Last week, I tried something a bit different; I had already tried “courgetti” and I absolutely love lasagne, so I thought I would replace the pasta sheets with slices of courgette instead. Here is my recipe for courgette lasagne.

Ingredients:

Slices of courgette

A batch of white sauce

A batch of bolognaise sauce

Method:

Peel the courgette; with a normal vegetable peeler; into slices of courgette, they will be quite slim so you will need quite a few slices.

Assemble the lasagne after you have made your batches of white sauce and bolognaise sauce. In your baking dish, put a layer of bolognaise sauce, then a layer of courgette slices and then a layer of white sauce. Repeat this until you have used up all the ingredients or the dish is full. Try to keep the layers similar in size.

Place in the oven at 180C for 30 minutes. It won’t need to cook for as long because the layers of courgette are thinner than the pasta sheets.

Serve with garlic bread or more vegetables, I had mine all on its own, as I didn’t feel I needed any more than that.

I know it’s not the most attractive looking plate of food, but trust me, it tasted even better than normal lasagne.

"Courgetti"

It feels like it's been ages since I've written a blog post, but it really hasn't, work seems to have just taken over this week and getting back into a routine after being on holiday has to be one of the worst things...

Anyway, let me introduce you to "courgetti". Yes, it is a real thing, 100% credit given to my mum for the name because it simply is courgette spaghetti.
Yet again, I was apprehensive about trying something new but I had a good feeling about this one and just writing about it now makes me want it (though it doesn't help that I've barely had time to eat today).

It is probably the most basic recipe ever and it takes simply minutes to make.
All you need is a courgette, some butter and a clove of garlic.

First of all, you need to get the courgette like spaghetti. At home we have a special peeler that cuts it into fine strands when you peel it. But if you don't have one of these (I suggest investing in one!) then use your standard vegetable peeler to get slices of the courgette then use a knife to thinly slice them.

So you've got your courgette all ready, put a bit of butter in a saucepan with some garlic. Let the butter melt and the garlic soften a bit, just so your breath doesn't smell really bad once you've eaten it...

Once the butter has all melted, add in your courgette and toss it around in the garlic and butter and let it soften a bit, I reckon about 4 minutes should do the trick.

"Mum wait I need to take pictures!" 

Obviously drain away some of the juice or you'll end up with puddles of it.

I may have cheated with the sauce I put with it, I was tired and too hungry to want to make something! These are handy little pouches though and taste great. I heated it up then mixed it in with my courgetti and added some leftover chicken for a bit of protein. 

And the final dish! It tastes a lot better than it looks, and is way more filling than you would think. Plus there's no carbs, I mean how much better can it get than that?

You know it's true!

My Bible for 4 Weeks

Here are the "rules" me and my dad (and when I am cooking something new my mum will essentially be going by them too) are following for the next 4 weeks initially:

1. No wheat - which means no bread or pasta (always the biggest struggle) 

2. No fried food - kind of an obvious one

3. No alcohol out of nights out - I don't go out so often now as I often work late on the weekends making it relatively easy

4. Breakfast smoothies are a must - I'm going to try smoothie bowls!

My weekly plan (roughly)...

I've already found recipes for cauliflower rice (as I've previously blogged about) and "slutty no-carb pasta" (basically courgette pasta) from The Londoner blog which I cannot wait to try as virtually calorie-free alternatives to wheat. 

As well as plenty more recipes I'm going to give a go. I think I'll point out here that when I do try recipes and then blog about them, I will rarely make it the same way or keep the same ingredients as this is where I can be quite creative so I like to do things my own way!

I mean let's be realistic here

I'm going through a phase of wanting to try new things if you couldn't tell. Do any of you have any favourite healthy alternatives to share with me? Or even ways to make the next 4 weeks a bit easier?

This is going to be my first thought in the mornings.