Herbed Stuffed Zucchini

What would you call these? Zucchini boats? Zucchini blades? Zucchini toboggans? Every time I make this herbed stuffed zucchini, I want to give it some cute, descriptive name that makes my kids more inclined to eat it. Not that my kids are very picky, I just think a dinner with such a unique shape deserves some fun imagery to go along with it. Often, the foods we eat for dinner come to us with no particular shape, kind of blobby. Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite foods are blobby. Like mac and cheese, or soup, or ice cream. Blob, blob, blob. As a matter of fact,

There, I said it. Don't tell my husband.

But, that being said, 

I guess basically what I'm saying here is 

Like you didn't know that already. 

These uniquely shaped zucchini skis combine savory herbs with ground beef on top of the tender-crisp crunch of the squash underneath. A sprinkle of Parmesan completes the taste profile for a delicious homemade dinner any night of the week. Round it out with a side of potatoes (garlic herb potato wedges, perhaps?) and you're good to go.

Herbed Stuffed Zucchini
A Love Letter to Food Original

Ingredients:

4 zucchini
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic
3/4 lb. ground beef
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped fine
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped fine
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 c. fresh-grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scrape out the inside, leaving about a 1/2 inch of flesh on the zucchini skin. Reserve 1 c. of the inner part of the zucchini you just scraped out and chop into 1/2 inch chunks. Set aside.

3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, then add the reserved 1 c. of zucchini chunks and cook another 3-4 minutes. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 7-10 minutes. Sprinkle in fresh rosemary and thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir 1 additional minute to incorporate. Drain beef mixture if liquid is present.

4. Place zucchini halves on a greased baking sheet and stuff with ground beef mixture. (If you have extra of the beef mixture, you can either cook it alongside the zucchini or save it for another use, like shepherd's pie.) Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes.

5. Sprinkle with fresh Parmesan.

Serves 4.