What I had for supper...

Tuesday night: stuffed zucchini and cake!

I made this quick & easy stuffed zucchini the other night - it was delicious! So good, I just had to make it again. It's real simple too:

Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients:

1/4 cup uncooked quinoa (not sure how much that made cooked - around a cup)

2-3 zucchini

1 tomato

1 garlic clove

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

ricotta cheese, optional

basil, salt, pepper

Methods:

1. Cook the quinoa according to the package directions.

2. Meanwhile, parboil the zucchini. Or better yet, cook it in the microwave. Poke holes in the zucchini with a fork. Depending on your microwave & the size/number of your zucchini, nuke them for 4 - 8 minutes. Until they're somewhat soft & cooked. Let them cool a bit while you prepare the stuffing.

3. Chop the tomato. Chop the garlic (so much easier now that I have a garlic press!) - it's fairly garlicky so use a small clove or less if you prefer. Mix together with some herbs & spices (use whatever you like - I had fresh basil, parsley & cilantro plus salt & pepper).

4. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise. Lop off the top & bottom if you prefer. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds & flesh, leaving a thin shell. Make sure you leave enough so that the skin can stand up, like a boat. If you have a big zucchini with lots of seeds, you can discard these, but I just chopped it all up & added it all to the bowl of filling.

5. Mix in the quinoa.

6. Mix in the mozzarella cheese. Use as much cheese as you want - you can reserve some for sprinkling on top, or just use more.

7. Line the insides of the zucchini with ricotta cheese. I only did this the second time I made these - either way it's delicious. Just creamier with the ricotta.

8. Stuff. Spoon as much filling as you can into the zucchini. Press it down & add more - until there's none left.

9. Cook for 10 - 15 min at 350F. The timing will depend on how thick the zucchini boats are and how small the filling was chopped. It's done once the cheese is all melted & it's hot all the way through.

Enjoy!!!

But leave room for.....

CAKE!!!

Oh man this was SO good!!! And really, it's only a box of white cake, split into 2:

With whipped milk chocolate icing (also storebought) & sprinkles. Yum!