By food contributor Whitney of Eat Sleep Cuddle. Read more about my talented group of contributors right here.

Lasagna was always a family favorite of ours growing up, and my husband & I both fell in love with this version of my Mom’s recipe that I made last week, using zucchini instead of lasagna noodles!

It is the perfect summer-to-fall transition meal, especially for those of you lucky enough to still have some fresh zucchini from your garden! P.S. Don’t forget to save some lasagna to have for leftovers…tastes even better with age.

Keep reading for the full recipe…

Zucchini (No-Noodle) Lasagna

Ingredients:
2-3 zucchinis, sliced lengthwise about 1/4-inch thick or less
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce*
fresh spinach, roughly chopped
16oz. container of cottage cheese
2-3 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 egg
about 1/2 tsp dried basil
ground pepper

Directions:
Mix together cottage cheese, egg, basil and pepper. Slice zucchini about 1/4-inch thick or less. Cover bottom of glass baking dish with sauce, and then layer the following: zucchini, spinach, sauce, cottage cheese mixture, mozzarella. Repeat. Top with fresh parm, sprinkle with dried basil. Cover with foil and bake at 350-degrees for 1 hour, removing foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.

Note: Don’t fill your baking dish too high with the layers. The zucchini adds a lot of moisture and causes the sauce to be pretty runny (which could spill over). To reduce the moisture you can try salting & draining the sliced zucchini, or baking the slices in the oven to dry them out a bit (425 degrees for 5-10 minutes) before assembling your lasagna. I actually added a third “layer” of zucchini & mozzarella cheese on the top, but would definitely leave this out next time to reduce the amount of extra liquid.

*I used Trader Joe’s Arrabiata sauce, and it was perfect for this.