Mains - Stuffed Courgette Bake

Stuffed Courgette Bake
Ingredients
4 medium courgettes, about 28 ounces *
1 pound ground beef
1 clove garlic
1 small onion, diced, 2 1/2 ounces or about 1/2 cup
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, diced, 2 large or about 3 ounces Salt and pepper, to taste
2 ounces freshly grated parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup

Cut the courgette in half lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp, leaving 1/4" of the flesh intact. Discard the pulp. You can use a teaspoon to dig out the pulp and seeds, then once most of the pulp has been removed, use the spoon to scrape out any remaining seeds. Place the courgette shells on a greased, foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the courgette with salt and pepper. Brown the meat, garlic, onion, and mushrooms, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper; drain the fat. Fill the courgette shells with the meat mixture. 

Cover with foil and bake at 350o 45 minutes or until the courgette is tender. Uncover, top with cheese and bake to melt the cheese, about 10 minutes.

Makes 8 servings

Freezing not recommended

* I've adjusted the carb count to reflect the fact that there will only be about 19 ounces of courgette after removing the pulp.

Per Serving: 143 Calories; 9g Fat; 13g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fibre; 2g Net Carbs

I think I'd probably use another kind of cheese next time. The parmesan doesn't melt enough. Cheddar, mozzarella or even Swiss cheese might be nice. Although this recipe is great for induction, it's a bit dry and could use some kind of sauce mixed in with the meat or something. The filling is a kind of crumbly and needs something to hold it together.

Mains - Courgette Lasagne

Mains
Courgette Lasagne
I boiled my courgette slices for about 3 minutes so they were partially cooked. I wanted to make sure they were soft in the finished dish or I knew the kids wouldn't eat them. ;) The cottage cheese provides a slightly tangy note. I think we would have preferred ricotta, but that is personal taste. I use my 11 x 7 baking dish and got 6 pieces the size of what you see in my photos. Both of the guys ate two so it fed 4 of us, and I double the meat. Adjust the recipe accordingly for your family.

Ingredients
2 1⁄2 cups courgette, sliced 1⁄4 inch thick (about 2 medium) 1⁄2 lb. lean ground beef (l use 1 lb.)
1⁄4 cup onions, chopped
2 small tomatoes, cut up
1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste 1 garlic cloves, minced
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
1⁄2 teaspoon dried basil
1⁄4 teaspoon dried thyme 1⁄4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 eggs
3⁄4 cup low fat cottage cheese (or low fat or fat free ricotta) 1⁄2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (I use 8 oz. divided)
1 teaspoon flour

Directions
1. Cook courgette until tender, drain and set aside. Fry meat and onions until meat is brown and onions are tender; drain fat. Add next 8 ingredients and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered 10 minutes or until reduced to 2 cups. 3. ln a small bowl slightly beat egg.
4. Add cottage cheese, half of shredded cheese and flour.
5. In (1 1/2-qt.) baking-roasting pan arrange half of the meat mixture. Top with half of the courgette and all the cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining meat and courgette. 

Starters - Stuffed Mushrooms

Starters
Stuffed Mushrooms
Basically, find some largish mushrooms, remove the stalks then chop the stalks up. Place the chopped up stalks into a small bowl with some mayonnaise, chopped parsley, garlic and a small amount of grated cheese. Mix the mixture up then spoon the mixture into the mushrooms (where you removed the stalks from), top with finely sliced or grated cheese then pop under the grill until the mushrooms look cooked and the cheese looks brown. Easy peasy ;)

You can obviously substitute the mayo for cream cheese or something else low carb, I think a bit of Philadelphia might be delicious!