Stuffed Zucchini

I am always stumped about what to do with those huge zucchini that I am so fortunate to be gifted every year about this time.  I've tried relishes, cakes, muffins, even marmalade, and I love them all, but this year I really wanted to try something different.  I found some recipes online for stuffed Zucchini.  Most of the recipes didn't cook the zucchini before stuffing.  I was afraid that the zucchini would be tough, so I came up with a recipe of my own, using a variation of my meatball/meatloaf recipe for the stuffing.  It was delicious!!!!

Here's my recipe......

Stuffed Zucchini

1 large zucchini (sliced in half, lengthwise)

1 1/2 pounds extra lean ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup dried bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1 cup diced fresh tomatoes

1 can condensed tomato soup

1/4 cup each of green pepper, red or yellow pepper, zucchini, green onion and celery (finely chopped)

1/2 tsp minced garlic

Dash of salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C).

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. With a spoon, scoop out the seeds.

Place prepared zucchini half on a cookie sheet face down, then cover bottom of sheet with water.  

Bake at 350* for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, fry ground beef, peppers, chopped veggies, garlic and seasonings until well cooked.

Add tomato soup, bread crumbs and egg, stirring well.

Remove zucchini from oven, turn upright and season with a dash of salt & pepper.

Place zucchini on a baking sheet, mound up meat mixture in the cavity, then top with cheese

Bake at 350* for 30 minutes, or until cheese bubbles and turns golden brown.

NOTE*****

I didn't actually slice the zucchini in half.  You need to be sure you'll have lots of

 room for stuffing, so on this one,it was more like 2/3 to a 1/3.  I then used a pieces

 from the smaller portion for the stuffing mixture.

Here's how it looked.....

It was Yummy!!!!!!