It was okay...I thought it had too much rice. Will probably cut it back next time I make it.

I made lots of changes based on what I had on hand, I apologize to those who like the review based on the recipe. Based on my changes, though, this was delicious!! I used 3-4 cloves of garlic with the meat and onion mixture. After adding 8 oz of sauce and 2 cups of rice (leftover cold from fridge) it seemed really dry to me. So I added 3-4 oz of tomato paste with about 1 cup of cooking water from cooking the zucchini. I did not have cottage cheese or ricotta, so I used 4 oz of cream cheese instead. I also added 4 oz of mozzerella cheese and about 4 plum tomatoes (these were going bad and I wanted to use them up). I used about 1 1/2 tsp salt and about 1/4 tsp of pepper in addition to the oregano and basil. I mixed this all up on the stove and let it simmer for awhile. I didnt see a need for the egg so I didnt use it. I put the cooked zucchini on the bottom of the pan so it would be easier for my picky son to remove. I put the rice/meat mixture on top then 1 cup of shredded cheddar and cooked for about 20 minutes. Next time I probably will just mix it all up in a big pan on the stove top and as it simmers add the cheddar and let it melt. This was wonderful!

My husband and I really enjoyed this. I made a few small changes...doubled the garlic and cheese, and if you keep the layers of zucchini under the meat mixture, there is no need to precook it. We will definitly have this again!

i put ricotta instead of cottage chesse but it was yummy

This wasn't bad, but if I'm going to make a meat/rice/zucchini dish, I'll stick with "Cheesy Sausage Zucchini Casserole" from this site. Sausage seemed to be a better pairing than ground beef, though I might adopt the garlic/basil idea from this one. I also don't see the need to layer the zucchini on top and bottom unless presentation is important to you (and with two toddlers, it isn't), so if you're in a hurry, mix away!

This was a pretty simple, tasty casserole dish. I made a couple changes when I made it. 1. I used some yellow squash in addition to the zucchini (I didn't buy quite enough zucchini at the store, so I used some squash I had in the fridge to substitute... it turned out nicely). 2. I used dried herbs instead of fresh and used about half as much. 3. I doubled the cheese on top... you can never have too much cheese! :) 4. I sprinkled some mild green Tabasco sauce on the finished product for some zing. Very good, would make again!