Tuesday, August 9, 2011

tex mex stuffed yellow squash with a side of baked zucchini chips

i love that life is slowing down. love. love. love. i finally feel like we're not racing around checking things off the to do list. this leaves time for playing fetch with beans, spending quality time together, and flipping through recipes on marthastewart.com. (martha = awesome). all this time also allows us to adequately prepare a menu for the week causing much less stress when coming home after working all day. i like choosing recipes that use similar ingredients for the week so i don't overspend my budget (my meal planning tends to do this...i'm TRYING, i promise).

Anyways, tonight was tex mex stuffed yellow squash (a new recipe) served with baked zucchini chips (an old fav). You'll notice the summer squash repeat from here. The tex mex squash was YUM! and the baked zucchini chips were YUM YUM YUM!! A definite fav in the Dumas household. Both are a bit time consuming, but you can prepare the zucchini chips while the squash are baking. Since the temp for them is a little higher, I put them in with 10 minutes to go on the squash, took them out, flipped and put them in again when the foil was removed from the squash at 450.


stuffed tex mex yellow squash
marthastewart.com

  • 4 yellow squashes (8 ounces each)
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), cut into 1/4-inch dice
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated (didn't have these - used a little regular onion instead)
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon mild chili powder
  • 1/2 pound ground beef chuck
  • 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees, with rack set in the top third. Halve each squash lengthwise; slice a sliver from the rounded part of each half so it sits flat. Leaving a 1/4-inch border, scoop out halves with a small spoon; roughly chop flesh, and reserve. Place squash halves, skin side down, in a shallow baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

  2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add reserved chopped squash, bell pepper, scallion whites, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until bell pepper begins to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add tomato paste and chili powder; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add beef; cook until no longer pink, breaking up meat with a spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in corn and 1/4 cup Parmesan; season with salt and pepper.

  3. Dividing evenly, spoon mixture into squash halves. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake until squash is tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Uncover, and bake until top is browned, 7 to 10 minutes more. Garnish with scallion greens.

    baked zucchini chips
    allrecipes.com

    • 2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
    • 1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
    • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
    • 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
    • 2 egg whites

      1. 1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
      1. 2. In one small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Place the egg whites in a separate bowl. Dip zucchini slices into the egg whites, then coat the breadcrumb mixture. Place on a greased baking sheet.
      1. 3. Bake for 5 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn over and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until browned and crispy.

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