Jackson Jambalaya

Sometimes that PolyBear does really dumb stuff.

And sometimes his ideas work just like he wanted. By the way, the stove fire os a fig newton of his imagination and didn't really happen. The scary thing is it could.

We have been eating Keto meals lately. You may be pro-keto or anti-keto. It seems there are very few middle of the road keto folks out there. Anyhow, after looking at some lasagna roll up recipes (Lasagna noodles, meat and cheese, rolled up and baked) the bear and I came up with a dumb idea to use some zucchini (instead of high carb-Pasta), cheese, and ham we had in the fridge to make some sort of keto dish, that did not use pasta, since that is a dirty word for keto dieters.

All the time I was doing the concoction, I kept thinking, "This is really dumb." and then when I took the first bite I said, "ZeroBear is the smartest bear in the house!"

As strange as this dish might look and sound, the taste is right on the mark. I will definitely make this low carbohydrate, cheesy, ham roll up dish again.

To make Zucchini, Ham and Cheese Roll-ups, you will need:

2 medium zucchini squash
10 - 12 ounces of ham slices - the rectangular ones
Sliced cheese of your choice. I used, Swiss, cheddar, pepper jack, and colby jack slices from Sams
Seasonings - I used oregano, garlic salt, onion powder, parsley, and a liberal portion of Everything but Bagel, which has lots of stuff in it
Parmesan cheese, shredded
Mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
Mozzarella cheese, pizza shredded
Olive oil

Also, an oven proof pan, the bottom lined with parchment paper, and a 350 degree preheated oven.

Directions:

Preheat oven

Slice the zucchini lengthwise a little over 1/16 inch thick. I used the mandolin, which is nice if you have one.

Mix spices with shredded Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses and everything but the bagel seasoning and seed blend, I did not measure anything, just mixed, what looked good to me. This will be used to season the zucchini, with any remaining sprinkled over the top.

Coat the zucchini slices lightly with olive oil, then dredge each slice in the cheese and seasoning blend. Zucchini is somewhat bland and needs seasoning.

Oil the parchment paper bottom very lightly with olive oil. Hopefully the oil will keep the rolls from sticking after baking.

Cut the ham into strips to fit the zucchini slices and begin layering ham and cheese on each strip. You may have already thought having wider zucchini strips would be nice, and you are correct. However, it is not easy to find large zucchini that isn't pithy, so use what you think will work.

Roll the strips. This is somewhat tricky, but I made it work. Your fingers may work better then mine and rolling them may be no problem for you. Then fit all of your strips in the pan. then dust the tops with the remaining seasoning/grated cheese//thing but the bagel blend.

I like cheese. Almost any kind of cheese that isn't stinky. So I decided to put pizza shredded Mozzarella over the tops of my rolls. I used the amount shown here, and then added at least that much more when the oven began to melt my topping.

I baked the rolls at 350 degrees f, for maybe 40 minutes, until the cheese was bubbly and the top slightly browned. By that time, the zucchini was fully cooked.

I let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes, then used a fork to remove the rolls to plate them

All of the various cheese strips worked really well (flavor wise). We honestly had no favorite ham and cheese combination, so use whatever cheese you have, or the one you like. Even stinky cheese, if that's your thing. This made a very nice keto meal (Low carbohydrate, meat, cheese, and vegetable) with great flavor and very filling.

Thanks for looking at my post.
God bless you.