I am currently in summer squash overload with my garden at home and the zucchini are HUGE! I have seen various zucchini boats popping up all over social media the past few years, so I was inspired to find a way to craft up my own version. I came up with this easy and delicious Vegetarian Burrito Boat, using one large zucchini, organic refried beans, cheddar and jack cheese. pickled jalapeños, Greek yogurt, taco sauce, and organic cherry tomatoes, Shishito peppers and parsley from Taproot Farm. SO yummy and filling! 🙂 The mix of flavors and textures are really terrific in this dish and it’s a fun and tasty way to use an assortment of vegetables and items you probably already have on hand in your refrigerator or own garden at home. I hope you enjoy this yummy and healthy dish as much as I did – happy cooking! 🙂

Makes 2 Servings

Recipe by © Alysha Melnyk 2018

Kitchen Tools:

Oven, Preheated to 400 °F

Knife

Baking Dish

Measuring Cups

Ingredients:

1 Large Zucchini (*You can also substitute smaller zucchini – whatever you have), Cut in Half and Hollowed out in the Center

1 and 1/2 Cup Refried Beans

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese of Choice

1 Cup Shishito Peppers (*Blistered in Olive Oil)

1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes, Halved

1/4 Cup Pickled Jalapeños

Optional for Serving: Greek yogurt or sour cream, taco sauce, fresh parsley and black pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to  400 °F.
2. Cut large zucchini in half and hollow out using a spoon (I basically removed all the seeds and that left a nice area to fill in with the refried beans).
3. Fill each zucchini half with the refried beans (3/4 cup each).
4. Fill your baking tray with a thin base layer of water.
5. Sit stuffed zucchini halves in the tray with water and bake for 25 minutes (*if you have smaller zucchinis, cut this time in half). Your zucchini should be firm but tender in consistency if you check it with a fork.
6. After 25 minutes, add cheese on top of each half (1/4 cup cheese for each). Place the zucchini back in the oven for 10 minutes (*5 minutes or less with smaller zucchinis).
7. While this is cooking, prepare Shishito peppers by blistering in a pan. Do this by placing olive oil on high heat and blackening peppers on each side. Then, cut cherry tomatoes in half and remove parsley from the stems.
8. Once the zucchini halves are done cooking, allow them to cool for 5 minutes (*You can take them out of the water and rest on a paper towel as well to dry, just be careful since they are hot! I used a spatula to lift mine).
9. Then, serve with toppings of choice (I placed Greek yogurt and taco sauce at the base and topped everything with Shishito peppers, cherry tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, fresh parsley and black pepper).
10. Enjoy! 🙂