Mexican Style Zucchini Boats

I can't tell you how much I love using zucchini. Especially in dinners as a substitute for noodles or as a veggie "filler". Cooked zucchini doesn't have a super strong taste, but I can add it to lots of dishes and get my veggies in without the taste taking over the dish.

Tonight I wanted to do zucchini boats. These are always yummy. But I love anything spicy so a Mexican flavor was a must.

Please note that a lot of my cooking is "by taste". I may put certain amounts in the ingredients lists, but you can add or subtract depending on your own taste.

*6 boats - serves 3-4

~ Ingredients ~

Along with a 9x13 pan I used the following:

• 3 zucchini
• 1 can rotel
• 1 can non fat refried beans (realized that great northern beans would also be a great choice)
• 1 pound beef (sorry, I didn't realize I was out of turkey which is what I was going to use)
• 1 cup cheese
• 1 6 ounce container of greek yogart
• about 30 tortilla chips (crushed)
• 1 packet of taco seasoning (not pictured)
• salt and pepper
• *1/2 tsp. ground cumin if you have it

~ Directions ~

• First things first, cook your meat in a skillet on medium heat. Make sure to add in your taco seasoning.

• Start boiling a pot of water.

• Wash the zucchinis, cut of the ends, and cut in half.

• Scoop out the center of the zucchini halves. As much as you can. I used an ice cream scooper, but it was spiteful and broke the zucchini. So I switched to a 1/2 tsp. measuring spoon.

    *If you tear the zucchini, it's no big deal. You're going to make a mess in the pan anyways. 

• Put the scooped out zucchini in a medium bowl and cut it up a bit with a fork. 

• Mix in beans, rotel, greek yogart, 1/4 cup cheese, salt and pepper into the scooped zucchini. 1/2 tsp of cumin too if you have it.

• Take the zucchini boats and put them in the boiling water for about a minute. Let the excess water drain before placing it in the 9x13 pan.

• Spread the zucchini/bean mix over the zucchini boats. 

• Add the ground beef, then the crushed tortilla chips, and then the leftover cheese.

• Bake in a preheated over at 350 degrees (175 C) for 30 minutes.

I'm slowly learning that I'm pretty awesome in the kitchen. Especially when I just make stuff up. Hubby loved this one! AND he ate whole zucchini without even really tasting it. He doesn't mind trying new stuff though which is good. Best part was the crunchy chips on top :)

Next time I'll do a can of great northern beans (drained) and ground turkey. I'll do the macros for that one since it will be a pretty healthy dish.

Until next time! Mangia!