Grains and sugars before bed are bad. Grains hit your tongue and turn into sugar. Sugar is digested and stored in your body until you use it. If you don’t it turns into fat. In that vain, I’ve been trying to cut pasta and other grains out of our dinner plates and limit the amount of dessert I have. How do you make a delicious dinner with a base of vegetables rather than pasta??

Most of the recipes I have posted fulfill this requirement but Zucchini Boats are some of my favorite. (check out the panel at the top of this page for “recipes”) Zucchini Boats are fun to make, really tasty, and the name is just awesome. I adapted this recipe from my Maximized Living Nutrition Plan book.

Zucchini Boats (2-4 servings, I doubled it for the next night)

Ingredients (As many organic as possible! Especially the meat)

• 2 medium zucchini
• 3/4 lb ground turkey
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 5 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Butter or line a baking pan with parchment paper and set it aside.
2. Trim the ends of the zucchini then cut them in half lengthwise.
3. Scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/2″ thick shell. Chop the pulp.
4. Over medium-high heat, cook zucchini pulp, ground turkey, onion, mushroom, and peppers. For about 10 minutes, until meat is brown. Drain the juice.
5. Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well.
6. If you’re saving some for tomorrow, seal up half the boats in a glass container (or plastic if you must)
7. Place the remaining shells in the baking pan. Spoon the mix into all the zucchini shells.
8. Bake the boats for 20 minutes.
9. Enjoy!