Beef Stuffed Zucchini

Beef Stuffed Zucchini

4 medium zucchini
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 egg
3/4 cup marinara or spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterey jack cheese, divided
Additional marinara or spaghetti sauce

1.  Cut zucchini in half lenghwise; cut a thin slice from the bottom of each with a sharp knife to allow zucchini to sit flat.  Scoop out pulp, leaving 1/4 inch shells.

2.  Place shells in an ungreased 3 qt. microwave safe dish.  Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain and set aside.

3.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Remove from the heat; stir in the egg, marinara sauce, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup cheese.

4.  Spoon about 14 cup into each shell.  Microwave, uncovered on high for 4 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Microwave 3-4 minutes longer or until a thermometer inserted into filling reads 160* and zucchini are tender.  Serve with additional marinara sauce.

Makes 4 servings; 2 stuffled halves (calculated without additional sauce)
Cal 394; fat 21; fiber 4


Was a little disappointed in this.  It was good, but I want to make it again and change, well pretty much everything.  4 medium zucchini, I had 4 smallish zucchini and could have used at least 3 more.  So either cut the beef mixture in half or get more zucchini.  The egg and bread crumbs....I understand what purpose they serve, but yeah.  So not doing that again.  It gave the meat a weird color, especially after you added the marinara sauce.  So I'm going to just use a the cheese and let the meat stick together that route.  I also didn't microwave.  So my zucchini still had quite a bit of crunch and bland is an understatement.  Next time I'm going to spray a little olive oil on and add some Mrs. Dash and pop it in the oven for about 8-10 minutes and let it cook just a little.  Then poke the meat mixture in.  The meat was bland, so I added, pepper, garlic, a dash of cayenne pepper and salt.  Just make sure that you don't add anything that won't go with the spaghetti sauce.  I put it all together and popped it in the oven.  My microwave is a little crazy, and today you may get perfectly cook in 2 minutes or you might get burnt.  It was fairly good, and I figure that it will be really good after I adjust for the next time.  We had a salad with it and called it dinner.