Yum...Stuffed Zucchini

It's the height of summer and I love going to local farmers' markets, even though we have our own small garden. This year, I didn't grow any zucchini in the garden. Last year, we only got a few that survived and reached their peak, so I'm looking for them at the grocery store and farmer's markets. I love finding the large zucchini because I can make one of our favorite dinners, stuffed zucchini!

Although it's the not prettiest dinner, it tastes delicious. This recipe can be easily customized to your tastes! The basic ingredients are: a large zucchini, a type of meat, and other "stuffing" items. You could use ground beef, ground chicken or turkey, tuna, or sausage. You could use bread crumbs, stuffing mix, peppers, onions, cheese, egg, tomatoes, diced carrots, marinara sauce, BBQ sauce, thyme, oregano...the list could be endless! My Grandmother made it with spaghetti sauce, seasoned ground beef, Parmesan cheese. I tried to add more vegetables in, so here's the version I made!

STUFFED ZUCCHINI

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You will need:

• 1 large zucchini
• 1 to 1 1/2  lb. ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• Shredded cheese, about 8-10 oz.
• 1 Clove garlic, minced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1/2 - 1 cup cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• Ground pepper, to taste (I used about 1 tsp.)
• Salt, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp.)
• Baking dish
• Skillet
• Non-stick spray
• Mixing bowl

Directions:

1. Wash zucchini. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. You can cut off the stem, but don't cut off the ends or your filling could fall out. Scoop out the seeds.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Brown ground beef. Cook with onion, pepper, carrots, garlic, and cabbage. Drain if needed.

4. Transfer beef mixture to mixing bowl. *If you don't want more dishes to wash, it's ok to turn off the heat and mix it all in the skillet too! :)

5. Combine beef mixture, egg, and cheese together.

6. Lightly spray baking dish.

7.  Place zucchini in baking dish and fill with meat mixture.

8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until zucchini is softened. (Larger zucchini may take an hour or so to cook.) I kind of poke it with a knife or fork to check the softness level while baking.

Slice of the baked Stuffed Zucchini

Alternative: Place shredded cheese or slices of cheese on top before baking. I made one with cheese on top and one without because Higgins will not eat it if he can see the cheese. The stuffed zucchini was a big hit at our house; we didn't even have any left-overs!


Find a local farmer's market near you!

• http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/
• You can also Google "farmer's market"and your Zip code.