Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

My daughter has given up eating all red meat, for the new year. To help her with this endeavor, I made zucchini boats tonight, stuffed with my homemade turkey sausage.

These were made with some huge, mutant zucchinis, so they were more like aircraft carriers, than boats. 😀

Ingredients:

• 4 medium to large zucchinis, stem end removed, and cut in half lengthwise
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 or 2 batches turkey breakfast sausage, uncooked (use 2 batches for mutant zucchinis)
• 1 TBS garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 firm, medium sized tomatoes, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese (use 1/2 cup for mutant zucchinis)
• 1/2 – 1 cup shredded mozzarella (use 1 cup for mutant zucchinis)
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs (leave out, if you want it to be low carb) (use 1/2 cup for mutant zucchinis)
• 1 – 2 tsp Mrs. Dash Italian blend (use 2 tsp for mutant zucchinis)
• 2 or 3 eggs, beaten (use 3 eggs for mutant zucchinis)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. With a teaspoon, scoop out the flesh from the interior of the zucchini, so they resemble boats.
3. Place the zucchini boats in a large baking dish or roasting pan.
4. Chop the zucchini flesh that you scooped out, and set aside.
5. In a large frying pan, over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the turkey sausage, and cook thoroughly, chopping it up as it cooks.
6. Add the garlic, onion, chopped zucchini flesh, mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes. Cook until vegetables are softened, about 4-5 minutes.
7. Drain off any excess fat and/or liquid, then transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool.
8. Mix in the eggs.
9. In a medium bowl, combine the Romano cheese, mozzarella, breadcrumbs and Mrs. Dash.
10. Spoon the sausage mixture into the zucchini boats.
11. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over top.
12. Bake until golden brown on top, and zucchini is cooked through, about 30-40 minutes.

NOTE: If you are using especially large zucchinis, cutting them in half may make them easier to remove from the pan and serve.