Attack of the Zucchini, pt. 3--getting creative!

I'm taking creative license here. I'm including yellow squash in this post.  Please forgive the culinary transgression.

I'm happy to report however that we have even more summer squash of both varieties.  So let me count the ways we've dealt with this lovely turn of events:

1. Freeze it--in slices and grated.  We are making Ziploc one very happy company this summer.
2. Pickle it--yummy zucchini pickles loaded with ginger--sounds delicious!  Can't wait to try them.
3. Pasta it--every kind of way you can imagine, including a surprisingly simple and easy linguine with zucchini, raisins, walnut, and Parmesan cheese.  Delicioso!
4. Grill it--oh, what a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper can do to bring out the flavor.
5. Load it--sadly I don't have picture for this one, but two weekends ago on our ill-fated trip to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Arts on the Allegheny (in Kittaning--it got stormed out...boo...), we had a great picnic before hand consisting of a pseudo Tex-Mex dish.  Use thick zucchini slices as your base, top with a black bean spread, avocado, tomato, pepper, and pepper-jack cheese.  Surprisingly, this was scrumptious, if messy.  The only thing missing was tequila in our lime juice.
6. Bake it--very tasty muffins and bread!

Put za zucchini in za batta and a stir stir stir (until just moistened).

Final product: 6 muffins and 1 small loaf.

7. Stuff it--finally cool enough to turn on the oven, we decided to give the stuffed thing a try.  So glad we did!  I sort of mashed a bunch of recipes together, and here's what I got:

3 zucchini or yellow squash
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup quinoa, cooked
1 medium red onion, diced
3 small peppers, diced
3 large roma tomatoes, deseeded and diced
Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Fresh cut 1/4 cup basil and 1/8 cup oregano
Salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste
Broth if the mix seems too dry. 

Slice open the squash (if using yellow, will have to deseed).  Scoop out pulp onto a cutting board until you have a 1/4-1/2'' left int he shell.  Roughly chop up the pulp and put into bowl.  Cook the zucchini halves in the microwave for 3-4 minutes.  Place in a greased pan that tightly fits the halves in it (you don't want the stuffed halves to be rolling all over the place, do ya?)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bring 1 cup quinoa mixed with 2 cups of water to a boil; cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes.  Brown hamburger together with onion and peppers; drain if desired (I didn't--it was pretty lean and added good moisture to the dish).  Mix quinoa, hamburger mixture, pulp, herbs, tomatoes, and seasonings in a bowl.  Mix thoroughly. 

Scoop your filling into your halves.  Press down firmly to fill as full as possible.  Sprinkle liberally with parm cheese.  Bake for 20-30 minutes until "crispy" and the cheese is browning on top.

Finished product:

I like to think all the fresh veggies cancels out the burger and cheese.

Oh, and did we forget to mention the double zucchini?

Please share below what you think this looks like ;-)

Don't see this every day!