Squash!

Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a farm and pick vegetables for free. The lady who owned the garden is a friend of a friend and she said she literally had more squash than she knew what to do with and we could pick as much of anything that we wanted. I filled up two big boxes with summer squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, eggplant, and all different peppers plus, a full bag of fresh herbs. I had so much fun! When I got home, I suddenly realized I had no idea what to cook with all these veggies before they went bad. Of course, I made a lot of baby food, I cut up some of them and froze them, but what about the rest? Well that just meant I got to find new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. Yay! That's one of my favorite things to do! Thankfully I also have a wonderful husband that is willing and eager to try everything I make....plus, he's a pretty amazing cook too.

First off, I tried a couple saute recipes and stir fry. Those are so easy because you can add anything to it and just a couple different spices and seasonings make it a completely different meal.

Next I tried Ratatouille. Zach doesn't normally like eggplant, but he loved this dish!
Heat 1 tblsp olive oil in skillet. Add garlic, onion, diced eggplant, chopped zucchini & bell peppers, and tomatoes. Cook until tender. Add some basil, parsley, salt, and black pepper.
Delicious! Since I was cooking for Zach too and he needs a meal that contains more than just veggies, I found a recipe called Pasta Rolled Ratatouille Baked. Follow the directions above, but also:
Cook lasagna noodles. Roll Ratatouille in noodles. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Another winning squash recipe is Vegetarian Lasagna. Zach said he like this lasagna better than the lasagna I usually make! I followed my same lasagna recipe, but used long slices of zucchini instead of pasta.

Next, you layer the lasagna. Start with the zucchini, pour half a can of tomatoes and half a can of tomato sauce. Add garlic, onion, basil, parsley and oregano. Mix some cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese in a bowl (Zach did say the one thing that would make this even better is some mozzarella cheese. I'll do that next time.) and add a layer of that next. Also, since Zach was coming home from the gym when he was going to eat this, I added some kidney beans to his side to give him the protein and complex carbs. Yes, I made each of us two different sides. LOL

Repeat the layers one more time and top with Parmesan cheese and more garlic if you like garlic like we do. :)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes and dig in!