Zucchini Lasagna

 Last week, I purchased a big bag of Zucchinis and yesterday they were still in our fridge. In order to avoid their turning bad, I decided to try some new to me recipes. And I was pretty surprised, when my Zucchini Lasagna turned out really well.

Here are all the ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1lb ground beef

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 large zucchini, washed and sliced very thinly

Tomato Sauce

Cheese (not paleo, but primal)

3 eggs

50 ml (about 1/1/2 cups) heavy cream

salt

pepper

paprika spice

parsley

garlic powder (I didn´t have fresh garlic on hand, but you could use that instead) 

And here is what you need to do:

1. Grease a casserole dish

2. Heat butter in a skillet, add onion, garlic, ground beef and bell peppers. Fry until ground beef is almost done. Season with salt, pepper, paprika spice, or anything else that strikes your fancy. 

3. Spread half of the zucchini in the casserole dish, top with half of the ground beef, add some of the tomato sauce and then one layer of cheese. 

4. Repeat the same with the second part of your ingredients. 

5. In a bowl, beat eggs and add heavy cream. Pour mixture over the lasagne. 

6. Sprinkle with parsley and paprika spice. 

7. Bake Lasagna (on the left) for about 45 to 60 minutes at 175C (350F) until the cheese is browned and the zucchini cooked. 

I think what surprised me the most, how close the sliced and cooked zucchini got to tasting like lasagna noodles. If you haven´t done so already you should definitely give this recipe a try. 

Also, Lasagna is great for using up leftovers, so you could add mushrooms, fresh tomatoes or olives. Any meat leftovers could also be shredded and added. 

Enjoy!

Zucchini-Lasagne

Letztes Wochenende hatte ich mehrere Zucchinis eingekauft und bis gestern lagen diese immer noch im Kühlschrank. Von daher habe ich gestern Abend damit verbracht neue Zucchini-Rezepte auszuprobieren. Am Ende war ich ziemlich überrascht, als meine Zucchini-Lasagne dann auch noch super schmeckte.

Hier sind die Zutaten:

2 EL Butter

500g Hackfleisch

1 Paprika, klein geschnitten

1 Zwiebel, klein geschnitten

1 große Zucchini, gewaschen und in schmale Streifen geschnitten

Tomatensoße

Käse (nicht paleo, aber primal)

3 Eier

50 ml Sahne

Salz

Pfeffer

Paprikagewürz

Petersilie

Knoblauchgewürz (oder 1 Zehe frischer Knoblauch)

Und so geht´s:

1. Auflaufform einfetten

2. Butter in einer Pfanne erhitzen, Zwiebeln, Knoblauch, Hackfleisch und Paprika darin scharf anbraten. Mit Salz, Pfeffer, Paprikagewürz und ähnlichen Gewürzen nach Geschmack würzen.

3. Die Hälfte der Zucchinischeiben in der Form auslegen, mit der Hälfte der Hackfleischmischung bedecken, Tomatensoße darüber geben und schließlich den Gouda darauf verteilen.

4. Dasselbe nochmal mit den restlichen Zutaten wiederholen.

5. In einer Schüssel Eier aufschlagen und Sahne dazu geben. Den Mix über die Lasagne gießen.

6. Das ganze mit Petersilie und Paprikagewürz dekorieren.

7. Die Lasagne (links) bei 175C für ca. 45 bis 60 Minuten backen – so lange bis der Käse zerlaufen und die Zucchini gut durch ist.

Was mich am meisten an dieser Lasagne überrascht hat, war wie ähnlich die Konsistenz und der Geschmack der Zucchinis den Lasagne-Nudeln war. Falls ihr bisher noch keine Zucchini-Lasagne ausprobiert habt – das nachholen lohnt sich auf jeden Fall.

Schön ist auch, dass sich dieses Rezept hervorragend zu kleinen Änderungen eignet. Pilze, Tomaten oder Oliven könnten ergänzt werden genauso wie zerkleinerte Fleischreste vom Vortag. 

Also dann. Guten Hunger!

Paleo Project Day 29 – And lots of Cabbage

So today, I finally got around to trying out this recipe from pinkpoisononpaleo. I didn´t have all the ingredients, but I improvised as good as possible. The results turned out great, so go ahead and try the recipe.

My version included:

• White Cabbage (1/3 of a head)
• Frozen Carrots (a hand full)
• Leftover Bolognese-Sauce (2 or 3 cups)
• Olives (about 15)
• Broccoli (Leftovers)
• Walnuts (about 10 halves)
• Leek (1)
• Onions (1)
• Salt, Paprika Spice and Pepper

I sauteed the onion in butter, added onion and leeks. After a couple of minutes I added a cup of water to simmer everything for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime I cut the olives, smashed walnuts and picked frozen carrots from a bag of mixed veggies.

I added all those to the pan as well. Next, I poured my leftover bolognese-sauce into the pan and mixed everything very well.

Finally I added salt, pepper and paprika spice to adjust the taste.

I don´t have the right stew-pot to put this in the oven as asked for in the original recipe, I did not have the alcohol nor some of the spieces but I think the result was delicious.

I am not someone to follow recipes to a T anyway. Most of the time I tweak some, add ingredients and leave some out. Sometimes my tweaks are great. Sometimes not so much. This time I had to tweak for a lack of ingredients and spices, and I really liked the results.

The remaining 2 thirds of the White Cabbage I also cut into bite-sized pieces and froze them for a later time. 

But now for today´s meals:

Breakfast

Apple and 2 fried eggs

Lunch

White Cabbage and Bolognese Stir-Fry with Greens

Dinner

Lunch Leftovers (1 big portion) and Mango with Walnuts, Sunflower Seeds and Greens