Veggie Stuffed Zucchini Boats

What a great and different way to cook with zucchini!  These zucchini boats are stuffed with a lot of great veggies and topped with a golden panko parmesan crust!  If you are craving pizza but not craving the calories, give these a try! They seriously taste like pizza! They work great as a side dish or you can add ground chicken or pork sausage to it and make it a delicious entree!  We will be making these a lot this summer when the zucchini in our garden grows.  This recipe serves 4 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini (6-8" in length)
• 1/2 c mushrooms, rough chopped
• 6-10 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (depending on size)
• 1/4 c jarred artichokes, rough chopped
• 1/2 small yellow onion, medium diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 T olive oil
• 1 T fresh jalapeño, finely diced (optional)
• 1/2 tea red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tea dried parsley
• 1/2 tea italian seasoning
• 6 fresh basil leaves (4 chopped, 2 ribboned)
• 1/4 c panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 c parmesan cheese
• 1 T olive oil
• S&P

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit

- Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out pulp and seeds using a spoon.  Leave some of the meat in the zucchini (~1/4").  Reserve the zucchini pulp and chop roughly.  Set aside.

- In a medium saute pan, add 2 T of the olive oil over medium heat.  Saute the mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, and jalapeño for 5 minutes.

- Add the garlic, zucchini, artichokes, red pepper flakes, parsley and italian seasonings and saute for another 2-3 minutes. 

- Add 3 of the chopped basil leaves to the saute pan and remove from the heat.  Let cool for 5-10 minutes.  

- In the meantime, in a small mixing bowl, combine the panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, 1 T olive oil, 1 chopped basil leaf and 1/2 tea pepper and stir until olive oil is evenly distributed throughout cheese and panko.  Add 2 T of this mixture to the veggies and stir.

- In a small baking dish , place zucchini boats and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

- Spoon veggie mixture into zucchini boats.

- Top veggie boats with panko parmesan mixture.

- Cover with foil and bake for ~18-20 minutes.

- Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes until panko parmesan mixture is golden brown and crispy.

- Let sit for 5 minutes and garnish with extra basil before serving.

Finished Veggie Stuffed  Zucchini Boats

Zucchini Boats ready to be baked!