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One of my favorite things about summer is the fresh produce. I love walking into my own backyard and finding inspiration for cooking from the vegetables in my garden. And one of my favorite vegetables is zucchini. It’s so versatile – it’s delicious baked, fried, steamed, or sauteéd, and it can be used a number of ways in dishes, from zoodles to zucchini bread.
Lately, my garden has been giving me zucchini the size of baseball bats, so I decided to use its size to my advantage and make the vegetable the star of my dish. Zucchini boats were the first recipe that came to mind.
Zucchini boats are a favorite of mine because they can be used in any type of cuisine. The zucchini simply acts as the vehicle for whatever you would rather be eating. It’s a low-carb way to make a filling, nutritious, vegetable-packed meal.
Because I had marinara sauce sitting in my cupboard, I decided to go with an Italian spin for tonight’s dinner. Below is the recipe I created, but feel free to experiment with your favorite flavors and the ingredients you have in your cupboard. The oven temperature and cooking times should be relatively stable for just about any filling options.
I hope you enjoy the recipe! Please feel free to leave me a comment about how the recipe turned out for you, or to share your favorite way to make zucchini boats.
Italian Zucchini Boats
Makes: 2 generous servings
Ingredients:
1 zucchini (my zucchini are so big, I used half of one – like I said, they are the size of baseball bats)
1 cup marinara sauce (for a low-FODMAP option, I used Rao’s Homemade Sensitive Marinara sauce – it’s so delicious, you will never miss the onion and garlic)
8oz cooked chicken breast, chopped, or ground chicken (see Notes for how I baked my chicken breast)
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray.
Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds, leaving the ends intact to create small “boats” (this is to make sure the filling does not pour out the sides while baking).
In a medium-sized bowl, combine cooked chicken, marinara sauce, and 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese. Fill the zucchini with the mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until a fork inserts easily into the zucchini.
Sprinkle zucchini with remaining 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese. Bake for another two minutes, or until the cheese melts.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.
Notes:
The best way I have found to cook moist, delicious chicken breasts is to place them in a baking dish coated in cooking spray and then cover them with parchment paper. Bake the chicken breasts at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes. It’s cooked perfectly every single time. For this recipe, I rubbed my chicken breasts with Italian seasoning before baking.
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Since the beginning of the novel coronavirus and stay-at-home order, date nights went from going out to dinner and a movie on a Friday night to cooking a nice meal at home and watching Netflix. At first, this was a welcome, intimate change, but after a while, the creativity seemed to run out. You can only eat the same meal and watch the same movie so many times before it starts to get old.
I have a solution for you. It’s still dinner and a movie, but with fun, inventive spin.
I love having themed date nights, when the activities, food, drinks, and movie all fit together for one entertaining experience. My latest themed night was based on the Disney Pixar film, Ratatouille.
It is a fun, family-friendly movie that’s perfect for a family movie night, or for just a chill night with your significant other. The biggest plus for this movie is that it is definitely going to make you feel hungry, which is perfect because this date night is filled with lots of food.
I hope you enjoy! If you try out this date night for yourself, please let me know how it goes. I would love to hear about your experience, and if you added any fun ideas of your own.
Drinks
As a little sneak preview to the night ahead, I made café au lait. This is a French coffee recipe that uses equal parts coffee and steamed milk. The recipe is just below.
I also recommend picking up a nice French wine, such as a tasty bottle of champagne or a Bordeaux to pair with dinner or dessert.
Café au Lait
Makes: 2 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1 cup steamed milk (see Notes)
sweetener of choice, to taste (see Notes)
Directions:
Steam milk with desired amount of sweetener.
Pour hot coffee into a mug and top with milk. Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.
Notes:
The best way I have found to steam any kind of milk (without a fancy milk steamer) is the following: Place milk in a food processor or blender and pulse for 30 seconds, or until the milk is frothy. Pour into a mug and heat in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds (until hot but not deflated). This yields the perfect consistency and temperature. It works best for whole milk, but any type of milk will still gain body through this process.
I personally like to drink my coffee dark, but Joseph likes a little sweetener. What I have found works best is to put the sugar right into the milk before pouring it into the food processor. It helps add even more body to the milk, and it gently sweetens the coffee without being too over-powering.
Music
No date night is complete without a proper musical selection. I really enjoyed the French Cafe Lounge playlist on Spotify. Joseph and I listened to it while we made dinner, which lead to much more dancing than cooking (which, I have to admit, was really the goal all along).
