Vegetable Stewardship

As those of you who read this blog know, I have been covered  up with zucchini. The plants have stopped producing  (hurrah) and today I am pulling the remaining ones. After mixing up the soil I am going to replace them with some yellow squash plants. I really do like yellow squash much better anyway.

I have frozen a ton of zukes in various forms, but I still had a produce drawer full of them. Instead of freezing them I was looking for another way to use them. Fortunately I found suggestions all over the internet. (How did I ever function in the kitchen without immediate  ideas?)

So I asked myself a few quick questions. Do I like pizza? Sure! who doesn't? Am I willing to gamble on a different method of getting pizza flavor without the trouble of making dough? You bet!  Do I need to use some of the big ass zucchini hanging out in the vegetable crisper? Definitely!

Dinner became a no brainer. This is not a recipe but more of a formula. Use it as is, change it, make it your own. I was limited by tastes so these are a little simpler than I would have made if it had just been TheHub and me. (Son3 does not eat mushrooms or olives and is not fond of peppers. I was keeping it simple and made all of these the same so I did not have to remember which was for whom)

                                                                Zucchini Pizza Boats

I large zucchini per person
pizza sauce
cooked sausage or ground beef (I assume everyone has cooked sausage in their freezer, right?)
pepperoni
onions (and other toppings of your choice)
mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
cheddar cheese, grated
pepper jack cheese, grated
sprinkling of red pepper flakes (optional)

Wash the zucchini, cut the stem and the bottom of the squash off then slice it in half. Scoop the seed out to form a hollow, and place in a baking dish.Spoon  pizza sauce (Make your own, or buy it. the end result will be close to the same) into the hollowed out area, and sprinkled cooked sausage over it, followed by lots of finely sliced onions. (My heart was hurting that I did not add green peppers, olives and mushrooms here). Put in a 375 degree oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the squash is soft but still retains its shape. Remove from the oven for the final touch.
Add chopped pepperoni followed by a healthy does of mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle generously with the grated cheddar and pepper jack. Stick it back in the oven until everything is all gooey and melted and bubbly. Let it sit for a couple of minutes then serve to everyone who is salivating because of the incredible smells!

This was a huge hit, and is keto (even though I am not doing keto at the moment, but I should be). Everyone here loved it, I have leftovers for lunches and it will be a permanent meal in our food rotation. Yes, it was that good.

Try it, it's tasty and a great way for additional veggie intake.  (And no one here missed the traditional pizza crust!)