Italian Zucchini Bake

Just as I hate when people call bean patties veggie burgers, I hate when people call a pasta substitute pasta.  The recipe I found was for zucchini "ravioli."  Well it's not ravioli, so think of a different name.  Anyway, I digress.

I made a good, veggie-ful bake last night.  We both ate it up and decided it should be added to the list of recipes we re-use.  Here's what ya need and what I did...

What ya need
Onion
Garlic
Spinach
Zucchini
Marinara sauce
Ground beef or turkey or tofu or something
Mozzarella

What I did

1. Make your favorite marinara sauce.  Use lots of crushed red pepper if ya like it spicy!
2. Saute some onions and ground beef.  You could sub ground turkey, crumbled tofu, or just skip entirely I imagine.  Season however you'd like.  I went simple with basil and oregano.
3. When beef is almost done, add more spinach than you think you need.  Fill that pan!  Saute until wilted.
4. Thinly a zucchini lengthwise to form "noodles."  This would be much easier if you had a mandolin.  I do not, so mine weren't sliced evenly, but it was fine.
5. Put a layer of zucchini in the bottom of a baking dish, put some of the beef/spinach mixture on top, then some marinara, then some mozzarella cheese.  Lather, rinse, repeat.
6. Bake until zucchini is soft and cheese is melted.

I bet you could throw more veggies in there.  Mushrooms would probably be great.  Peppers if ya like 'em or have extras lying around.  It was really satisfying.  It didn't feel like we were just eating veggies and pretending it was pasta but secretly wishing it was pasta.  

We had it with eggplant a la Mom, though next time I think I'd just throw the eggplant in the beef mixture.  I also had made some really good rolls to have with it too.  

Yum!