This morning, I have a recipe from guest blogger, Ana Brady. Ana writes about healthy living, food, exercise and family traditions. She works on a project on tamper proof labels with a small group of creative enthusiasts. Here is her recipe for zucchini boats with ground meat (whatever meat floats your boat!)
A Great Meal You Can Make in Half Hour and Freeze for Later
Probably I’m not the only mom who has trouble getting her children to eat raw vegetables. I guess I’m lucky they at least eat a reasonable amount of fruits every day, mostly apples. I think I tried every trick on the planet: making cute airplanes out of cucumbers, inventing a game called “Who eats the most carrots – wins (and gets a prize)!”, letting them get messy in the kitchen when I make salads, etc.
One day I surrendered and decided to stop trying. My only hope is that once they notice I gave up, they’ll start eating salads just because there’s no pressure, or they’ll see it from some cool kid at school (if cool kids at school eat salads). I guess it would be low, even for me, to pay a cool kid to showcase eating carrots at lunch?
My children at least don’t get picky when it comes to cooked veggies. That is, they don’t get picky if a piece of meat or pasta accompanies the vegetables.
Here’s one of their favorite recipes. It’s called:
Zucchini boats
For 4 people you’ll need:
– 4 zucchinis
– 0.7 pound of ground meat
– 2-3 tomatoes
– 4 tbsp. tomato sauce
– 1 onion
– salt, pepper, parsley
Many people make this dish using eggplants, but my children like zucchinis more, because they are more tender and sweeter; eggplants sometimes taste sour to them.
First thing you do is cut zucchinis in half vertically, and scoop out the zucchini “meat” from each half. They will look like empty boats.
Then you cut the zucchini meat into tiny pieces, tomato into cubes and onions into rings. Pour some oil into a frying pan, then add onion rings, zucchini, ground meat and tomatoes. Add some tomato sauce and a little water if necessary, and cook for 10 min. Add salt, pepper, parsley or some other herbs you like.
Fill zucchini boats with the cooked mixture and roast in an oven for 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees. Serve with salad (if your children will eat it), or with sour cream.
If you don’t use up the whole zucchini/tomato/ground meat mixture, you can let it cool, then put in a plastic container and freeze. Also, you can make some extra zucchini boats and freeze for the following week when you come home from work, tired, and the last thing on your mind is to cook.
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