Zucchini Perini

I think I have mentioned before that we were gifted with the Perini Ranch Steakhouse Cookbook for Christmas.  It is full of "cowboy" food and when I saw this I knew I wanted to try it out.  It is served as a side at their restaurant but since it has the meat in it, I decided to make it our main dish.  I have made something similar before when I made the Stuffed Zucchini, but this is WAAYYY better!  We adapted the recipe to make it more of a meal and to cook the zucchini to a more tender doneness.  Here is the original recipe and here's what we did:  It makes a huge serving.  Great for a crowd and definitely plenty of leftovers for us this week!

Zucchini Perini

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. sausage
1 large onion, diced
2 lbs. zucchini, thinly sliced
1 (28 oz.) can whole tomatoes, mashed and drained
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
3 tsp. dried crushed oregano
garlic powder (to taste)
salt and pepper (to taste)
Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, brown ground beef, sausage and onion.  Drain off excess fat.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and seasonings.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add zucchini and stir to coat with meat sauce.  Place in a large baking dish.  Cover with Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

**The meat sauce alone would make a great spaghetti sauce.  I love the mix of the beef and the sausage.