Pizza Zucchini Casserole (aka Pizza Faux-sagna)

I used to make pastas and lasagnas very frequently up until a year ago.  It was such a quick, easy thing to do - open up a box or bag of pasta; boil it; add meat and vegetables to it.  I sometimes miss it - not the bloating, full feeling or the carbs or the hard to digest moments.  But just the idea of layering the noodles with meat and sauce and cheese.  Finally it hit me the other day when I was looking at my zucchini!  They can be my noodles!  I can still have my faux-sagna without the guilt or insulin spikes!

This came out delicious and I've made it twice within a month now.  So I finally had to share the recipe! 



Pizza Zucchini Casserole (Pizza Faux-sagna)
Serves 4 - 5

4 medium size zucchini, sliced into lasagna size noodles (about 35-40 noodles)
1 pound of ground meat (I have used ground chuck and ground veal in the past)
6-8 slices of uncured, nitrite free pepperoni (like the Applegate Farms brand), broken up into pieces
2 and 1/2 cups of tomato sauce (Or use my no-mato/nightshade slayer fake tomato sauce)
2 Tbsp olive oil for seasoning and greasing the pan
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
4-5 dashes of sea salt

In a skillet, brown your ground meat.  Don't pour out the fat.  Save that for your dish for extra flavor.  Remember, fat is your friend!  Starchy, complex carbs are the enemy!

While your meat is cooking, you can slice (don't peel) your zucchini into lasagna size "noodles" as best as you can.  They don't have to be all the same size.  Some can be thinner or thicker than others.  Mine looked like this:



Once your meat is almost done cooking, add in your broken up pieces of pepperoni.  Stir and cook for another minutes with the meat.

Lightly grease a 2.5 quart baking pan with olive oil.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  

Place your zucchini noodles at the bottom of the pan, covering most of it as best as you can.  I used about ten to twelve noodles in one layer.  Now place your meat over the zucchini.  Like this:

Now place your tomato sauce (or use my faux-tomato sauce) over the meat and zucchini.  (If you want to use cheese on top of that you can.  Since my husband avoids dairy, I just top mine with it after it's done cooking). 


Then I continue layering my pizza lasagna with more zucchini noodles, more meat (mix of the ground chuck and pepperoni slices) and any other toppings of my choice until I've used up all of my ingredients.  Usually I have three layers.  So you can think of dividing up your meat, sauce and noodles into three portions before you get started. 

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Top with cheese if your like or any other ingredients that you enjoy on your old style lasagna.  Let it cool for at least five minutes before you slice it up and serve it.



This is really tasty and like I've said, it doesn't leave you feeling bloated or sick afterwards.  Try it.  My kid loved it.  Yours might too!