Yet another zucchini recipe

Zucchini is still everywhere, so I have been trying to save a little money by making dishes with it every week. This week I tried a modified version of a recipe from cookinglight.com (link to original below)

This dish is nothing short of delicious. As it was cooking, Jason mentioned it smelled like pizza. I truly think you feed this to an "anti-zucchini" person and turn them into a fan.

Not only is it delicious, it is not very high calorie at all. The cheese serves at the main protein source and contributes most of the calories. The red pepper aioli is a little more calorically dense. I do not like to use fat free mayo; I don't think the taste is the same and there are so many added ingredients, that I would prefer to just eat the real thing. To lighted the aioli, I was thinking I could probably use some fat free plain yogurt for ½ the mayo. I thought I could substitute fat free sour cream (which doesn't bother me because there are not as many added ingredients as mayo) for the mayo as well. If anyone tries these variations, please let me know how they are!

Zucchini Casserole with Red-Pepper Aioli
(Modified from a recipe at cookinglight.com:(http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=printerFriendly&recipe_id=665216)

Ingredients
◦ 3 cups sliced onion
◦ 6 slices Wheat bread, toasted
◦ 28 ounces, caned, no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
◦ 1 tbsp fresh basil
◦ 1 tbsp fresh oregano
◦ 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
◦ 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
◦ 1 tbsp garlic powder
◦ Cooking spray
◦ 4 medium zucchinis halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
◦ 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
◦ ½ cup Parmesan cheese
◦ Red-Pepper Aioli (see recipe below)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 3 quart casserole dish.


2. Cut 2 bread slices into 1-inch cubes; set aside.
   In a medium bowl, place tomatoes. Stir in basil, thyme, oregano, pepper, and garlic.


3. Place 1/2 cup onion in the bottom of a 3-quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray.


4. Arrange 2 bread slices, half of the remaining onion, half of the tomato mixture, half of the zucchini, and half of the cheese over onion in dish. Repeat layer; top with bread cubes.


5. Cover and bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover casserole and bake an additional 25 minutes or until top begins to brown.


6. Spoon Red-Pepper Aioli over the top. Enjoy!

Red-Pepper Aioli

Ingredients

1. 1 tbsp garlic powder
2. 1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
5. 7 ounces of bottled roasted red bell peppers, drained

Preparation

Add ingredients to a food processor. Process all ingredients until well-combined.