Meal Makeover: Zucchini Pizza Boats

I had a lot of "me time" this past weekend (since my sweet husband was busy working at the office Saturday and Sunday) so I took advantage of my free time and tested out some new recipes! Not only did I have a blast making a mess of my kitchen, but I was able to play around with three new recipes and could not wait to share this week's meal makeover recipe with you all! If you are like me (and human) you may crave pizza nearly 365 days a year, but you may not want the high-carbohydrate and high-calorie content of the traditional pizza! Have no fear, the Zucchini Pizza Boat has come to your rescue!

This week's Meal Makeover: Zucchini Pizza Boat

Zucchini pizza complete

Zucchini pizza nutrition

This low-carb, high protein "pizza" is super easy to make and surprisingly delicious and filling (thanks to the water and fiber content of the almighty zucchini)! One serving (1 zucchini boat) provides you with nearly 36g of lean protein and a mere 13g carbohydrates and 6g total fat at only 245 calories.

The best part is that you can modify the ingredients to make this meal for yourself or for the whole family to enjoy and you can use any type of lean protein that you prefer (extra-lean ground turkey, chopped chicken breast, shrimp, tofu...)! I made this meal for my neighbor and myself with extra-lean ground turkey and used the leftover turkey in my meals for the next two days. (Meal-prepping at its finest!)

Ingredients: 2 servings (2 Zucchini Boats)

• 6 oz cooked extra-lean ground turkey (divided) (I cooked 1.25 lbs of Jennie-O Extra-lean Turkey and saved the rest for leftovers).
• 1 large zucchini (divided) (I found a very large, wide diameter zucchini that weighed about 12 oz)
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce (divided) (look for low-sodium, all-natural varieties or make your own)
• 1/2 cup 2% milk shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic salt

Intructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Wash the zucchini well and dry with a paper towel before cutting the vegetable in half (length wise). Cut the ends off as well. Carefully scoop out the zucchini flesh and seeds with a mini ice cream scoop or spoon, but be careful not to press too hard and break the core of the zucchini. You want to leave about 1/4th of the zucchini flesh intact to make the "boat" shape for the turkey filling. Discard the zucchini flesh and seeds or save for later use in another recipe.
2. In a large sauce pan, cook the turkey completely (no pink pieces left) and then add in the spices (cumin, chili powder, and garlic salt), remove from heat and stir in spices well.
3. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place the zucchini halves on top of the foil (flesh side up). Fill each boat with 2 tbsp pizza sauce, then 2 tbsp shredded cheese, then 3 oz of cooked turkey, followed by remaining 2 tbsp pizza sauce.
4. Bake the zucchini boats at 400 deg. F for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the cookie sheet from the oven and top each boat with the remaining 2 tbsp shredded cheese.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 deg. F and return the cookie sheet back to the oven and bake for an addition 5-10 minutes (or until cheese is completely melted). Keep a close eye on the cheese so that it does not burn (like mine did in the picture above)! ...ooops....

Zucchini pizza prep

(Cooked turkey with spices and hollowed-out zucchini boats)

Zucchini pizza filling

(Filled boats with pizza sauce and shredded cheese)

Zucchini pizza full

(Filled boats with ground turkey and shredded cheese)

And that's it! We paired our zucchini boats with a mixed greens salad for a well-balanced and nutritious meal. I enjoyed every last bite of my zucchini pizza boat and the great company of my sweet neighbor, Margie :-)

I hope you will try out this meal makeover recipe and share it with your family or friends. Let me know what you think!

Meal Makeover: Meet the Meatza Pizza!

Hey there! Welcome to my FIRST EVER blog post! For those of you who know me well, you are very familiar with my never-ending "meal makeovers" and healthy(er) recipe posts on my Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook pages, but now you will be able to come to one site to see all of my creative meals and recipes! I hope you enjoy what you see... make...and EAT! I figured there was no better way to start my first Recipe Blog Post than to introduce you all to the greatest thing since sliced GLUTEN-FREE bread!! Allow me to introduce the amazing "Meatza" Pizza - which just happens to be NATURALLY gluten-free and SURPRISINGLY delicious!

Meatza Pizza

(Yes folks, it truly looks that beautiful and delicious! I took this picture right after the Meatza came out of the oven!)

When I first discovered this recipe on Pinterest, I was very intrigued to try it out myself (but was very skeptical at the same time). Now, I will admit that I am not the best cook (yet), so I enlisted the help of my (very talented and sweet) neighbor who just happens to be a pro in the kitchen. My neighbor, Margie, and I (along with the help of her 10-year old grandson) made two Meatza Pizzas earlier this afternoon and we were all surprised by how easy it was to make them (and by how much fun we had while doing it)! Within an hour, the Meatzas were done and we couldn't believe the final product. Our Meatza Pizzas looks like regular pizzas! We could hardly wait to slice up one of the Meatza Pizzas and I for one was blown away by the amazing taste and texture! Even the 10-year old boy LOVED it!

Now if you don't believe me... try it yourself! Here is the recipe that started this whole "crazy" Meatza Pizza idea (from the talented Baker By Nature).

Marg. Meatza Pizza

(Photo: BakerByNature)

As always, I made some minor modifications to her recipe, but you could really use any toppings you would like! Here are the modified ingredients that I used to make the Spinach and Tomato Meatza:

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1.25pounds extra-lean ground turkey meat
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 ounces shredded 2% mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 10 Grape Tomatoes, sliced in half length-wise
• 1/4 cup baby spinach, chopped

It's truly that simple! We baked the "crusts" for 15 minutes, put our toppings on, and put the Meatzas under the broiler for 5 minutes. Once they were cooled a bit, we sliced one Meatza into 8 slices and entered "Meatza Bliss" with our first bite!

Meatza Crust

(The Meatza "crust" after baking for 15 minutes)

Slice of Meatza

(The first bite of the first slice...mmmm)

Don't just take my word for it - try it out yourself. Like.....NOW! You're welcome :-)