Zucchini Boats

Ingredients

One Quart Italian Tomato Sauce, I use my own sauce

1 pound ground meat-beef, turkey or chicken

1 Cup Cheese, I used the Cheddar and Colby Jack for this photo, but mozzarella works great also.

4 Medium Zucchini

Preparation

Heat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

Brown the ground meat, and add the Italian Sauce to the meat.  I use really lean meat, but if there is lots of grease or water drain that off.  I have used almost any kind of canned sauce for this, but prefer my own home canned.  Keep sauce warm on the stove while prepping the other ingredients.

While the sauce is warming up, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise.  Use a melon baller to remove the seeds, and make the boat shape.  Be sure to leave some of the zucchini for the flavor.

Place the zucchini in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  I don't like to cook tomato sauce  in a metal pan unless it is coated with ceramic or enamel.  Tomatoes are acidic, and will corrode metal pans, and give your dish a metallic taste. Yuk.

Fill the zucchini's center cavity with the meat sauce.  And sprinkle the cheese on top.

Bake the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until a fork stuck into the zucchini indicates that it is cooked completely.  The zucchini should be tender, but not mushy.  If the zucchini are really large, don't put the cheese on right away.  You really only want to melt it, so wait for the last 10 to 15 minutes to add it.  If you stick with the medium size, then I just add the cheese right away and save myself some time.

Since I'm a cheap date, I like to serve this with Riunite Lambrusco wine, and a salad made with my own homemade Herb Salad Dressing:

Juice of One or Two lemons, about 1/4 cup of juice
1/2 Cup of Good Light Olive Oil
1 teaspoon of Penzey's Italian Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder

If you like a sweeter dressing I use some Stevia Powder, just a small pinch, but sugar will also work if you don't have a problem with it.  I don't recommend Truvia or any Xylitol sweetener as this puts the flavor off.  I sometimes want some sweet, and other times not.

Place all ingredients in a jar and shake to emulsify the dressing.  If you add some citric acid (Fruit Fresh), or vitamin C crushed up it will last about one month in fright, but will last two weeks in the refrigerator with no preservative.  (Chemist meets Food Science.) Yes, I used the word "preservative", however, citric acid and vitamin C are good for you stuff; see the links.  It is all that stuff with the weird names, that aren't good for you.

I hope you enjoy these.  I grew one zucchini plant this year for the first time.  I have enough zucchini to feed an army.  I have frozen tons of it, and use it in everything I can.  LOL