gluten-free(ish) Veggie Lasagna

 

Talking to a friend the other day about the inevitability of death and how we don’t want to go prematurely—while all our faculties are in-tact—she reminded me that she is a diabetic and needs to take extra care. She also reminded me that her recommended diet must be heavy in meat and lighter in everything else. I vowed to find her a few nice recipes to help diversify her diet and keep the proteins up.

Enter the gluten-free veggie lasagna devised specifically for a low-glycemic diet. Hubby and I tried this one out and had it for brunch today…delicious! We made a few tweaks to fit with what we had in the kitchen and were NOT disappointed with t result. We popped this in the slow cooker for 5 hours and had it piping hot.

1-2 large zucchinis, sliced
1/2 C each low-fat ricotta and low-fat cottage cheese
½ - 1 C Mozzarella
1 C, packed baby spinach
2 C tomato sauce * (I like it saucy!)
1 pint button mushrooms, sliced
¼ C fresh basis leaves
Un-cooked Chickpea Lasagna noodles
Black pepper, to taste

*I used all the veggies we had in the fridge, including eggplant, a rubbery half of green pepper, and a parsnip. We also had left over tomato sauce with ground lamb and eggplant, so we used that instead of plain sauce.

Mix cheeses with tomato sauce and set aside, save a few oz of mozzarella to finish the lasagna. In the slow cooker, layer noodles, cheesy sauce mixture, and alternating vegetables until you run out of space in the pot. Finish with a layer of noodles, sauce, and reserved mozzarella. Cover crock, and cook on high for 1 hour, turning down to low for the remaining 4 hours. When done, slice and serve! 

Note: This is my original slow cooker lasagna