4 cups water
6 cups sliced zucchini (about 3 medium)
1 lb. ground round
2 garlic cloves -- minced
2 cups low-fat spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups fat-free cottage cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 large eggs -- lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs -- divided
1 3/4 cups preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese -- divided

Preheat oven to 350º.

Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add zucchini; cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and cool.

Place the beef and garlic in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, salt, basil, and oregano; cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Combine the cottage cheese, parsley, and eggs in a medium bowl.

Arrange zucchini slices in a shallow 3-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle the zucchini with half of the breadcrumbs. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture over breadcrumbs; cover with half of the meat mixture and 1 cup mozzarella. Repeat the layers with the remaining breadcrumbs, cottage cheese mixture, and meat mixture; reserve the remaining mozzarella. Bake at 350 or 40 minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella, and bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

Stacy's Notes - Made July 2003. This was really good, Tim loved it! I halved all the ingredients and used a glass 8x8 pan to bake it in. I used about 2 small-medium zucchini and about 3/4 pound ground meat. I didn't have enough of the cottage cheese mixture, so use more than 1 cup next time mixed with the one egg. I used Italian bread crumbs from a can, and all dried herbs (including Italian seasoning instead of parsley). This was good and it heated up well as leftovers the next day. Tim liked it more than I did, I think! :)