I first made this gluten-fee zucchini lasagne in college.  The problem at that time was that quinoa wasn't a mainstream ingredient so although it tasted delicious, the pan was so soupy from all the fresh vegetables.  Now, quinoa is my absorbing medium and it works really well to absorb all the nutritional vegetable juice, provide texture as well as enhance the nutritional value and protein of your dish.  Many recipes out there have you extract the juice from the zucchini and discard it.  In my opinion, that's a total waste of very nutritious juice. 

Tips for making gluten-free zucchini lasagne

Quinoa

Quinoa is an ancient grain that is full of health benefits.  It is naturally gluten free and has 8 grams of protein per cooked cup of quinoa.  It also has other healthy nutrients. As mentioned earlier, quinoa is cooked in the vegetable juices so it contains all the vegetables' healthy nutrients. Rinse and gently rub the quinoa together with your hands in a sieve to remove any residual saponin, a natural defense mechanism that the plant secretes to fend off birds and bugs.  Saponin gives quinoa a bitter taste.

Zucchini

Thinly sliced zucchini acts as the pasta sheets.  Use a mandoline to slice it to about 1/8" or 3.175 mm thickness. You can also use eggplant slices but I would peel the eggplant skin as it makes it difficult to cut with just a fork.  

Cheeses

This dish uses ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  I did a test between using purchased shredded mozzarella cheese and shredding my own shredded mozzarella cheese.  Because of the addition of anti-caking agents, the melted cheese of purchased shredded cheese is not as gooey and soft as the melted cheese from freshly shredded mozzarella.  So, if you have a food processor, I highly recommended shredding your own cheeses. As for using full milk or skim cheese, that's totally your call.  Full milk cheese is definitely richer and more caloric than the part skim cheeses.

Meat

Use ground meat of your choice: beef, chicken, turkey or even lamb.  I highly recommend the least fat option which may not require you to drain any fat.   However, if the ground meat renders too much fat, drain the fat after browning the meat. A little can be kept for taste!

Tomatoes

Vine ripened tomatoes are so much more flavorful than regular store bought tomatoes.  Blend the tomatoes to a puree so it is not necessary to peel the skin off the tomatoes.

Onions

I prefer to use sweet onions rather than regular onions as the sweet onions complement the acid from the tomatoes. Dice the onions and saute the onions until caramelized.  These should not only look translucent but caramelized into a golden brown color.

Assembling the lasagne

Proportioning the meat mixture, cheese mixture and mozzarella and parmesan cheese before assembling helps each layer to be uniform.  

The zucchini should be divided into thirds.
The meat mixture should be halved AFTER your initial thin layer on the bottom of the pan.
The ricotta mixture should be made with HALF of the parmesan cheese and halved.
The mozzarella cheese should be divided into thirds.  You do not have to put these proportions into separate bowls, but just divide them in the bowl.

When layering the lasagne with the vegetables.  Slightly overlap the zucchini  in one direction.  For the next layer, place the zucchini in the opposite direction.  This creates more stability to the structure of the lasagne.  The third level should be in the direction as the first layer.

End with the third layer of zucchini and DO NOT add the mozzarella and parmesan cheese for the initial bake.  This allows steam from the lasagne to evaporate without having the cheese be a protective film.

Once the lasagne has baked for half an hour, combine the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese and sprinkle it on the zucchini.

Once the gluten-free zucchini lasagne has baked, allow the lasagne to cool for 15-20 minutes.  This allows the vegetable juices to fully absorb into the quinoa and the melted cheese to firm up. This will make it easier to cut and serve.

Enjoy and Bon appetit!  Let me know how yours turned out!