Reci-peas: Zucchini lasagna.

This recipe turned out really well too. I went into it with some suspicion since I knew that if I wanted and expected it to be just like real lasagna, I'd probably be disappointed. I learned the hard way with cauliflower "mashed potatoes" that grain-free substitutes do not necessarily taste like the things they purport to stand in for.

But, this was a super-satisfying success! Zucchini is so unobtrusive that really all this ends up tasting like is cheese, sauce and meat (if you use any), and how can that go wrong? The zucchini just kind of lends it legitimacy. It doesn't really provide the same kind of structure as the pasta does in "real" lasagna, but as long as you don't mind it all glopping together in a pile on your plate, that's quite alright. Recipe courtesy of Skinnytaste and discovered via Pinterest.

Meat, cheese and sauce, living in harmony.

One thing I recommend is to not even try this unless you have a mandoline slicer. I had just purchased one and this was the first time I tried it out. It's so easy (and fun) to slice with this thing! Barely an effort at all and all of a sudden your vegetable is gone and replaced by perfectly thin, uniform slices. I don't have very good knives either so this would have been THE BIGGEST PAIN to accomplish without it.

Mandolined zucchini.

Zucchini has a lot of water, so the recipe recommends grilling it a bit, waiting 10 minutes and then blotting it with a paper towel to reduce the moisture. I didn't have charcoal for the grill and didn't have a grill pan (and also don't know what it is?) so I just put it in a frying pan on medium-high heat for like, 2 minutes. And then I forgot the step with the paper towel, which I would recommend not forgetting because it did turn out pretty damp still (totes not a dealbreaker though).

 Pro tip: have a larger pan than this.

So basically, you brown your meat (I used ground turkey with some minced garlic and chopped onion), mix that in with the sauce (the recipe tells you how to make your own, but I used store-bought), and then layer it in a pan-- sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and zucchini slices. Bake it a while covered and then a little bit longer uncovered-- the recipe says 45 mins covered, 15 uncovered, but I shortened this considerably since I was in a hurry to get to the bar for my friend's open mic night, and I figured all the ingredients were already cooked anyway. It turned out just fine for me, so use your judgment I guess!

Zucchini layer.

Yum yum yam. Highly recommend this one!