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Wednesday, August 9, 2017

MEAT AND RICE STUFFED ZUCCHINI RECIPE

When we had our glut of REALLY large zucchini, we used them for this wonderful meal.  Several of you suggested something similar in comments, so we did some googling and realized it was more or less just a make it up yourself kind of recipe.

And that's what we did:


We started with these two ginormous zucchini... 


Cut them in half lengthwise. Make sure you position them using the side that they lay flat on before you  start cutting them...


We took about 1 1/2 lbs ground beef, browned it with some seasonings such as garlic powder, minced onions, salt and pepper.  Then 2nd Man added some fresh diced tomatoes from our garden and cooked until it was all browned and combined.

You're really just making a meat mixture for stuffing so it can be to taste.  Peppers if you like those, more sauce, different seasonings etc.


While he was doing that, I took a spoon and scraped out the center of each, which is the fiber and seeds (much like you'd find in a pumpkin or other large squash).  I tried to make it a uniform thickness all the way down the length (leaving both ends intact) just be careful and don't scrape too hard or you'll rip a hole through to the outside...

Rice and meat stuffing
We also cooked a cup of white rice and added it to the meat mixture (makes it go further)...


Missed a photo step here. 

Put the hollowed out squash in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. This is to precook it a bit so it's tender, mainly because they were so large.  If you are using smaller sized squash, you could probably skip this step.

  After taking them out of the oven from their "par-cooking" time, we just started spooning the filling into the hollowed out zucchini "boats"... 


Make sure it's full (remember the meat is fully cooked at this point).  Mound it up a bit to make it more substantial...


Then sprinkle on some cheese.  In this case we used an Italian blend of shredded cheese...

Roasted zucchini stuffed with meat and cheese
Place the filled and stuffed squash back in the oven and roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes more, or until the zucchini is fork tender and the cheese gets brown and bubbly.  It might take longer or shorter depending on the size of your squash... 

Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Remove from oven, slice and serve!  

I ate the zucchini with the skin because it was good, 2nd Man left the skin behind as he ate it.  

It's kind of the perfect meal: the vegetable side, the main meat entree and it has cheese (dairy) and rice (starch).  Hmm, does that make in balanced?  HA!




18 comments:

  1. We make this, too, and use a can of Rotel to give it some zing! One of my favorite dishes.

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    1. OOH. That sounds wonderful!!! Thanks! We only used fresh tomatoes because we had them from the garden but we've used diced canned, now I will use Rotel next time maybe with cheddar cheese.

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  2. That looks so good. Someone here needs to go to the grocery store before we starve. Maybe Franklin will take on the job.

    Love,
    Janie

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  3. I have seen and heard of the same type recipe, using whatever spices and proportions of ingredients. I suppose I need to go buy a zucchini! Since I cannot eat brown cheese (so unnatural and bitter to me), I always protect the cheese until the last or put cheese on at the last few minutes. I was going to the grocery store in an hour or so. Zucchini now tops the list!

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    1. YAY! Hope you get some good stuff and go to bed happy and full. :-)

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  4. hmmm...endless versions and possibilities. I may try a crockpot conversion. It's too hot for oven use here.

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    1. I hear ya. We made this here in town in the oven, we have "free weekends" on electricity so we can keep the air way down when 2nd Man is baking/cooking ha. I think a crockpot would work fine. Let us know if you do!

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  5. A perfect combination for zucchini.

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    1. It's so good . And a great way to use up those big zucchini. Though heck, you can use any size.

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  6. This not only looks delicious but the presentation of the dish is very appetizing. A great use for those zucchini that like to hide.

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    1. Ahh, thanks. Someone asked me at work once "do you eat like this every night?" and I said "what do you mean?" and they said "because every dish looks beautiful", ha. It's just food on a white plate, nothing special, ha.

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  7. Great Zucchini dish / meal. Very appealing and looks delicious.
    My thoughts exactly what Tewshooz suggested on using a can of RoTel

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  8. 1st Man,

    Great looking zucchini, and meal!

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    Replies
    1. Those were a couple of the "overlooked" ones that grew to gigantic proportions, ha .

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  9. That looks delicious. I cannot look at a zucchini recipe without thinking of an article I read called "Zucchini Bread: 10 dollars of ingredients to use up a free zucchini".

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    1. OK, now that is hilarious!!!! Thanks! And it was delicious too, ha.

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