Zucchini Boats

This recipe is an old favorite of mine. I whipped it up on a whim one night a few years ago and it turned out to be so tasty and filling. I made it for my mom as well, and she really liked it so I figured I should share it with my readers!

I've been slightly stressed out lately, and for me, stress comes with poor eating habits due to laziness. After many nights of takeout pizza or Chinese food, I finally had enough and decided to make something healthy for myself. This recipe popped into my mind. And I'm glad it did because it definitely made me feel better and re-energized my desire to be on a healthy eating track.

It's the perfect time of the year to eat zucchini and the night I made this meal happened to be the first day of autumn. I figured this was the perfect mix of a summer time staple (zucchini) and something a little hardier for fall.

I made this recipe for myself only, and if you are making it for one as well, you will have quite a bit of sauce leftover. The amount of sauce in this recipe would make about three to four zucchini, depending on how heavy you spoon the sauce. If you have sauce leftover, it would be great on some pasta another night. At least, that's my plan for the leftovers!

I made this vegetarian since I was making it for myself, but I think it would be good with ground beef or ground sausage. Just brown the meat separately and stir it into the sauce before you spoon the sauce into the zucchini halves. This recipe would actually be great to make both ways: vegetarian and meatatarian (if you will). You could divide the sauce in two and add the meat to only one half of the sauce. I love it when it's that easy :-)

OK, let's get cookin'!

Zucchini Boats
Servings: 1
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 53 minutes

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP) teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon grey or kosher salt
6 large button mushrooms, chopped
1 14.5 ounce can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 8 ounce can no salt added plain tomato sauce
1/8 cup red wine (I used Pinot Noir)
1 zucchini
1 handful shredded mozzarella cheese
2 pinches of dried Italian herbs

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place a pan with high sides on the stove over medium low heat. Drizzle in 2 teaspoons EVOO and add your minced garlic.

Cook the garlic for two minutes and then add the minced onion to the pan. Stir to coat it in the EVOO.

Sprinkle in the red pepper flakes and stir.

Let the onions cook for about three minutes, and then add the chopped red and green bell peppers.

Add 1/4 teaspoon FCBP and a pinch of salt. Stir.

Allow the onions and peppers to cook for about five minutes.

Add the chopped mushrooms and stir.

Immediately after adding the mushrooms, add the can of fire roasted tomatoes, the tomato sauce, and 1/8 cup of red wine.

Stir to mix the veggies into the sauce.

Turn the heat up to medium and let the sauce bubble away for five minutes. Then reduce the heat to low.

While you are letting the sauce reduce, prepare the zucchini.

Cut the zucchini in half, length-wise.

Then scoop out all of the insides of the zucchini. I did this by slicing down each side with a sharp knife, then using a teaspoon to scoop out the "guts."

Discard the insides of the zucchini.

Place the zucchini halves in a baking dish, cut side up. Drizzle the zucchini with a half a teaspoon of EVOO, and sprinkle with FCBP & a pinch of salt.

Put the baking dish in the oven to cook for twenty minutes.

Stir the tomato & veggie sauce occasionally while the zucchini cooks.

When the twenty minutes is up, remove the baking dish from the oven. Also remove the sauce from the stove and set it next to where you set the zucchini.

Use a spoon to add the tomato & veggie sauce to each half of the zucchini.

Place the baking dish back in the oven for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven and turn the oven off. Turn on the broiler.

Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top of the tomato & veggie sauce.

Place the baking dish under the broiler and allow the cheese to brown for about 3 minutes. Check periodically to ensure that the cheese doesn't burn.

When the cheese is all toasty and brown, remove the baking dish from the oven and turn off the broiler.

Place the zucchini halves on your dinner plate and sprinkle the top of the cheese with the dried Italian herbs.

Add your side dish(es) (I served mine with steamed broccoli!) and enjoy with a glass of the red wine you used to make the sauce.

Salute!