Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna-That Recipe Looks Familar

My last post for that recipe looks familiar involves lasagna, but not the regular kind. This uses zucchini instead of pasta and has a quinoa filling. Although the recipe is originally from another overseas blog, I only come across it when Vicki posted it for vegan mofo last year. I doubled this to make enough for dinner and leftovers for tomorrow and added more cheezly on top.

Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna from Peas and Thank You  as seen on Vicki Vegan
Serves 4-6

• 2 large zucchini, cut into 12 thin, 1/4 in. thick slices
• salt
• 1 c. quinoa, rinsed
• 2 c. vegetable broth
• 1/2 c. tomato sauce
• 1/4 c. minced onion
• 1 t. dried oregano
• 1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 T. organic or non-dairy cream cheese (optional) tofutti sour cream
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 jar  marinara sauce
• 1/2 c.  non-dairy cheese

Preheat oven to 400.
To prepare zucchini, cut a strip off of one side to make a flat base.

Then, thinly slice zucchini into “noodles.”  You’ll want 12 noodles in total.

Place noodles in a colander and sprinkle with salt, layering between paper towels.

Let this sit and absorb moisture while preparing the quinoa.

Combine quinoa, vegetable broth, tomato sauce, onion and oregano in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.

Cover and lower heat, simmering for 20 minutes.
When quinoa has absorbed all the liquid, fold in cream cheese and herbs.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and try not to eat the whole pot.

Believe it or not, it gets better.
Pour enough of marinara in the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish to cover the bottom.  Using a clean dry towel, blot remaining moisture and salt from zucchini and layer 4 noodles across the sauce.

Put a layer of quinoa across the zucchini,

and cover with another 1/3 c. of marinara sauce.
Repeat with another layer of quinoa, sauce and zucchini.
Top the final layer of zucchini with remaining sauce and 1/2 c. of cheese, if using.

Bake lasagna for 30 minutes, until heated through and zucchini is tender.



Toby and I both enjoyed this and found it to be a great way to use up quinoa but probably prefer my mothers tofu lasagna if we had to choose, but then you always prefer you mothers cooking, right? Overall though the quinoa worked really well as a filling, it held together well and was quite feeling, I wonder how it would go if I combined the two recipes.