Stuffed Zucchini

My lovely friend Justina gave me a Zucchini the length and width of my forearm (and I have a rather large forearm). I usually just roast any and all veggies since it's quick and involves just the roasting pan and an oven. After 2 months of this though, no matter how much you love vegetables (like me), it can get boring. It's summer and school is out, so I decided to do something different with this Godzilla of a zucchini. And it's so good to be back blogging and trying out some new things. hurray for summer!!!


Ingredients
Serves 2-4
1 Large Zucchini - Cut lengthwise; scrape out the soft-seeds portion so you have a hollow area in the center
1/2 Yellow onion finely chopped
1 Roma Tomato finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
4 Cremini Mushrooms (or button would work as well)
.5lb Minced Meat, I used chicken.
Pinch of Paprika, Cayenne, Turmeric, Coriander powder, Cumin Powder
Salt to taste
1 Tbspn of tomato paste
1.5 slices of untoasted bread- make crumbs as best possible.
Olive oil and some butter

Method
1. In a pan heat up some olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and saute for about 3 mins.
2. Next add tomato and spice powders and salt and saute for another 2 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms, chicken, and tomato paste and saute for about 3 mins.
4. Meanwhile line up the Zucchini (I had to cut mine into half so I had 4 "shells") shells in a baking pan. coat with olive oil. Also melt the butter and pour over the bread crumbs. Use oil if you dont want to use butter or do half and half so you don't lose the buttery flavor.
5. Spoon the filling into the zucchini shells and top it off with bread crumbs.
6. Cook in a preheated oven at 350F for 35-45 mins.


Taste Review:
I totally would make this again. But I would skip the bread topping mostly since I used whole wheat bread...if you have white bread, do try it out because it gives you a nice crunchy top. The wheat bread gave it a "sweet" taste which can be a hit or a miss. I also would top it off with some parmesean cheese next time. But the filling is to die for. I would add some Tabasco sauce next time.