By August, zucchini is less of a vegetable around here and more of a recurring houseguest. Just when I think I have picked everything, I find another one hiding under a leaf, and the plants are still happily producing blossoms.

When the Zucchini Just Keeps Coming

We eat plenty of zucchini fresh all summer. I also shred and freeze some for winter, when a bag of summer garden vegetables feels especially welcome. Some goes into jars as pickles, too. Still, a productive garden always encourages a little creativity, which is how this farm-fresh zucchini lasagna landed on our table.

Turning Garden Zucchini Into Lasagna

I started with Downshiftology’s zucchini lasagna recipe, which replaces traditional noodles with thin slices of zucchini. Since our garden was supplying the zucchini and the goats were supplying plenty of milk, I decided to make the recipe fit what we already had on hand.

Making It With What We Have on the Farm

First, I made the meat sauce so it could cook for a while and let the flavors come together. I browned ground beef, then added fresh tomatoes cut into pieces along with a small can of tomato sauce. Instead of relying on a jar of pasta sauce, the fresh tomatoes became the heart of the sauce.

Then came my favorite change: the cheese. I used our fresh goat milk mozzarella along with homemade goat milk cottage cheese in place of the ricotta. Those two ingredients made this feel less like a recipe I happened to find online and more like dinner that belonged here on the farm.

After that, I layered everything with slices of fresh zucchini and followed the basic method from the original recipe. The result was rich, cheesy, full of fresh tomato flavor, and an excellent way to use several zucchini without making yet another loaf of zucchini bread.

The Freezer Test That Never Happened

I had actually planned to freeze one serving of this farm-fresh zucchini lasagna to see how our version handled the freezer. That experiment failed for the best possible reason: there wasn’t any left.

Fortunately, the garden is giving me another chance. The zucchini plants are still blossoming, so I fully intend to make another pan while the ingredients are coming straight from the garden and barn.

Next Problem: Yellow Squash

Now I just need some recipes for the abundance of yellow squash the garden is providing. Any suggestions?