been easier / less scary if i did. instead i slice mine in quarters and then tried to slice as thin as possible without cutting of a finger.

a little thick but no biggie
this prepped garlic is one of my favorite things at tj's. they also do onions but since i didn't need that much, i just bought an onion. i used a tad/heap more garlic than called for. technically eat piece is a clove, but they're so small sometimes.

so neatly packed
cut everything up and then begin browning the turkey.

i used way more garlic ... we shall see
once it's good and brown, add the tomato sauce

cooking with iron man
cover and let simmer for 10 - 15 min, preheat the oven to 350. my oven only take 10 - 15 min to heat up so i wait til midway thru so the kitchen isn't too hot to stand.

meanwhile, in a bowl, mix egg, ricotta, 12 oz mozzarella and parmesan.

ricotta came out in one piece

spatula was best for combining
start layering ...





you should get 2 layers each and then finish with the last of the zucchini on top. top with remaining mozzarella cheese.


cover with foil and bake for 45 min. remove tin foil and bake for additional 15 min.

golden bubbly


all that in the time it took to watch an episode of top gear.


that's not a skillet


how'd it turn out? really good! even with the shit boat load of garlic i put in. the finished product wasn't too garlic tasting, but 3 days later, my fingers still smell a bit, ha!



i just discovered the farmers market is super close to me now. i think the location used to be wednesdays only, but now i can walk to it on saturdays. hello fresh produce! results of that shopping trip next time.

p.s. while not perfect, i did all the text entry for this blog on the blogger iphone app, kinda neat.

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