Zucchini Lasagna Boats

Summertime is filled with lots of yummy veggies! Zucchini is one of my favorites and I love cooking it different ways.

Do you have an abundance of zucchini coming out of your garden right now? This recipe is sure to help you find something to use them for! These were super easy to whip up. They cooked longer than it took me to make and assemble. I got the idea because this week for meal prep I decided to use what I had at home and not shop for more food. I found some frozen ground turkey in my freezer and I also had some zucchini I needed to use. Off to Pinterest (isn't that where we get most of our recipes now?) to scope out my options. A suggested recipe popped up and that's what I decided on!

I used my melon baller to scoop out the insides.

I prepared the cheese mixture while the turkey browned and then I added Aldi's marinara sauce.

Next it was time to layer up the meat sauce.

Waiting for this to cook was torture though! I couldn't wait to try it and couldn't believe I had never made these before. I'm excited to try other variations too that I saw like taco and buffalo chicken.

Enjoy! Leftovers were just as good!

Lasagna Zucchini Boats

Servings: 8 zucchini boats

Ingredients

• 4 medium zucchini (2 1/2 lbs), sliced into halves through the length*
• 1 cup (8.6 oz) part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley , plus more for garnish
• 1 1/4 cups (5 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup (2 oz) finely shredded parmesan cheese
• 8 oz 93% lean ground beef or lean ground turkey
• 4 tsp olive oil , divided
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 3/4 cup marinara sauce
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil , plus more for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a spoon, scoop centers from zucchini while leaving a 1/4-inch rim to create boats. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl stir together ricotta cheese, egg and 1 1/2 Tbsp of the parsley. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir in 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese. Set aside.
3. Heat 2 tsp of the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble beef into pan, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up beef when stirring, until browned (there shouldn't be any excess fat but if you happened to use a fattier beef then just drain excess rendered fat). Stir in marinara sauce and 1 Tbsp of the basil, remove from heat.
4. To assemble boats, brush both sides of zucchini lightly with remaining 2 tsp olive oil and place in two baking pans (I used a 13 by 9 and a 9 by 9). Divide cheese mixture among zucchini spooning about 2 1/2 Tbsp into each, then spread cheese mixture into and even layer. Divide sauce among zucchini adding a few heaping spoonful's to each. Cover baking dishes with foil and place in oven side by side and bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle tops with remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella, return to oven and bake until cheese has melted and zucchini is tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle tops with fresh basil and parsley and serve warm.
5. *Look for zucchini that is wider and more uniform in width. The skinnier zucchini won't fit much filling.