My modest little garden is yielding a few decent-sized zucchini and bell peppers and one way both of these are part of a delicious main dish is by stuffing them. Usually, the stuffed peppers or zucchini have an Italian leaning in the seasonings, but this one is a little different.

This takes your standard stuffed zucchini or stuffed bell pepper and put a Mexican flavored twist on it so that it tastes more like a taco than an Italian dish. I used two zucchinis and 2 bell peppers so that I had a variety in the vegetables. With two for dinner, this gives us three meals and a bit of variety. The extra pieces of both the squash and the bell pepper are mixed into the meat. Of course, you can use all zucchini or all bell peppers, but the mix is very nice.

  

Stuffed Taco Seasoned Peppers and Zucchini

1 pound Ground Beef
1 packet Lawry’s Taco Seasoning,
1/4 cup Onions, chopped
1 Egg, large
1 cup Diced Tomatoes
2 medium Zucchini Squash
1 medium Sweet Bell Peppers

Prepare the zucchini and bell peppers

Trim the ends of the zucchini, then cut down the middle lengthwise. Cut out the middle of the squash to form a boat. (Use a paring knife to cut in about 1/4 inch from the edge and down almost to the bottom, then use the knife to carefully cut under the center portion and remove it. Chop the part removed into small pieces and set aside.

Cut the top off the bell peppers and chop the pepper part off the top around the stem. Set aside. Clean the seeds out of the pepper. Put the pepper into a microwaveable pan, add about 1/2 inch of water and put in the microwave for about 2 minutes to steam the peppers and partially cook them. Repeat with the zucchini.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the filling

In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, onions, chopped up zucchini and chopped bell pepper tops. Add the taco seasoning and mix well.

Stuff the vegetables

Separate the filling into the six portions. Fill each of the zucchini halves with a portion of the meat. Use the last two portions to stuff the bell peppers. Put in a baking pan with a little water in the bottom.

Bake for 30 minutes until the meat is completely done. Warm the tomatoes in a sauce pan and serve a tablespoon or two over the top of the stuffed vegetables.

You can add sour cream or a couple of tablespoons of shredded Mexican cheese to the top, if you wish.

For a side dish, I used roasted kohlrabi, eggplant and turnips with the zucchini and I used Cauli-rice Risotto with chicken broth, bell pepper and onions with the bell peppers. Wonderful!

Nutrition Info:
Zucchini – Calories: 270.2 Fat: 21 g Net Carbs: 3.8 g Protein: 15 g
Peppers – Calories: 286.9 Fat: 21 g Net Carbs: 7.2 g Protein: 15 g

Original Post on 9/15/2013