Stuffed Zucchini

Much to our surprise and pleasure our little garden has been quite bountiful! We have many zucchini squash and summer squash plus cucumbers, beets, and peas. In an effort to use what we have been growing in more than one or two ways I have tried a couple new recipes of late.  For the record Matt heard about stuffed zucchini from a friend at church and he told me about it and I came up with the following as an attempt. We found it very delicious, possibly a new favorite, but be warned it is an Erin Jeanne-make-it-up-as-I-go recipe. There are two variations, one with beef and a tomato based sauce and the second with chicken and a soup based sauce. Again, we found both delicious and though I am always thinking of ways to change a recipe,or improve it, I will post the basic here, for now. =)

Red Stuffed Zucchini

Preheat oven to 350'

1 large zucchini, or 2 medium

1lbs hamburger
one 6 oz can tomato paste
one Small belle pepper
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic salt
Onion salt
Oregano
Sweet Basil
Sugar

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Prepare Zucchini: Cut in half then cut each half length-wise and de-seed. Rinse, dry, sprinkle with a touch of garlic salt and Parmesan cheese place in a buttered baking dish.

Filling: Brown the meat and drain off grease. Mix in tomato paste.  Add other ingredients to taste, I only use about a table spoon of sugar.  I basically just added them like I was making spaghetti sauce. Sorry I do not have exact measurements for the spices. I would start with teaspoons or half teaspoons if you are new to this type of sauce, you can always add more.....  I put a small amount of Mozzarella in the mix, but saved it mostly for the top.
Put the filling int the prepared zucchini slices. Cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your zucchinis, until tender. Cover with cheese and continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes to melt cheese, we like our slightly browned.  Enjoy!

White Stuffed Zucchini:

Same basic principle as above, just with out the tomatoes or beef. =) I am just going to list the ingredients. You do all the same things as above!

one 13 oz can chicken breast
one 10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup
one small belle pepper
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic salt
Onion salt
Oregano
Sweet Basil

Mozzarella cheese