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We’ve Got Your Meatless Monday Covered!
This vegetarian-friendly main dish is the perfect recipe to serve for a meatless Monday or any day you are looking to cut back on the animal proteins. Honestly, you really don’t even need a reason. If anyone in your house thinks you need meat for a meal to be complete, they will change their mind after sinking their teeth in their first bite of one of these. Truly mouthwatering.
Prep the Zucchini
NOT BEST PRACTICE – I didn’t have a good tool to use to slice my zucchinis the way I needed to. So I took one of my spiralizer blades, turned it on it’s side, and sliced that way. I DO NOT recommend this, please go out and buy a Y shaped vegetable peeler or a mandoline slicer (<—or use one of these links to order one straight to your house!) you will be much safer than we were and I will feel much better about sharing this with you 🙂
But this is the first step, slice your zucchinis longways into thin noodles. I think it is easier if you start by slicing them in half.
A trick I read that was SO helpful when making these was to salt the zucchini slices after you were done cutting them, and then setting them aside for about 20 minutes. I did this while preparing the filling, and when I came back to them I was shocked. It really did extract SO much extra moisture from the veggie, A) making them easier to roll, and B) cutting down on the excess liquid created when you cook them in the oven. I definitely recommend!
Fill Em Up!
The filling is the real winner in this recipe. It is chickpea based with ricotta and spinach mixed in – giving it a cheesy ravioli type texture rather than that of hummus, but providing all the incredible protein power and other health benefits of chickpeas.
You can add more ricotta as you please to gain a creamier, cheesier texture. But I only added the lower range of what the recipe calls for (1/2 cup) and thought it was phenomenal!
Just take a spoon and spread the mixture right on the zucchini slices, and roll! The amount can vary based on your preference, just don’t overdo it to the point where you can’t roll them.
So Good They’ll Break Your Kitchen Tools!
But seriously. Be careful with this one. I burnt out my food processor while trying to mix this filling (RIP Ninja #1). But luckily this is easy to avoid if you are smart(er than me). The more ricotta you add, the easier the filling will be to mix. Also – just add everything to the processor a little at a time. The first time I made these I just stuck all of the ingredients into my ninja and started him up. Bad idea. Slow and steady wins the race with this one.
Cheesy Spinach Ravioli Roll Ups
Ingredients:
2-3 medium zucchinis- 1 can chickpeas
- Handful of fresh basil leaves
- 1.5 cups spinach
- 1/2 – 1 cup of fat free ricotta
- 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt to taste
- Optional: shredded mozzarella
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Slice zucchini lengthwise into thin noodles using a mandoline.
- Lay zucchini slices on the counter, sprinkle with salt, set aside 20 minutes.*
- Make homemade marinara sauce.
- Make the filling in a blender or food processor.**
- Rinse and dry chickpeas.
- Combine chickpeas, spinach, basil, garlic, olive oil, and ricotta in food processor and combine.
- Taste, add a couple dashes of salt, and re-blend. Continue this step until you get your desired taste (but try not to add too much salt).
- Pat zucchini slices dry.
- Spread a spoonful of filling on each zucchini slice, and roll up.
- Fill bottom of a glass cooking pan with marinara sauce.
- Place roll ups in the pan right-side up.
- Optional: sprinkle mozzarella on top of roll ups.
- Cook in oven for 20 minutes.
- Optional: add more marinara to top of roll ups when serving.
*This extracts the excess moisture out of the zucchini, making the slices easier to roll.
**BE CAREFUL. I needed to make one last warning. Don’t stick everything in the food processor at once. Slowly add. I burnt out my food processor while trying to make this filling (it is pretty thick so depending on the strength of your processor, you don’t want to try to do it all at once – and adding extra ricotta and/or olive oil can make it easier) RIP Ninja 🙁
These are also a great way to get your kids to eat some greens without any fuss. They will get the benefits of both spinach and zucchini without even realizing all of the vegetables they are eating! They will just view it as a pasta dish, which all kids love.
I also don’t think you need to add the extra mozzarella cheese on top. They are so great without it, so save yourself the few extra calories and fat and treat yourself to a great dessert afterwards instead 🙂 enjoy!
