The First of the Zucchini Recipes

My local box from Greenling this week contained 12 yellow squash, which I'm pretending are zucchini and as some of them looked like they weren't going to last very long, I'm trying to use them up in a hurry. Yesterday, I used 4 of them up in zucchini bran muffins, chocolate zucchini bread, and taco shells.

We had the taco shells for dinner and Q and the nerdlet loved them so they will definitely be a repeat item. I first saw them on pinterest and dismissed them because the recipe didn't really read very Mexican, but I reconsidered them when I saw that a number of people were making and enjoying them.

My recipe is a smidge different as I chop up an onion pretty much any time I ground beef and I was trying to use up my squash.

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1 medium onion
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 clove garlic
1 4 once package cream cheese (next time, I'll use asadero)
18 large pasta shells
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 cup Monterey jack cheese (shredded)
1 ½ cups tortilla chips (crushed)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a fry pan cook chopped onion until almost clear, add ground beef, zucchini, garlic, and taco seasoning and cook until the ground beef is thoroughly cooked. Add cream cheese (next time I will use shredded asadero), cover and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. I did not allow the mixture to cool and put it into the shells hot as soon as the shells were done. While burger is cooking cook the pasta shells and drain. Rinse with cold water and toss in a little olive oil.
3. Pour salsa in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
4. Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place the stuffed shells in the baking dish and cover the tops of the shells with taco sauce. Sprinkle top with chips (which I didn't use) and the two cheeses.
5. Cover and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted. If you allow the meat mixture to cool, you will have to cook the shells much longer to reheat the meat.

Serve with sour cream, black olives, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, or anything else that you like that goes well with tacos.