Zucchini Tugboats

Crispy brown cheese atop juicy tender zucchini tugboats. Just add sour cream and salsa.

It's zucchini time! The time when, just this morning there were no fully grown green garden jewels, and this afternoon, well, surprise -

a lurker the size of a small tugboat.

Stuffed zucchini, one of my favorite summer treats, lends itself well to stuffing. Each year I stuff, bake, and devour zucchini boats. And every year I include different ingredients in the stuffing. Tonight I even had stuffing leftovers, which shall be transformed into stuffed peppers tomorrow night.

Or we could just use up the other discovered tug zucchini and have a repeat. Hmmm. Choices, choices.

Zucchini Boats

Preheat oven to 425.

1 large, overgrown zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise and scooped out (leave end caps on to contain stuffing)

Stuffing:

1 tube spicy sausage
olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 grated and blotted red potato (use paper towel to absorb liquids)
broccoli, cut into small pieces, about 1 cup
cauliflower, cut into small pieces, about 1 cup
fresh green beans, broken into one-inch pieces (precooking will make sure they are not chewy like mine!)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup roasted corn
water (about 3/4 cup, just enough to make stuffing a little saucy)
2 T. cumin
2 T. chili
2 T. oregano
1 T. Mrs. Dash
fresh ground black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes

grated cheese (your choice)

Toppings: sour cream and salsa

1. Cook sausage, onion, garlic, and potato in about 2 T. of olive oil. Stir often. Potato tends to stick.

2. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese and toppings. Stir often. Cook until blended and bubbling.

3. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and arrange zucchini boats in the middle. Fill with stuffing mixture. I smash it down and let it overflow. Top with grated cheese.

4. Bake about 40 minutes, or until fork easily pierces skin of zucchini. Keep watch over toppings to avoid burning.

5. Cut in half to serve. Top with sour cream and salsa.

Delish!

Tip: Use leftovers to stuff peppers or a second zucchini tugboat. Sometimes I add brown rice to the stuffing mix.