Thursday, August 29, 2013

Seasonal Favorite: Zucchini Boats

Do you have zucchini coming out of your ears?  We are always excited when those big green plants start producing because my kitchen starts producing some of our seasonal favorites: zucchini bread, chocolate chip zucchini cookies, and our absolute favorite:  Zucchini Boats!


Ever tried stuffed peppers?  The idea is similar.   These are definitely delicious.  They do take some time to cook, so make sure you are prepared!  The wait is worth it.

Zucchini Boats:

2 pounds of ground meat (I use venison.  You could use beef, pork, or even turkey)
2 large onions diced
6 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of minced parsley (I use dried parsley if I don't have fresh on hand)
2 cups of uncooked rice
3 Tbsp of olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 tsp salt (I like to use garlic salt)
dash of pepper
2 cans of tomato paste PLUS enough water to make 4 cups of sauce
salt, pepper, seasonings to taste
3-4 Zucchini (medium sized, however larger ones work too.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cut Zucchini in half lengthwise after cutting off the ends. Hollow out the seeds to make a boat.  Place in a baking dish (you will probably need two) and season with salt, pepper, and any additional seasonings to taste (I like Italian Seasoning or a basil garlic mix).

In a skillet, brown ground meat, onion, and garlic.  Add parsley and cook through.  Add rice, olive oil, tomato sauce, salt and pepper.  Mix well.

Spoon meat mixture into zucchini boats.  Add water to the bottom of the baking dishes just so it covers the bottom. 

Bake for 90 minutes in a 325 degree oven.

You can easily cut this recipe in half.  We just like the leftovers for lunch :)



The recipes I follow for both the zucchini bread and the chocolate chip zucchini cookies can be found in this cookbook.  We used  Gluten Free Mama's Coconut Blend flour for both recipes.  I tried using coconut oil instead of canola oil for the bread and it was yummy!  We also added df chocolate chips to the recipe. 

Love this time of year!
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