Zucchini Eggplant Lasagna

I wish I could capture smells on here.

Wouldn't you love to read a blog that sent delicious food-related smells your way? Although that might be a bad thing, because then when you read this during the day when you were supposed to be working your coworker next to you would smell something tasty and wonder what you were eating. Or your stomach would growl because you'd really want to eat what you were smelling now.

But look. I already digress. The reason I want smells on here is because cooking dinner tonight just smelled so darn good. (That and I've been focusing on sensory detail with my students so it's been swimming around in my head all week.)

Want to pretend you can smell the cooking? Here goes. We're making Zucchini Eggplant Lasagna tonight (the recipe, adapted from Cooking Light, comes from the delightful blog Meet Me In the Kitchen) because my zucchini and eggplant plants are quite prolific (more than making up for the way my tomato plants aren't doing so hot). Besides, one can never eat too much Italian food, right?

So first there's the farmer's market garlic and onions on the stove, sizzling away in a tablespoon full of olive oil. And the fresh oregano I snip into the pan, along with the red pepper and black pepper and salt. After I am sufficiently swooning from the garlic and onion, it's time for a large can of crushed tomatoes. Oh, tomatoes. That's a smell, even at this point in the summer, that I can't get enough of.

While that bubbles merrily away, it's time to move on to picking and snipping basil.

Dear basil. If I could only pick five scents in the whole world (what a cruel world that would be), one would have to be basil. I can't stop smelling my hands right now because they still smell like it, actually. That cup of basil the recipe calls for is absolutely divine.

Some things I can't smell that strongly--the ricotta and the cottage cheese I mix with the basil, for instance, or the mozzarella that will go on top of it all--but man, can I taste those ingredients already. Yum.

And so it goes for a while as I put life on pause and make zucchini eggplant lasagna. Once the sauce has bubbled for about 10 minutes, it's time to layer. Sauce, noodles, eggplant and zucchini (both sliced thin), the cheese mixture. Layer layer layer. And then add more than the recommended mozzarella on top. Always more than the recommended mozzarella, people. It's for the best.

Did I say yum already?

Well, if I haven't yet, now that I've finished eating the lasagna I can most certainly say yum.

I'd make this recipe again in a second (or, as will likely be the case, will eat leftovers of it for days). The veggies are nice and tender, the red pepper gives the whole thing a nice kick. And, best of all, it's all topped with an ooey gooey golden brown crust of cheese.

Lasagna in summer? You might ask. Don't worry, this is lighter than the standard lasagna with its thick red sauce and meat. And, I have to argue, more flavorful too. So get your hiney in the kitchen and try it for yourself. What else do you have to do with those veggies, anyway?

(Are you wondering if the lasagna will past the ultimate meat-eating man test with Conservative Boy? I am too. But he's not home for dinner tonight so we'll have to see if I can trick him into eating some later ...)