Yum...Stuffed Zucchini

It's the height of summer and I love going to local farmers' markets, even though we have our own small garden. This year, I didn't grow any zucchini in the garden. Last year, we only got a few that survived and reached their peak, so I'm looking for them at the grocery store and farmer's markets. I love finding the large zucchini because I can make one of our favorite dinners, stuffed zucchini!

Although it's the not prettiest dinner, it tastes delicious. This recipe can be easily customized to your tastes! The basic ingredients are: a large zucchini, a type of meat, and other "stuffing" items. You could use ground beef, ground chicken or turkey, tuna, or sausage. You could use bread crumbs, stuffing mix, peppers, onions, cheese, egg, tomatoes, diced carrots, marinara sauce, BBQ sauce, thyme, oregano...the list could be endless! My Grandmother made it with spaghetti sauce, seasoned ground beef, Parmesan cheese. I tried to add more vegetables in, so here's the version I made!

STUFFED ZUCCHINI

www.DailyMesses.com/Sarah Tepe

You will need:

• 1 large zucchini
• 1 to 1 1/2  lb. ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• Shredded cheese, about 8-10 oz.
• 1 Clove garlic, minced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1/2 - 1 cup cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• Ground pepper, to taste (I used about 1 tsp.)
• Salt, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp.)
• Baking dish
• Skillet
• Non-stick spray
• Mixing bowl

Directions:

1. Wash zucchini. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. You can cut off the stem, but don't cut off the ends or your filling could fall out. Scoop out the seeds.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Brown ground beef. Cook with onion, pepper, carrots, garlic, and cabbage. Drain if needed.

4. Transfer beef mixture to mixing bowl. *If you don't want more dishes to wash, it's ok to turn off the heat and mix it all in the skillet too! :)

5. Combine beef mixture, egg, and cheese together.

6. Lightly spray baking dish.

7.  Place zucchini in baking dish and fill with meat mixture.

8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until zucchini is softened. (Larger zucchini may take an hour or so to cook.) I kind of poke it with a knife or fork to check the softness level while baking.

Slice of the baked Stuffed Zucchini

Alternative: Place shredded cheese or slices of cheese on top before baking. I made one with cheese on top and one without because Higgins will not eat it if he can see the cheese. The stuffed zucchini was a big hit at our house; we didn't even have any left-overs!


Find a local farmer's market near you!

• http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/
• You can also Google "farmer's market"and your Zip code.

Fresh Veggies Day Word Find

In honor of Fresh Veggies Day, here's a veggie themed Word Find!

Weekends are a great time to go to a local Farmer's Market to get your fresh veggies! Try http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/ to see if there are any Farmer's Markets near you (or Google "farmer's market" and your zip code).

STOP! ANSWERS BELOW!

Spring Into Fun!

Spring offers a lot of ways to keep your kids busy! Here's some of my ideas:

*Mine love making crafts, so we made celery stamps artwork (picture above). I cut the bottom off a stalk of celery, brushed on a some paint and let the kids stamp away. You want enough paint to coat the celery stalk, but you still want to see the individual stalks, not just a blob of paint. I added on the stems and leaves in green paint. The small star shaped stamps are from an apple core cut in half horizontally. I used a foam paint brush to brush the paint on the celery and my normal go-to craft paints (Rich Art Tempera Paint, which you can get at Michael's Craft Stores or here).

*I remember making flower necklaces as a kid. Looking back, I realize it was clover flowers or other yard-type weeds. Now, I'm annoyed when they pop up because it means I have weeds, but at the time I thought they were pretty flowers. Have fun with your kids AND get rid of weeds at the same! Just pick the weeds, I mean flowers, and tie together!

*Let them help you plant flowers. You know they want to dig in the dirt anyway! Put their energy to good use.

*Go to a local farmer's market. We started going a couple of years ago. We enjoy walking around, seeing who our food comes from, and supporting the local farmers. You never know what you are going to see: sometimes there are puppies for sale, sometimes balloon animals, and sometimes made-for-you wood fired pizza! The kids like helping pick out fruits and vegetables. I also try to use it as a chance to try to teach them about money; we compare prices between stalls and I let them pay and get the change. If you want to find a farmer's market near you, try this site (or you can Google "farmer's market" and your zip code).