Stuffed Zucchini

Tonight I made myself some stuffed zucchini for dinner. It's a very tasty and filling meal packed with veggies and meat. Have it with a side salad or a slice of bread.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of a VERY large zucchini
• 1 jar of you favorite pasta sauce

Stuffed Zucchini

Meat Filling:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup diced tomato
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tbsp granulated garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Cheese Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Prep:

Prepping the zucchini.

I peeled and cut my zucchini in half at the middle and then split the half down the middle length wise. Then cleaned out the insides so I would have a nice bowl. With zucchinis this size they can get a woody flavor and the seeds are the size of ones you would find in a pumpkin. So peeling them and taking out the seeds is the best idea.

After I finished prepping the zucchini, I chopped the peppers, onion and tomato into bite sized pieces and set them aside so they could go into the meat filling. 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Boil Zucchini:

After prepping your zucchini boil the halves that you cleaned out for about 10 minutes or until a fork just barely goes into them. This will take the bake time down to about half.

Meat filling in the making.

Making the meat filling: 

While the zucchini is boiling it's time to make the meat filling. Add your ground beef to a skillet, break it into small chunks and cook that for about 5 minutes on medium heat. You can now either pour out the grease or leave it. I chose to just leave it. Now add the bell peppers, onion and dried spices. Let those cook for another 3-4 minutes and then add the minced garlic and tomato. If you want you can add about a 1/4 of the pasta sauce to the pan. Cook this another 3 minutes or until the onions start turning soft. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. 

Assembly:

Pour another 1/4 of the pasta sauce into the bottom of your baking pan. This will help keep the bottom of the zucchini moist and make a nice sauce. Then add the boiled zucchini. Now spoon your meat mixture inside your zucchini and some along the edges of the pan.

Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese over the top. Then add the rest of your pasta sauce. Be sure to cover the whole zucchini. Top it all off with the rest or more of the Parmesan cheese and the shredded cheese.

To keep your oven clean place the baking pan on a foil lined cookie sheet and place everything in the oven. Bake it for about 20 minutes or until the sauce on the bottom of the pan starts to bubble. You can now either take it out or put the oven on broil to get the cheese a little crispy. If you do the broil make sure to watch it because it could burn. It shouldn't take more than a 2 minutes on broil to crisp the cheese.

Once it's done take it out of the oven and let it cool.

After it's cooled, cut it and enjoy. No knifes needed with this meal because pre-cooking the zucchini made it nice and soft. Plus cooking the meat filling before adding it to the zucchini ensures that it's cooked fully.

Time to eat!

Stuffed Jalapenos

So earlier this week my boyfriend sent me a link to this stuffed jalapenos recipe that his co-worker sent him. Knowing him and how he likes spicy food I asked if he wanted me to make this. He of course said yes.

Well we picked up the ingredients from the market that night and tonight I made them.

I did have to make a few adjustments to the ingredients since my boyfriend didn't like what the recipe called for, but he still liked what I made. Unfortunately they are to spicy for me, but they still tasted really good!

Ingredients for my recipe:

• 12 medium jalapenos

Meat mixture:

• 1/2 - 1lb chorizo
• 2 tbsp minced garlic

Cheese Mixture:

• 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 6 oz of the shredded mexican cheese blend
• 1/2 tsp dried cilantro
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp lime zest
• 1/2 tbsp ground garlic
• salt to taste

Layer Topping: 

•   ~2 oz of the shredded mexican cheese blend

The Prep:

For the jalapenos just rinse them and cut them length wise. Then clean them really good to get rid of the seeds and anything else. Pat them dry with a paper towel and set them aside.

In a skillet I heated up the chorizo and add the minced garlic. I cooked that for just a few minutes until it started to just crisp and would stir it about every minute or so, so it wouldn't stick. I then took it off the heat and set it aside.

For the cheese mixture just toss everything in a bowl and mix it well so that everything is incorporated. Make sure to taste it because some people may want more or less of the seasonings.

The Assembly:

Line a cookie sheet with foil and place the sliced jalapenos on it. Fill each jalapeno half with some of the cheese mixture. Once they are all filled add a little of the left over shredded cheese to each half.

Before and after the meat mixture was added.

Once that is done carefully spoon a little of the chorizo meat mixture onto each jalapeno half. After that top with a little more of that shredded cheese.
 

After the meat and final layer of cheese was added. Time for the oven!

Cook Time:

Pop the tray in the oven on broil for about 8-10 minutes or until the shredded cheese on top turns brown and the meat starts to bubble. Pull the try out and let it cool for about 5-10 minutes and serve.

Stuffed jalapeno goodness. MMM!