{Zucchini-Ziti}

So, what's for dinner tonight?

  This is the question we always seem to ask ourselves or relatives, right? I wanted to get a head start today and well, not have to do much cookin' either. There's been a ton of zucchini lately in the fridge.So I went online and searched for {crock pot} zucchini recipes and came across a good one, with the least ingredients. Only thing missing from the fridge was marinara sauce..but thankfully tomatoes saved the day. There's some awesome homemade marinara recipes on pinterest, so that also helped. & I love that my lil Ej loves helping out in the kitchen! He helped lay out all the necessary ingredients annnd surprisingly... he wanted me to snap a few pics of him too :) We easily tossed everything in the crock pot and it was a wrap!

Putting this together only takes a few minutes! Took me a bit longer since we were out of sauce, and needed to cut up some veggies.But so glad I was able to try a homemade marinara sauce+it's healthier!
Once again, thanks Pinterest!
Homemade marinara:

• 6 small tomatoes, the riper the better (or 3 large tomatoes)
• 1 jalapeño pepper, add a little more if you like it spicy (I skipped this one today)
• 1 carrot 
• 1 celery stalk
• a large handful of fresh basil leaves  (used basil seasoning)
• 1 tablespoon of apple cidar vinegar (or a juiced lime)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• dried mixed herbs
• salt
• pepper

Start by chopping the veg – the carrot needs to be peeled and chopped in half before slicing it. Then chop the celery into fine slices, the tomatoes into quarters, the red pepper into bite size chunks and the jalapeño into tiny squares – both the pepper and jalapeño need to be de-seeded first though.

Zucchini- Ziti Ingredients:

1 (25 oz.) jar marinara (no sugar added)

3 cups (uncooked) whole grain ziti shells, optional penne

2 cups fat-free cottage cheese

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 large zucchini (1/4” slices)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

kosher or sea salt to taste

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: 

In a medium bowl combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella, and spices. Add one cup marinara to bottom of the slow cooker. Combine (uncooked) pasta shells with remaining marinara. Layer pasta coated marinara, zucchini, and cheese mixture until all ingredients have been used. Cheese should be the last ingredient added.

Cover and cook on low for two hours, or until pasta is al dente. Recommend using a 5 to 7 quart slow cooker.

Lastly, ENJOY!

:)