Stuffed Zucchini Canoes (vegetarian)

Today old man winter did not want to place nice.  Lately the snow was beginning to recede exposing the dirty brown patches that we would normally call grass, and you could feel that spring was in the air.  sigh* I fell asleep last night dreaming of riding my bike through our little town of  Misawa listening to the birdies chirp and all the cliche things you can associate with spring.  Then the alarm went off at 5am, only to look outside and realize that 6 inches of snow had fallen, while I was dreaming of spring.
Old man winter just slapped Misawa Japan in the face! Once I dug my car out of the snow and trudged off to work, about 5 hours later we were actually released because of the constant blizzard like conditions.  It has to be serious weather for the commander to release us from work, so (sad face ) my dreams of spring will have to put on hold for a few more weeks.
   In the meantime I had bought these massive zucchinis at our commissary and got the idea to make stuffed veggie zucchini canoes.  I took all the ingredients that I thought would make a tasty filling and came up with these delicious zucchini canoes.  By the way shout out to my neighbor for rummaging through her cupboard for a can of tomato sauce. Mondays our commissary is closed and there was no way I was going to find out if the roads were plowed or not off base.

Stuffed Zucchini Canoes (Vegetarian)
Oishii Treat Original

Time: 45 min.

Yields 2 servings


Ingredients

1 X-Large Zucchini (if your store doesn't have giant ones like mine did, use 2 medium zucchinis)
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1/2 Cup Red Peppers diced
1/2 Cup Red Onions diced
1 Garlic Clove finely diced
1/3 Cup of your favorite marinara/ spaghetti sauce
1/2 Cup Morning star beef crumbles
1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese
1 Cup Spinach
1/2 to 3/4 grated cheese of your choice (I used a cheddar and mozzarella mixture)

Directions

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees
Slice your zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the insides.  Be careful to leave a little of the flesh around the zucchinis. Keep the scooped out flesh, dice it up and set aside.  Spray the inside of your zucchini with some Olive oil. (I used Pam olive oil spray).  Place Zucchini rind side up on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. (Once done remove from oven and turn zucchini over to get ready for the filling)
On medium high heat add 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil to a saute pan and saute the finely diced garlic for about 1-2 minutes, add your peppers and onions and saute for another 4-5 minutes or until your peppers and onions are soft.  Add your diced zucchini flesh, beef crumbles, marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese. cook for another 4-5 minutes.  Lastly add you spinach and mix until wilted. Remove from heat and scoop filling into your canoes.

sprinkle with the grated cheese and place back in the oven for another 15 minutes. and enjoy :)