A Healthy Pizza Alternative

Pizza might be my favorite food out there. Cheese...carbs...yummy toppings and sauce. What's not to love? The might is only because that is a pretty large commitment to say/make for someone who loves food as much as I do!

If it were up to Billy, we would have pizza night every single Friday and while that sounds just peachy and all, the bod just doesn't agree. Enter these zucchini pizza boats. 

I've found that sometimes my pizza cravings are due to wanting the cheese and sauce (the bread usually makes me feel like crap after anyways), and these give you exactly that without all the extra carbs/calories!

Honestly, our house smelled so good when cooking these in the oven and they're great because just like a regular pizza you can customize them with whatever toppings float your (zucchini) boat....

Ingredients:

+2 zucchini's (this is for 2 people-do 4 if you're not making other sides to go with these, or if you think your man would want more than one)
+1 tbsp olive oil
+1 clove garlic, finely minced
+salt and freshly ground black pepper
+1 cup marinara sauce (I used Classico Spicy Tomato & Basil)
+1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
+1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese
+1/2 cup pepperoni slices
+2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano

+any other toppings you'd like! 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Cut each zucchini into halves through the length (if they don't lye flat trim a thin portion from bottoms so that they will lye mostly flat) Pat insides dry with paper towels. Take a spoon and "carve" out the seeds so that your sauce can sit in the zucchini a bit.
Align them on prepared baking sheet.
In a bowl, stir together olive oil and garlic then brush lightly over tops of zucchini. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste then spoon a slightly heaping of marinara sauce over each zucchini, leaving a small rim near edges uncoated.
Sprinkle tops evenly with mozzarella cheese then with parmesan cheese.
Top with pepperoni slices and any other toppings, placing them more near centers so they don't fall off in the oven.

Bake in preheated oven 12 - 16 minutes. Cook longer if you want them a little bit more crispy.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped fresh oregano.

ENJOY! A guilt free way to enjoy "pizza" ;)
 
(See my recipe for a mexican variation of zucchini boats here-also delish!)