Living Ordinary Life in a Hilarious Way: Stuffed Zucchini and Cauliflower Bites

Well, I have a few minutes on my hands for once, so I thought I'd share tonight's dinner.

(Also, in case you were wondering, Don is in the garage, working on a new project that isn't any of the ones I put in my last "Project Ideas" entry. You'll have to be patient and find out whenever I get around to posting again!)

Tonight we had Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini and Cauliflower Bites. Both turned out awesomely and made for a super-hearty, vegetarian meal.

(Also, also, in case you were wondering, neither of us are vegetarian, but we do try to incorporate several vegetarian meals into our meal planning to save money and for the health benefits. Many of them turn out dismally, so it was nice to have a good one tonight.

A disclaimer or two: I always, always line pans with foil because I'm lazy and I hate doing dishes by hand. If you don't want to, don't. If I forget to mention it in every recipe, assume I do. Finally, please forgive the quality of my photos....they are taken on the fly with a camera phone and are for general entertainment only. :)

Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini Recipe

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed (I used organic Bob's Red Mill quinoa which doesn't need rinsing)
-5 medium zucchini, about 8-9 inches long
-1 15 oz can of beans, rinsed (I used cannellini tonight and we didn't love them....trying black beans next)
-2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
-1/2 cup chopped almonds (about 2 oz, but I was generous)
-2 cloves of garlic, chopped (or about two tablespoons of the jarred stuff since I'm too lazy to chop garlic)
-3 oz grated parmesan (I used organic parmesan/romano blend from Trader Joes)
-4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
1. In a large pot or pan, boil 1 cup of water. Add quinoa, give a quick stir, reduce heat to medium, and cover. Leave for 12 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Don't let it cook after the water is gone or you'll get the wonderful opportunity to cook it twice! Remove from heat, fluff (I don't actually know what this means...I just stir it), and cover.

2. While quinoa cooks, rinse and halve the zucchinis, carefully. They are tricky little suckers that like to roll around. Science, please make me some square zucchinis!! Cut off the ends and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. I did several passes because it was hard to actually see the seeds in the zucchini that I had. I left about 1/4 inch of zucchini "meat" in the skin. Put the zucchini in baking dishes lined with foil.

3. When quinoa finishes cooking, preheat oven to 400F. Fold beans, tomatoes, almonds, garlic, 2/3 of the cheese, and 3 tablespoons of the oil into the quinoa.

4. Spoon/stuff the zucchini with the filling, making it slightly mounded over the top. Top with remaining oil and cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 minutes more until golden brown. Enjoy! Or cover with foil to keep warm and enjoy whenever you can convince your husband to come in from the garage. Also, we weren't sure how to actually EAT these, but it turns out you can just cut the whole thing into bite sized pieces with a fork and eat! The zucchini flesh is soft.

Cauliflower Bites

Ingredients:
-1 head cauliflower (organic heads always last longer in my fridge and are worth the cost to me for that reason)
-1/4 cup olive oil, give or take. I don't actually measure out the volume.
-3 tbsp lemon juice. Again, I don't measure.
-2 cloves of chopped garlic or two tbsp minced jar garlic.
-Salt and pepper

Directions:
1. If you're doing these with the zucchini, I started after the zucchini went into the oven. Break down the cauliflower into florets. There are some good youtube videos showing how OR you can just cut it into quarters and sort of cut out the stemmy parts and rip off the florets. Either way tastes the same. I learned that this makes a big mess either way you do it so next time, I'll do it over the sink. You can throw your florets into a large roasting pan lined with foil.

2. If you're like me, then the timer just went off for the zucchini, so pull the foil off and avoid steam burns. Now back to the cauliflower. Drizzle with olive oil generously. Spoon the garlic overtop in a haphazard way, pretending like you sort of care that it is equally distributed. Turn the spoon over and gently pour your lemon juice over the spoon to give the florets a little citrus shower. Top with salt and pepper.

3. Whenever your zucchini get done hogging your oven (if you are a person with two ovens, I don't want to hear about it!!) then cover them up with foil to keep warm and crank your oven up to 500F. Bake the cauliflower for 15 minutes, stirring every five or so.

4. That's it! Eat!!