PESTO STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Unbelieveable as it might sound to some of you, I was unable to find zucchini large enough for this recipe! I put out the word on Facebook and sent out a few emails - nothing! No one I know is being overtaken by zucchini, which is good news for them but bad news for me. I decided to check out the farmer's market in St. Matthews last Saturday, knowing that there were many more vendors than at the markets closer to our house. I did find larger zucchini, and reluctantly bought them once I accepted that this was the best I could do. My zucchini weighed in at just under one and a half pounds, while the recipe suggests a two pounder - this truly is a recipe for the home gardner!

Everyone liked the recipe - our grandson, age 19, liked the filling much more than the zucchini itself, but I have to agree with him. Yes, we're trying to eat healthier and have grilled lots of eggplant, squash and zucchini, but really, I just don't think it has much of a taste. Knowing it's good for me I was able to enjoy the filling - especially since the pesto was homemeade and the mozzarella was fresh - which was tasty enough to make even zucchini palatable.

Just in case you're being over-run with zucchini, here's a link to the recipe:

PESTO STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had some homemade seasoned breadcrumbs in the freezer - with garlic, parsley and parmesan cheese - so I used about one cup of that instead of the croutons.  For me it turned out to be a good thing because had I used croutons the filling would have been too bulky to fit into my smaller zucchini boats.  The bread crumbs, which I toasted in the oven first, allowed me to compress the filling into the zucchini, getting every last bit of pesto-y goodness!