Gluten Free, Grain Free Zucchini Lasagna

Confession: This was actually an impromptu meal that was salvaged from a failed attempt at zucchini ravioli. The person who made the ravioli is way more talented than I am at wielding a grater. After clutching my stand-up grater so tightly I managed to grate half the skin off my thumb on the opposite side while I attempted to wrangle a zucchini through the slotted side, I gave up. I lifted the grated to find a sad little pile of 2-inch long, paper-thin zucchini shreds and a few longer, thicker, choppy pieces.

Soooo not going to be able to make ravioli wrappings with THIS!

This is nothing like the perfectly uniform ravioli-wrapping strips in the pictures. I didn't know what to do at this point, since I'd already started my sauce and had this wonderful ravioli picture in my mind. So I winged it and made lasagna on the fly, without a recipe. I've made regular lasagna enough that I didn't feel too lost as I attempted a noodle-free version. Forging onwards, I set about slicing the zucchini lengthwise with a knife, making the thinnest slices I could, and laid them out for lasagna noodles.

I then discovered we only had about 1/2 c. of cottage cheese and no ricotta (the ravioli didn't have cheese--it was meat/spinach ravioli). Though tempted to give up, I persevered, using the cottage cheese in one layer and meat in the next, layering with sauce and zucchini and cheese as I went.
When it came out of the oven, it didn't look half bad, all layered and pretty, although my pasta-infused Italian blood did not find the zucchini an equal substitute for noodles. However, it really was quite good. If you're gluten-free and used to things like spaghetti squash and other noodles substitutes, I would absolutely recommend this. But I can't honestly say I didn't feel a *little* deprived, knowing what 'real' lasagna tastes like.

For this, I used:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. chopped onion (fresh or dried would be fine, or leave this out altogether)
1 c. ground beef or lamb
1 large zucchini (2 small would be fine)
1 c. cottage cheese or ricotta (2 if you like more cheese)
1 egg
1 c. grated mozzerella
1/2 c. parmesan cheese
1 batch of marinara sauce (or 1 jar canned)

1. In a medium skillet, heat oil, then add onion, garlic and ground meat. 
2. Cook over medium heat until pink is gone from meat, then set aside. 
3. Meanwhile cut zucchini lengthwise in as thin strips as possible (or grate on the side that makes strips, if you are a talented grater-user).
4. In a small bowl, beat egg and then stir in cottage cheese or ricotta. You can add a dash of Italian seasoning or other herbs to this if you wish.
5. Put about 1/4 c. marinara sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish, spreading to cover the bottom of the dish. Then lay out zucchini slices as you would lasagna noodles.
6. Top with half your cottage cheese mixture.
7. 
8. Top that with third of your mozzerella and parmesan
9. Follow with another layer zucchini, then about half your remaining sauce, then the meat, the rest of the cottage cheese, third of mozzerella and parmesan.
10. Top that with your last layer of zucchini, the remaining sauce, the last third of your mozzerella and parmesan.
11. Bake in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes.