NO MORE ZUCCHINI, PLEASE!!!

Remember a couple weeks ago when I adopted a half dozen zucchini babies?  

Well, I finally got around to shredding them up so I can use them in all sorts of wonderful recipes.  

I knew it was going to make a lot.  

I didn't anticipate that it would overflow my 16 quart stock pot. 

Now, on to make all sorts of wonderful zucchini-y things. 

What are you favorite things to make with giant zucchini babies? 

Happy National "Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbour's Porch Day!"

My sister texted me the other day.

How do you make stuffed zucchini?

Right now, everyone's garden (except mine) is overflowing with monster zucchinis.  My coworker went away for a couple days and came home to zucchini so big, you could carve them into a canoe.  She put them up for adoption, and I generously welcomed them into our home.

I remember mom would grow zucchini or get them from grandma's garden when we were kids.  All summer long we would eat zucchini.  Boiled zucchini with dried basil.  Ew.  Sauteed zucchini with onions.  Yum!  Zucchini bread. Mmmmmmmm!  Stuffed zucchini.  Yes, please. When we got zucchini that was too big to cook, or we simply had to many, she would shred it up and make zucchini relish or freeze it in containers for wintertime zucchini bread cravings.  

Mom would hallow out a zucchini, stuff it full of a meat stuffing mixture, top it with tomato sauce, and then right before it was done, top it with slices of American cheese, and broiled the cheese till it was all melty and browned.  Summer wasn't complete without eating stuffed zucchini until we were sick of it.

I sat in the (parked) car, texting my sister the recipe.  Not so much a recipe as a general idea of what you need to do.  Even though I had just eaten, my mouth was watering for stuffed zucchini.  I decided I had to take the smallest zucchini canoes and stuff them.

My favorite things about stuffed zucchini is that it makes great leftovers all week long and it freezes well for a quick dinner next month.

I started out by browning and crumbling two pounds of ground meat.  I used one pound grass fed ground beef, one pound organic 99% lean ground chicken.  You could use whatever ground meat you want and it would taste great. Since I used very lean meat, it did not need to be drained after it was cooked.  If you use fatty meat, be sure to drain it, or it gets too greasy. 

I chopped up two onions (one red, one yellow) and added them to the meat and cooked them till they were translucent.

I chopped up some fresh basil and oregano from my garden and added  that to the pan.
  

I also added a home canned quart size jar of drained, diced tomatoes, and two cups of leftover cooked rice.  I warmed everything up, added salt and pepper to taste and set it aside.

I took two giant zucchinis, washed them, and cut them lengthwise.  I scooped out the center where all the seeds are and make my boat.  I discard the seeds, but I remember mom would save it and add it to the ground meat to get more veggies in our diet.

I places the zucchini boats into a baking dish and carefully spponed the ground meat mixture into each boat.  I had enough leftover that I got a couple bell peppers and stuffed those as well.

Then I slowly poured some homemade tomato sauce all over the top of the zucchini and peppers.  

I put the lid on the peppers and put those in the freezer for later.  I put the zucchini in the oven and baked it for about 30 minutes, until the zucchini was soft.  Finally, I topped the zucchini with some shredded goat cheese mozzarella and put it under the broiler, until the cheese was all melty.

 

It was so tasty.  It was just like mom used to make, just slightly modified mom's original recipe to make it allergy friendly for me! (Mom would add seasoned bread cubes in place of the rice and top it with American cheese.)

Stuffed Zucchini

2-3 large zucchini (or bell peppers)
2lbs of ground hamburger (or chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, or your favorite combination)
2 onions, diced
2 tbl fresh chopped basil
2 tbl fresh chopped oregano
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups leftover cooked rice
salt and pepper to taste
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I used goat cheese)

In a large skillet, brown and crumble ground hamburger over medium heat.  Drain if needed. Add onions and cook until translucent.  Add basil, oregano, tomatoes, and rice and warm throughout.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cut zucchini (and/or peppers) lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Place in a baking dish.  Spoon hamburger mixture into zucchini.  Top with tomato sauce.  Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350* for about 30 minutes or until zucchini is tender.  Sprinkle with cheese and place under broiler until cheese is melty and browned, about 5 minutes.  Serve hot!

***This dish can be made ahead and kept for a day or two in the fridge or frozen for up to a month or two.  Just cover tightly and thaw in the fridge overnight prior to baking.  It will take a bit longer to cook, approx 15-20 minutes. 

"Clean out the kitchen" veggie pasta

One of the most difficult things about being on such a strict elimination diet is that if I don't plan out my meals or I'm too busy/tired to cook, I don't have the option to go out and grab something. Usually I try to plan out a basic meal plan and do some cooking for the week on Sundays, but this week I slacked.

This past weekend was so much fun, but exhausting. We hosted a mini fundraiser at our house for my friend Zara who is going to be competing in Iron Canada with Team in Training. We did a "Redneck" themed BBQ, with lots of cheap beer, hot dogs, and deep fried Twinkies to go around. It was so hard to avoid those things, but I stayed strong. It was so much easier for me to eat right because I had a buddy! Zara is in full on race training mode and is eating a very clean Paleo diet right now. We ate our own "taco salad" while everyone was eating "tacos in a bag" and we had our own organic grass fed all beef uncured hot dogs while the others were eating mac n cheese chili dogs.

By Monday night after work, I was exhausted. I hadn't planned out my meals for the week, but I had done my grocery shopping and had a fridge full of yummy fresh veggies waiting to be eaten. I wanted so bad to get take out, but that's not an option right now. I could have snacked on a Lara Bar or some nuts, but that didn't sound appetizing.

I'm a cooking show junkie (man do I miss cable), and one thing that I've learned from Rachel Ray is that the quickest homemade meals out there are burgers or pastas. Since I had so many veggies on hand, I decided to make a veggie pasta. I have many of her cookbooks and love to gather ideas for my own takes on her quick meals. One of my favorite things she does in many of her pasta dishes is to melt a tin of anchovies in with the garlic and onions when starting the base of some of her sauces. I based this "recipe" off all the veggies I had in my house and what I can currently eat at the moment. The best part about this is that it made a ton of food, so I can eat it throughout the week and not have to worry about cooking for a few days! You could totally adjust this recipe to use up whatever veggies you currently have at home. Spinach, kale, frozen peas, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers...all of these are fabulous additions to pasta.


"Clean out the kitchen" veggie pasta

1 package brown rice pasta
2tbl coconut oil or olive oil
1 small tin of anchovies in olive oil
1 onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
2 carrots, diced
2 zucchini, diced
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped

Prepare 1 package of brown rice pasta (I like Trader Joe's brand) according to package directions. Drain and rinse, reserving 1c of cooking water.

In a large deep skillet, melt oil over medium high heat. Add anchovies and allow to melt. Add onions and cook about 5 minutes until soft and starting to brown. Add garlic and stir, cooking about 2 minutes. Do not allow garlic to burn! Add asparagus, zucchini, and carrots and cook until soft, about 7 minutes. Stir often so veggies don't stick or burn. Toss veggies with pasta, using a little bit of the pasta water if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
(While I was eating this, I decided that it would have been fabulous with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese, basil, and some grilled shrimp on top...)