The Larson Lingo: Mel's Zucchini Lasagna

When we bought our current house 3 years ago, one of the things I was most excited about was having a space in the backyard to plant a vegetable garden.

Kevin and I both grew up with parents who had vegetable gardens, so we were so excited when our new house had backyard space for one.

My two favorite things to grow each summer are homegrown tomatoes & homegrown zucchini. Every summer, our zucchini grows like crazy, so I am always making recipes that include zucchini.

I am so excited to share one of my favorites, my Zucchini Lasagna.

I made this recipe up the first summer we lived here. I took my original Italian Sausage Lasanga recipe & swapped out the noodles for zucchini.

Mel's Italian Sausage Zucchini Lasagna

Here is what you need:

- Package of Italian Sausage

-Container of fresh mushrooms

- Container of Ricotta Cheese

- 4 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

-Grated Parmesan Cheese

- Shredded Parmesan Cheese

-2 cans Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano

-1 Large Can/Jar of Pasta Sauce

- Zucchini, sliced (to use instead of noodles)

This is the Sausage I always use, it's sweet Italian. But, any Italian Sausage will do!

Cut up your sausage into chunks:

Brown the sausage in a skillet:

After it is cooked all the way through, drain the excess grease.

In the same skillet, add the cans of diced tomatoes & can of Pasta Sauce to the sausage.

Then add the fresh mushrooms (If you don't like mushrooms, don't add them!)

Stir everything together.

Yum!

Cover & let simmer for an hour.

After an hour, your sauce is already to go!

While your sauce is simmering, slice up your zucchini.

I usually slice up 2 zucchini.

Zucchini has a lot of water in it, so for moisture reduction, take your zucchini slices and put them on a cookie sheet. Bake them in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes.