Sausage Zucchini Boats

The original recipe is found here on Skinny Mom.

The Recipe

Sausage Zucchini Boats

1/2 lb Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage, Casing Removed
1-1/2 Cups Light Pasta Sauce

4 Medium Zucchini

1/2 White Onion, Diced

1/2 Cup Red Pepper, Diced

1/2 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese

2 Tablespoons Garlic, Minced

1 Teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Preheat your oven to 425. Cut zucchini in half length wise. Use a spoon or melon baller to remove seeds and scoop out flesh and chop the flesh into bite size pieces. Set this aside in a small bowl. Drop the zucchini halves in boiling water and boil for 1-1/2 minutes. Remove zucchini halves from water and dry zucchini with a paper towel. Spread a little over ¼ cup of marinara sauce into bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place the zucchini halves on top of the sauce with the open side facing up. Brown the sausage in a pan and chop into small pieces while browning. Drain the sausage and set aside. Heat your extra virgin olive oil in the pan, then add the diced onion, garlic, and red bell pepper to pan and sauté for 2 minutes until softened. Next, add the chopped zucchini, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Return chopped sausage to saute pan and mix with the veggies. Using a spoon or spatula, add equal amounts of sausage mixture to each zucchini half. Top each half with the remaining pasta sauce and cover with cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30-35 minutes in the oven until cheese has melted and zucchini is cooked through.

The Results

This was a pretty easy recipe to make and it was yummy! I can't wait to make it again when zucchinis are in season - the ones I used were very small. The only change I made to this recipe was not actually making the zucchini halves into boats. They were too small to dig out the flesh, and it was easier not too. And it tasted the same too! In the future, I will probably still just leave them as halves. I loved that this used lots of veggies. Hopefully we'll be able to use some from our garden if we can get it planted this year. Overall, I'd say this was a hit!