My Sis is Hungry: Zucchini Pizza Boats

I got a large zucchini from Cassandra and thought I was just going to make zucchini bread (cuz - hello, zucchini bread), but she gave me the idea to make stuffed zucchini pizza instead. Sounds good right?

I gave this to my sis for this week's "My Sis is Hungry" review - here's what she has to say (recipe and my notes follow):

Today’s meal that I didn’t have to make was interesting.. yes interesting.  Is that a compliment?  Maybe.  Read on..

So I have been trying to watch what I eat lately.  I realize summer is almost over and I have missed out on another season of wearing a bikini.  I should add I have missed out for the last 28 years- give or take a year.  Anyway.. I digress.  So I have been trying to eat healthy.  This meal intrigued me.  “Pizza Boat”.  The husband was very upset he was out of town and missed a recipe that had “Pizza Boat” in the title.  I did not however tell him my sister is a liar.  He should know a this point and yet he doesn’t.  So odd.  Anyway.. Pizza Boat. 

First it came without cooking directions.  Did she just meet me?  She said “until cooked”.  Ummmmm.. is that 10 minutes?  Is that 4 hours?  So that said I cooked it for 20 minutes on 350.  Not enough.  Cooked for another 10 and that was better.. but still crunchy.  I decided to leave it that way since she was passing off zucchini as a meal. 

Not sure what kind of meat was in here- looked like ham and sausage.  Really could only taste the ham.  That was honestly the most prevalent flavor in this dish. Ham. (if that’s what it was).  The zucchini itself when cooked didn’t bring a lot of flavor (so would be good if your family doesn’t love zucchini) but was kind of non descript other than that.  Personally I would have left off the meat and tried to make it healthier and added more veggies.  I did end up adding jalepeno’s and more sauce which did make it better for me.  All in all, it wasn’t bad but didn’t LOVE.   IF was only veggies and was healthy I would have liked way better.

One other great note- I was definitely full from only one boat.  Stuffed actually.  Not as stuffed as I would have been though if she had used this zucchini to make me her delicious zucchini bread.

Just sayin’.

*Jill here - good thing I read this review before cooking the zucchini boat I saved out for myself! Taking her notes into consideration, instead of baking I microwaved the boat at 50% power for 5 minutes (covered) and it was still a bit crunchy. Microwaved another 3 minutes at 50% power and it was done enough for me - still firm but not crunchy. I'm a dipper so served it with extra pizza sauce and greek yogurt on the side, along with more salt and pepper seasoning. I see what she's saying about adding more veggies - I was going for 'meat lover' so it'd be more of a 'dinner' and figured all that zucchini counted as the vegetable, but the well of the zucchini boat was pretty deep and could easily have held some veggies - broccoli, halved cherry tomatoes, olives, peppers, whatever you like! Don't tell her but I was also cleaning out the fridge of leftover meats and figured this pizza was a good way to use them up (and I didn't have any veggies other than onion and mushrooms LOL) Shhhh.....;)

Recipe:

Based on stuffing zucchini in the past, I cut the ends off the zucchini and popped in the microwave for 6 minutes (turning a couple times) to pre-cook it a bit - it takes a long time to get it done if you bake it from raw. Remove from microwave, carefully slice it lengthwise down the middle, scoop out the seeds. Brush the entire thing with olive oil, season with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning. Spread with pizza sauce, whatever toppings you like (I did a combination of turkey pepperoni, smoked turkey sausage, and canadian bacon - along with chopped banana peppers, sautéed onions, and mushrooms), top with cheese. Bake until heated thru and the zucchini has softened. 

note: in the future I'll make sure to microwave the zucchini initially a little bit longer so it's cooked more before filling it. Don't overcook tho or it's going to be a mushy mess of a pizza boat.