Sausage-Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Still on my quest to increase my intake of vegetables, I keep trying to find ways to cook zucchini. It is in season right now and I feel like my neighbors and friends are trying to get rid of their gardens like they are bad pennies. Which has made experimenting with them easy and fun.

A couple of days ago I wanted to make my own variation of sausage stuffed zucchini boats. After seeing many recipes on Pinterest and hearing one of my co-worker's take on it, I decided to try them myself.

I made ours with poultry sausage - a mixture of chicken and turkey, which have a mild flavor to them. I mixed in some leftover pasta sauce, parmesan cheese, and basil. Then I added a layer of mozzarella to bake them to perfection.

Sausage-Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Makes 2 servings

2 medium-large zucchini's
Salt & pepper
Garlic powder
Olive OIl
1 lb Sausage (I used a poultry sausage)
1 tsp basil
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 tbsp parmesan cheese
2 cheese sticks
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the ends off the zucchini's and then cut them lengthwise. Using a spoon or melon-baller, remove the seeds and "guts" from the zucchini and set aside. Leave about enough so that there is about 1/4" shell. Put zucchini in a glass Pyrex baking dish (mine fit a 9x9). Baste the zucchini halves with a little olive oil and salt, pepper & garlic powder them to taste. Roast the zucchini's for about 20-25 minutes until they are soft. While the zucchini's are roasting, brown and cook the sausage. Drain any excess grease. Once the sausage is browned, mix in the pasta sauce, basil and parmesan cheese in the pan with the sausage until mixed through. Next, cut the mozzarella cheese sticks (or whatever kind you like) in half lengthwise. Once the zucchini's are done roasting, place a 1/2 a mozzarella cheese stick in each boat. Then fill in the boats with the sausage mixture. Top the zucchini boats with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven for about 10 more minutes or until the cheese is melted. Then enjoy hot :)

I paired our dinner with roasted carrots and some herb couscous. It was colorful and delicious!