{Recipes} Stuffed Zucchini

One of my favorite parts of the warm weather is the fresh summer veggies, and I always find myself spending a small fortune at local farmers' markets because I serve either zucchini, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, or corn with almost every meal. Enough is enough! Bo decided to give our garden another go this summer {he planted a garden the first summer after we bought our home and Ginger destroyed it -- she was only 3 months old at the time and a very energetic pup}. This time he did his planting on the other side of the fence, and we've already gotten some huge zucchini. Pretty soon there will be corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and pumpkins {for the fall!}.

**Notice baby boy ripping down the little fence my husband put up. What can I say? If it's not Ginger, it's Dean!


Tonight for dinner, we used some of our homegrown veggies and made "stuffed zucchini." I made these almost exactly like I make stuffed peppers. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
~ 2-3 nice sized zucchini
~ 1 pound lean ground beef
~ 1/2 onion, diced
~ S & P | EVOO
~ 1/2 - 3/4 cup salsa {a can of tomato sauce would work too}
~ shredded cheddar cheese
~ 1 packet Success rice {I used brown rice}

Directions:
1. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Hollow out middle {I saved the hollowed out zucchini, cubed it, and added it to my ground beef mixture}.
2. Place zucchini on a baking sheet and pour a little EVOO over them. Then sprinkle with S & P.
3. Place in oven for approximately 20 minutes {or until zucchini are just about roasted}.
4. While zucchini are roasting, cook rice according to directions on the box.
5. Then brown ground beef, onion and remaining zucchini cubes in a skillet on the stove.
5. Drain fat, add salsa, a little cheese, and rice to beef mixture.
6. Scoop beef mixture into hollowed out zucchini and top with some more cheese.
7. Place back in the oven for about 5 minutes {or until cheese is melted}.
8. Enjoy!

**I served my stuffed zucchini with corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes -- YUM!!

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Changing subjects...


Baby Lifestyles just released a brand new online magazine yesterday, and it's gorgeous! As I was flipping through, I spotted one of the pics I took from Dean's Little Mister Mustache Bash {Baby Lifestyles also featured his party in March}. It's a tiny picture, but it's still exciting to see something that you put a lot of hard work into being used to inspire others!

Thank you for including me in your spread, Baby Lifestyles!

To see a full screen view of the pic from Dean's party {it's his mustache party hat I made!}, click HERE.

To check out the entire magazine, click HERE.