Activity
Well, this would be cooking, of course! You have it easy tonight. Get in the kitchen together to make all of your dishes. The dessert is “build-your-own” style, so it is even more fun for everyone to get their aprons on and spend time in the kitchen together.
If this seems too simple, I recommend adding in a little extra dancing with your significant other. It’s incredible how just a little music can completely change the ambiance in the room. With the music playing in the background and each of us gazing into each other’s eyes, the kitchen turned into a delightful little café on the streets of Paris in moments.
Food
This is the fun part.
For dinner, the choice was obvious: Ratatouille. I am currently on a low-FODMAP diet, so I used the recipe from Wholesome Yum for inspiration, but tweaked the ingredients slightly to fit my diet. If you are free from any low-FODMAP restraints, feel free to head over to the Wholesome Yum website to follow that recipe. Otherwise, look below for my little notes and edits.
Low-FODMAP Ratatouille
Makes: 2 generous servings, or 4 to 6 smaller side dish-sized servings
Ingredients:
For the sauce:
1 14.5oz can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Herbs de Provence (see Notes)
2 tbsp fresh basil
1/4 tsp sea salt, or to taste
For the vegetables:
3 medium roma tomatoes, sliced
2 medium (about 12oz) zucchini, sliced
1 small (about 1 pound) eggplant, sliced (see Notes)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine all the sauce ingredients in the bowl of a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
Spread the sauce in a thin layer in a 1.5-quart round or oval casserole dish.
Arrange tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant in a spiral, alternating them. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the sauce is bubbly at the edges.
Notes:
Herbs de Provence is a blend of thyme, basil, rosemary, tarragon, savory, marjoram, oregano, and bay leaf. We did not currently have this in our cupboard, but what we did have was Italian seasoning, which is a blend of basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, and coriander (if you are on a low-FODMAP diet, check your Italian seasoning blend closely – some like to sneak in a little garlic). So, we used Italian seasoning and marjoram, and it turned out fine.
Eggplants tend to be much bigger than zucchini and tomatoes, so you may need to cut your slices into halves or quarters to make them similar in size. My eggplant was rather small, so I was able to leave my slices whole.
For a little extra protein, we ate some shrimp with our ratatouille, but truly, the ratatouille was our main dish.
We paused the movie halfway through to eat dessert. I chose to do crepes. I also considered making macarons, but they are rather finicky to make. So, I decided to do something a little easier and more interactive for anyone who is not the main baker.
It may surprise you, but most crepe recipes are a little heavy in the carbs. Because they are so thin, I thought they would be healthier than pancakes, but no such luck occurred. So, I searched for a healthy crepe recipe and fell in love with the one posted on A Sweet Pea Chef. It is tasty and light, which is exactly what everyone wants their crepe to be.
Feel free to head over to A Sweet Pea Chef for the original recipe, or look below for a low-FODMAP version with my personal notes.
Low-FODMAP Crepes
Makes: 2 to 4 servings
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk of choice (I like to use unsweetened almond milk)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp 100% pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (I used King Arthur Flour’s all-purpose gluten-free flour blend)
fillings and/or toppings of choice (see Notes)
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the ingredients.
Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat and lightly grease with cooking spray.
Ladle about 1/4-cup of the batter into the skillet and gently rotate the pan to spread it evenly over the base of the skillet (the thickness should be similar to that of a tortilla).
Cook on low to medium heat, flipping as needed until cooked (see Notes).
Place the cooked crepe on a plate, add your favorite fillings, and fold or roll up. Add toppings of choice.
Notes:
There are so many delicious ways to fill and top crepes. I chose a traditional French version – I folded my crepes and then squeezed lemon juice on top and sprinkled them with powdered sugar. Joseph went for the more American version, with chocolate chips, powdered sugar and peanut butter. Other delicious filling and topping ideas include fresh fruit (such as berries or banana slices), Nutella, or whipped cream. Feel free to get creative with whatever you have in your pantry!
I always find that when I am making crepes, the first few are a disaster. When I was making these, I tried to flip them as little as possible. I waited until the last possible second, when it was starting to get rather brown, and then flipped the crepe, and they turned out perfectly. The crepes I flipped sooner were under-done in the middle and fell apart. It may take a few tries to get yours just right, but don’t worry! Ugly crepes are still delicious crepes.
Movie
At the end of your date, or just after dinner to strengthen your appetite for dessert, snuggle up on the couch and turn on the cartoon favorite, Ratatouille. It’s a fun way to end your French-themed day, and the movie is surprisingly moving at any age.
