Sweet Sausage Stuffed Zucchini

I had an abundant zucchini crop last year and I tried many new things with it.  This was a sausage stuffed baked zucchini dish.  My husband's Aunt Pearl suggested it and it was delicions.  Ingredients were a zucchini, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, sweet sausage, marinara sauce and bread crumbs. The first thing I did was to cook up the sweet sausage patties and crumble them up.  The links do not work unless you remove the sausage from the casing.

                                    

The next step it to slice the zucchini down the middle and scoop out the seeds.  Place it in a casserole dish.

I had already cut the end off which, I took some slices from for the top of the zucchini. 

                                 

Use a large mixing bowl and mix the marinara sauce, sausage, grated parmesan cheese and some bread crumbs.  I have no idea how much of each ingredient I used....I use the eyeball measuring method for most things. It always seems to work out.

                                   

Fill the zucchini with the sausage mixture and place some sliced zucchini pieces on the top.

Slice some thick pieces of mozarella cheese and cover the top of the zucchini. Put a small amount of water in the bottom of the casserole dish to help keep it from drying out.  Cover with foil and bake in a 350 oven for 30-45 min.  Test the tenderness of the squash with a fork. 

                                      

When the zucchini is done, take the foil off and put it back in to oven under the broiler to melt the cheese and give it a toasty brown color.

                                    

After it cools enough to cut, go ahead and take a nice sized portion.  Makes a nice lunch or dinner.  Perfect for low carb diets!