Veggie Stuffed Zucchini Boats Topped With Manchego Cheese

My Morningstar Farms Veggie Crumbles are my go-to beef substitute and they always hit the spot. While they are actually vegan, I had to add some manchego cheese for some extra flavor. But feel free to leave it out if you are vegan! These zucchini boats were so delicious and honestly so fun to make. If you want an excellent source of protein and veggies, this should be your next dinner. Oh, and I'm going to tell you how you can go about eating the inside of the zucchini as well! I'm all about decreasing our daily food waste and this is one new way you get to learn today! You're going to love it. Let's get to it.

Yields: 2

Portion: 1-2 zucchinis

Prep time: 10 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

This recipe is gluten free and vegetarian. (You can leave out the cheese to make it dairy free & vegan.)

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Ingredients:

2 zucchinis

½ bag of Morningstar Farms Veggie Crumbles

2 tomatoes or 1 large beefsteak tomato

Spinach

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Chili onion crunch (Trader Joe's) - feel free to use just chili powder & a pearl onion

Lemon pepper seasoning

Fresh cilantro to garnish

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Instructions:

1. First, preheat your oven to 375.

2. Grab your zucchinis and cut them vertically into halves.

3. Gently scoop out the inside of each zucchini, but keep the "pulp" of the zucchini on the side to cook later.

4. Now, place the hollowed out zucchinis onto a baking pan and drizzle on olive oil. Season with salt and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or once they are well-cooked. You can stick a fork through one to see if they are ready.

5. While you're waiting for the zucchinis, you had already taken the Morningstar bag out of the freezer and finely diced the tomato(es) and pearl onion.

6. Grab a small pot and drizzle in a generous amount of olive oil (2-3 TBSPS). Add 1 TSP of the chili onion crunch in and stir well. Then add the tomatoes.

7. Now add in the veggie crumbles and stir. Add ½ cup of water in and let it cook. Add salt to your liking. Once the veggie crumble is cooked, turn off the heat.

8. Grab the zucchinis out of the oven. Scoop out the veggie crumble mix you made evenly into each zucchini boat.

9. Grate some manchego cheese onto each zucchini boat to your liking or you can skip this step. Bake them in the oven again for about 5 minutes or once the cheese fully melts.

10. Gently take them out of the oven, place the zucchini boats onto a plate, and garnish with fresh cilantro. Season with lemon pepper and salt to your liking. Enjoy!

With the zucchini "pulp"

1. In a medium sized frying pan, drizzle in 1 TBSP of olive oil and add ½ pearl onion in. Salt well.

2. Sauté until you can smell the onion. Then add in the zucchini pulp. Stir well. Sauté until the zucchini is much more "mushier". I'd say this takes about 5 minutes.

3. Season with dried oregano for extra flavor. Salt if need be. Enjoy with pita bread or with a fork!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I did, so if you do, please leave me a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I always read through my suggestions and comments, so please let me know your thoughts. If you have any questions you can feel free to DM me here or through Instagram. Speaking of Instagram - please tag me in all of your creations! I love seeing how the recipes come out and seeing how talented you all are. Sending my love.

xoxo,

Jasmin D the RD