eightball

Our farm share is including some neat vegetables that I haven't seen before including these cute little eight-ball squash.  They are a type of round zucchini.

 As I've mentioned in a previous post zucchini are great and have a lot of health benefits.  They are also a versatile vegetable and can be served a number of different ways.  The eight-balls seem ideal for stuffing because who would want to cut them up and cook them, destroying that cute shape?  Having some leftover quinoa from when I last made quinoa taboule (I always double quinoa when I cook it because we eat so much of it) I decided to create a quinoa stuffing to fill these little beauties.   This turned out to be so delicious that we can't wait to get more of these squash to make it again.

Quinoa Stuffed Eight-ball Squash

4 eight-ball squash, washed

2 C. cooked quinoa

1/2 C. roasted tomatoes in oil, diced

2 scallions, diced

1 clove garlic diced

2 T. chopped basil

1 t. salt

2 T. olive oil

pre-heat oven to 400 F

cut tops off of squash and set aside

scoop out inside of squash being sure to leave a layer of flesh to maintain the shape

place hollowed out squash into oven proof dish

roughly chop squash 

heat olive oil in a large sauce pan

add squash to pan and saute until starting to soften

add tomatoes, scallions, garlic, and basil and saute 2 minutes

add quinoa and toss to mix well

add salt and toss again

turn off heat, fill squash with mixture

place tops back on squash and place in oven

bake 20 minutes

Enjoy!