Zucchini Sausage Skillet

Still looking for ways to use up all the zucchini from your garden?  Here's a great recipe for you.  This is perfect for a busy weeknight because it's fairly quick and cooks all in one pan.  Only one pan to clean!  I love those recipes.  The other thing I love about this recipe is that it contains twice as much zucchini as sausage, but my family didn't even notice.  Not only is it a great way to stretch out your food budget (feeding a family of 4 on half a pound of sausage), but it's healthier too.  I've been doing a meatless meal about once a week for a long time now, but I have also recently started trying to reduce the amount of meat in our other meals too.  Don't worry; I'm not leaning towards becoming vegetarian.  I just think it's a good idea to try to incorporate more veggies and less meat at each meal.  And like I said, so far my family hasn't noticed one bit.  This recipe is slightly adapted from one I found at Better Homes and Gardens.

Zucchini Sausage Skillet

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
½ large onion, chopped
½ lb. ground Italian sausage
1 lb. zucchini (about 2 medium), chopped
1 (10¾ oz.) can 98% fat-free condensed cream of celery soup
1 box Stove Top stuffing mix, lower sodium chicken variety
1½ cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

Directions:
Heat oil over medium heat in a broiler-safe 12-inch skillet.  Add onion and cook until beginning to soften.  Add sausage, cook until brown. Drain off fat. Add zucchini to skillet and cook, covered, until it has reached desired tenderness, stirring often.

In a large bowl, combine stuffing mix and broth to moisten.  Preheat broiler to high.

When zucchini is tender, stir cream soup into skillet.  Top with moistened stuffing mix.  Place skillet under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until brown on top. 

Makes 4 servings.

I know some of you are put off by the fact that it uses cream of something soup.  I don't use it very often, but I do keep a can of it in my pantry for "emergency" dinner situations.  It makes this recipe perfect for busy weeknights.  You can always make your own sauce with a simple roux and some chicken or beef broth.  The original recipe called for half cream soup and half sour cream, but I omitted the sour cream because my youngest is allergic to dairy.  The cream soup often contains some dairy also, but it's usually a small enough amount that it doesn't bother her too much (she's three and her allergy is starting to get better).

You might find this a little heavy on the stuffing topping.  It can easily be cut in half, but I used the whole package because my kids love that stuff.  

If you are not sure your skillet is broiler-safe, one thing I would recommend doing is to wrap the handle in foil.  Usually it's the handle that is the least heat-safe.  That also helps to remind you that the handle is really hot after you take it out of the oven.  I've had major problems with that in the past!

My husband and both kids (3 and 5) all raved about this recipe.