Thursday, October 05, 2006

Stuffed Zucchini ala Ana’s mode!

Following Karen’s idea for stuffed zucchini, today I created my own concoction!
I had a zucchini in the fridge and didn’t know what to do with it, so I remembered Karen’s advice and made it a stuffed veggie thing!
It turned out super delicious and I will definitely make it again, even more because this was a great way to get Matheus to eat zucchini and be really happy about it too!
I guess he is growing up on his food tastes too. Before he didn’t care much for stuffed veggies, and I love it, tried many times to make it for us (love stuffed eggplant and bell peppers!) without much success of him eating it. But today he really enjoyed it!
At first he asked “Mommy, how do I eat this?”, then I chopped it up for him and he loved the flavors and the idea of eating a “Zucchini Boat”, yes, that’s how I got him to eating and liking it, boats are fun!
He ate his whole half and said “Mmmmmm” through the process, really devoured his piece and I was very proud of my creation, and of feeding healthy meals to my kiddo too, of course!
I made mine a little different though. First I cut the zucchini in half, slathered it with olive oil and put, cut side down, in a baking sheet. Put it in the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes so it would soften and roast a bit.
Then I scooped out the pulp and sautéed it in olive oil with some chopped onions and garlic. Added a few cherry tomatoes I had from the garden sitting in my counter, some oregano and fresh parsley. Seasoned it with salt and pepper and back to the “boats” it went. Oh, I also added some brown rice to the mixture too, as the filling wasn’t enough by itself to fill both halves, and it actually turned out great with the rice in it!
I then sprinkled with a mixture of bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese, and to complete it all, added some crumbles of goat cheese on top. Back to the oven for a few minutes at 350 (about 5 minutes, just to warm it up), a couple minutes under the broiler and there you have it, my “Stuffed Zucchini Boats”, great stuff!! Yummm!!
We had ours with some mini turkey loafs that I made, soo good! Check out the recipe here, it is awesome!
Ana

7 comments:

Karen said...

Ana, adorei a incrementada que você deu nas abobrinhas! Ficaram ótimas!

Fer Guimaraes Rosa said...

mais uma boa ideia! :-))

beijaoo,

Anonymous said...

I love zucchini, and when it's all gone, I'm sad becuase I know that autumn is truly here.

Anonymous said...

Oh my, this look so good!! I've seen also @ Kafka's, but still, I like the idea of using brown rice as part of the filling.
Bjs
Bri

Anonymous said...

Ana, this looks delicious!

I love the idea of playing with children to make them eat good food.

Matheus is one lucky boy!

Akemi said...

Achei um amor aquela parte em que o Matheus pergunta como se come a abobrinha! Que lindinho! É muito bom ver que vc se preocupa em oferecer muitas coisas nutritivas e gostosas a ele! Vemos tantas reportagens de crianças americanas obesas, dá um medo ne!
Mas voltando à receita, amei a idéia tbm! Fiquei babando aqui, amiga!

Ana said...

Karen, ficou muito bom!!

Fe, obrigada, nos gostamos muito aqui!

Urban Vegan, I am just the same. Love zucchini, and always get sad with the end of the summer.

Brisa, so good to see you around here! We really liked this version at home, adding the brown rice made it a complete side dish!

Patricia, thanks, and it was good! I believe that we learn to appreciate healthy food from childhood, right?!!

Akemi, foi mesmo engracado ele perguntar, pois sabe q das putras vezes q tinha feito legumes recheado ele nem queria comer. Fiquei ultra feliz q ele adorou tanto e comeu tudo! Eu me preocupo sim em cozinhar saudavel aqui em casa, e acredito q eh desde pequeno q aprendemos essas coisas sobre alimentacao e a experimentar e gostar de todos os alimentos, inclusive legumes e verdes afins!!

Ana!