I originally wrote this post last July (yes, we were thinking about/planning for NewlyWife way back then), but it certainly still applies.  We have tons of squash and zucchini right now, so it is definitely the abundant crop for August.  In fact, these next 5 posts are what inspired my Abundant Crop feature.

It is all about Squash and Zucchini at the Nadalet house right now.  It is in season, and the in-laws have squash varieties up the wazoo.  We ended up with about 8  or 10 zucchini and 2 to 3 regular yellow squash and 2 of these pale green GIANT wintery squashes.  Then I had to figure out what was the best way to disguise it, so my hubby would eat it!  Bread always comes to mind first, but you can only handle so much zucchini bread.   So I decided to try out a few things.

I took this:

And added some cheese and cubed zucchini to turn it into this:

It’s a giant squash, we have no idea what kind it is (maybe a winter squash?), stuffed with a ground beef and bread mixture.  I have prepared this meal with Zucchini before and it’s excellent. However this squash had more seeds than flesh, so it was hard to blend into the meat mixture. That’s why I added more Zucchini. I will have figure out a better way to cook these babies.  The hubby liked it, but I assume that is because I added cajon seasoning!

Here’s the recipe:

Stuffed Squashiness
(This is adapted from a recipe that my mom sent me from the paper.  No idea where it is, so I can’t reference it.)

• 1 Squash (needs to be of the giant variety)
• 1/2 to 1 pound Ground  Beef
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 Clove Garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons finely Chopped Onion
• 2/3 Cup chopped Zucchini
• 2 Cups Soft Bread Crumbs
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cajon Seasoning or your Favorite Spice Blend
• Salt & Pepper
• Cheese to sprinkle over the top

Wash the squash and cook in boiling water for 8 minutes.  At the same time, brown the ground beef and drain.  Drain the squash and cut in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the pulp and chop into little pieces.  Melt the butter in a skillet and saute garlic and onion for approximately 1 minute.  Add the ground beef, pulp, zucchini, bread crumbs and seasoning.  Stuff back into the empty halves and top with cheese.  Put in a greased dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

As you can tell, I am not entirely precise with my recipes.  I started with a base recipe from the paper and then made my own additions.  I’m not entirely sure how much of what things were added, so I estimated to the best of my knowledge. Enjoy!