Zucchini Boats

Zucchini is one of my absolute favorite things to eat! I love the end of summer/beginning of fall because that's when we have tons of zucchini harvested and we can eat it any time we feel like it. Garden/farmers market zucchini is best for these boats because they're larger and easier to stuff, but these smaller ones from the grocery store work out just fine! 

I tried using ground turkey with these instead of ground beef, and I did not like it...the texture was different and taste wasn't good to me. My husband liked them, but I decided that I like the ground beef ones a ton better! I also didn't use the inside of the zucchini to mix in because I didn't think the seeds would mix very well. I liked adding the tomatoes into the recipe too!

 I hope you enjoy this recipe and can use up all of your extra garden veggies while they're fresh! 

Ingredients

4 medium-sized zucchini

1/2 lb. lean ground beef (or turkey)

1/2 onion, chopped

2 tsp. minced garlic or 2 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 cup diced tomatoes

1 cup cooked rice

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1.     Cook 1 cup of rice according to directions (1/2 cup dry)

2.     Preheat oven to 375℉

3.     Prepare an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray

4.     Cut off 1/4 of the zucchini lengthwise (don't cut in half, you won't have enough room for the meat mixture) and scoop out the center pulp, save about ½ cup of the pulp

5.     In a large pan, begin cooking beef

6.     Add onion, garlic, and salt and pepper to beef until cooked thoroughly, add more seasoning if needed

7.     Add diced tomatoes and saved pulp and cook for about 3 minutes

8.     Add rice and mix into the beef mixture

9.     Place zucchini in baking dish

10.  Fill scooped out zucchini with beef mixture

11.  Spray tops with cooking spray

12.  Cook for 30 minutes

13.  Sprinkle cheese on tops of zucchini and cook for 10 more minutes