stuffed zucchini

Recently Sherrill was at her grandmother’s for dinner and asked her to make stuffed zucchini.  She never made stuffed zucchini before, but went with the flow, using past market remnants from the refrigerator and any spice or herb that called her name.  They were delicious!  Here is the recipe she concocted, feel free to add other ingredients and change it up to meet the needs of your taste buds.

1 large zucchini, sliced in half length wise and cored (save cored section, dice and add to meat mixture)
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
¼ pound ground buffalo meat
½ cup broccoli, finely chopped
½ cup cauliflower, finely chopped
½ cup bread crumbs (I use leftover bits of savory breads from Rise and Shine)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon sage
¼ - ½ cup water
½ cup cheddar, grated

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Lightly oil a rectangular pyrex dish large enough to fit your zucchini boats.
2.  Preheat a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and onion, sauté for 3 minutes.
3.  Add garlic and buffalo meat, cook until the meat is brown.  Add broccoli, cauliflower, diced zucchini core, salt, cumin, sage and sauté for 4-5 minutes.
4.  Place zucchini in the pyrex dish, fill the cored section with vegetable meat mixture.
5.  Pour the water in the bottom of the dish, cover with foil and cook for 25 minutes.
6.  Remove foil, sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered for 8-10 minutes.

*Note: I don’t normally cook with meat.  For those of you looking for a meat alternative you can use tempeh or more vegetables like diced kale, small potato cubes or mushrooms to round out the stuffing mixture.