This sausage and apple stuffed baked zucchini takes some of the best harvest fall has to offer and combines them together in a flavorful blend that will have your mouth watering for more. To top it off, this simple dish is loaded with the goodness of apples and zucchini that will have everyone at the table looking forward to a healthy dinner.
Ingredients For This Dish
Sausage and Apple Stuffed Baked Zucchini is relatively easy in the ingredient field. First and foremost, hit up the produce section of the store for some whole zucchini, yellow onion, garlic, green onion, and apples.
In the spice and condiment section you’ll need dried oregano, some fennel, and breadcrumbs.
Finally, you’ll need some ground Italian sausage and parmesan cheese. You have some choice in this part of the dish as well. If you are looking for a healthier option than sausage, you can use a ground chicken, turkey, or alternative meat option. However, if you do go for one of these options you may want to consider mixing in some Italian seasonings to give the meat the same flavor that comes with Italian sausage.
if you want a creamier texture, you can also switch out a goat cheese instead of parmesan for your cheese selection.
Putting your Sausage and Apple Stuffed Baked Zucchini Together
We really love this dish for its simplicity and great flavor. Such a fun dish and so easy to make! Turn your oven on to 375 degrees, then cut your zucchini lengthwise and scoop out all of the seeds and strings. You are making a “zucchini boat,” so the meat of the zucchini should be about a quarter of an inch thick.
Put one cup of water and a half cup of quinoa in a small sauce pan on the stove. Bring to a soft boil, turn to low, then cover and cook for about 20 minutes, until most of the water has cooked off. Don’t cook the water completely off, as you can burn the quinoa. The quinoa will be firm but not crunchy when it is fully cooked.
Lightly coat the Zucchini with olive oil and place on a cooking sheet face up. Put in the oven on a center shelf and let cook for 15 minutes.
While the zucchini cooks, you’ll put together your stuffing. Dice your onion, apple, and garlic.
Warm a saute pan to medium heat and put in the Italian Sausage. Cook until all pink is gone, separating and stirring the meat into small chunks as it cooks with a spatula. Take the sausage out of the pan and put aside. The flavor from the sausage will give the pan a nice flavor for the rest of the stuffing.
Mix the oregano, bread crumbs, and fennel together in a small bowl.
Place the yellow onions in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, spice mix, and green onion into the pan. Once the smell starts to emanate (roughly one minute), you will reintroduce your sausage into the pan. Add the apples and cook everything together for another minute. You don’t want the apples in the pan for too long, as they will get too soft if they are overcooked.
After a minute or two, everything has had a chance for the flavors to blend together – pull off the heat. In a mixing bowl, combine your parmesan cheese a d bread crumbs. Add in the sausage blend and mix together. Stir in the quinoa until you have your desired consistency.
When your zucchini have finished cooking, pull them out of the oven and turn the oven down to 350 degrees.
Spoon the stuffing into the cavity of the zucchini so there is a mound of stuffing over the rim of the flat surface of the zucchini. Top with additional cheese. Place back in the oven and cook for an additional ten minutes to melt all of the flavors together.
Why we Love Zucchini for an MS Diet
Zucchini is one of those squash options that we love integrating into our diet for multiple reasons. One; it’s tasty, versatile, and has great texture and consistency for a variety of recipes. Two; it’s loaded with nutrients. Zucchini is wonderful source of multiple nutrients, particularly vitamin A. While research still hasn’t reached a point where vitamin A is recommended specifically for treating MS, we do know that it decreases inflammation and increases immune tolerance.
We also know that zucchini has plenty of antioxidants, which makes it a power packed food for a healthy diet. So not only is sausage and apple stuffed baked zucchini a tasty dinner treat, it’s got plenty of health benefits, and we love it!
Please visit our Resources page if you are interested in finding some of the tools and gadgets Dre uses to make cooking accessible while cooking with MS.
Positively Scrumptious Sausage and Apple Stuffed Baked Zucchini
Description
This sausage and apple stuffed baked zucchini takes some of the best harvest fall has to offer and combines them together in a flavorful blend that will have your mouth watering for more. To top it off, this simple dish is loaded with the goodness of apples and zucchini that will have everyone at the table looking forward to a healthy dinner.
Ingredients
Instructions
-
Put one cup of water and a 1/2 cup of quinoa in sauce pan on stove. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until almost all of the water has boiled off.
If there is a very small amount of water left in the pan that will give a little moisture to the stuffing. The quinoa should be firm but not crunchy when finished. -
Warm the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the stem end off of the zucchini. Slice the zucchini lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and strings, leaving about 1/4 inch of zucchini flesh to create a zucchini boat. Brush the face of the zucchini with olive oil and season with salt and paper.
-
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place zucchini on sheet. Put in oven in center rack and bake for 15 minutes.
The meat of the zucchini will easily cut but have maintain a firm texture that is easy to bite into and is not mushy when cooked. -
Heat other tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet to medium high and put in your sausage. Cook until brown, there will be a crust on the baking side. Turn over, cook two more minutes and break apart the sausage into chunks while cooking.
-
Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside in a bowl. Add diced onions to sauce pan and saute 2-3 minutes until they are soft and have become slightly translucent on outside.
-
Add Garlic, Fennel, Apple,Green Onion, and Oregano to the onion and cook for 30 seconds. Add sausage back into pan and mix together for roughly 30 more seconds. Turn off the heat.
-
In a mixing bowl, mix the bread crumbs, parmesan, and parsley. Add the sausage mix and mix well. Add quinoa and stir in until you have desired consistency.
-
Spoon stuffing into zucchini boats. Top with your favorite choice of cheese.
-
Turn oven down to 350 degrees. Put stuffed zucchini back in center rack of oven and cook an addition 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted. Pull out, serve, and enjoy!
