Stuff It!

What To Do With All That Zucchini

We don't plant as much squash and zuch as we used to.  Our neighbors Tom and Joan always have prolific plants and can only eat so much. We are the lucky recipients of the extra.  Last night I stuffed one of their lovely zuchs. It's not hard to do and there are no rules. You get to use whatever you have on hand.

Last Night's Stuffed Zuch

1 big zucchini, cut lengthwise down the middle (yay! two sides to stuff!)
handful of baby bella mushrooms sliced thin
1/4 of a leftover onion, chopped
the 'guts' of the zucchini, chopped
cojito cheese- Mexican cheese similar to feta (maybe 1/4 cup), but again, use what cheese you've got
spices ( I used some sun dried tomato spice mix I had on the shelf and some lime pepper spice mix)
sea salt
breadcrumbs
butter about 3 - 4 tbs

Once you slice zucchini carve out around the softer middle and scoop out. Leave enough meat of zucchini around the edge so when it cooks it doesn't flop over and you lose all the stuffing.  Chop the veg, throw into sautee pan and cook for a few minutes. When translucent, add the bread crumbs, the cheese and the butter. Take stuffing and STUFF zucchini. We wrapped ours in a tin foil pouch and grilled for about 20-30 minutes.....one side of grill on med-high, other side on low. Gar started it up top for about 10-15, then moved down to the low temp side.

YUM.

Speaking of garden veg, our garden is coming along, though the weeds have taken over. Except where we were smart enough to lay down our 'always in good supply' leaves, around the tomatoes. The rest of the garden is fighting the proverbial battle. Probably time Gar and I took the garden weasel too it, but it's been so hot (good excuse, don't you think?).

We were late in getting things planted this year, but all is well- the lettuce, green beans, chard, potatoes and yes, squash (only four plants) are looking good. Here's the first tomato trying to make the grade with many more babies on the plants. Never did plant kale this year. It came back on it's own. It grew fast this spring which was a nice surprise, and then I cut it all the way back and have a second round. You gotta love a garden surprise like that. Easy peasy. That's the way we like it here.

Our flower gardens are still surprising us too. We could both see a yellow circle across the yard from the pool area last night, and said 'That must be the St. Patrick Rose'. It's most prolific year (and this damn thing is at least 7 years old) was three roses. That's it. But it is pretty despite it's low numbers. I will admit, it's not the same kind of rose as the pink one by the front door, if I had to guess I'd say this is a long stem variety, perhaps this is the reason for its low output.




It is so bright out, and this flower is right in the sun, and the setting I had the camera on was probably
not the best choice for those conditions. Ah well. You get the picture.

 I came around the side of the house and spied the honeysuckle, completely covered in its red berries. The birds will be quite happy come fall. I'm happy now because it's very pretty. I love plants that give you a two for one- blooms and then pretty berries that the birds are happy to consume.

It's another hot one here so it will be a challenge to stay cool. The will be a pool involved at some point. Probably at more than one point. The dog is sprawled on the floor in front of the fan. He's no dumb bunny.

If you have a zucchini recipe, please share. Everyone is always trying to find new ways to mix up the abundance of squash in the summer.

Have a great day Tuesday in your little corner of the world.