Cucuzza Squash

Cucuzza Squash

Cucu-what? Cucuzza squash - it's an Italian squash that looks like a baseball bat. The one I got was about 3'long and bright green!

What do you do with it, you may ask. Well, it is a squash - so anything you do with zucchini, you can do with cucuzza, right? Pretty much. When sliced and eaten raw, it tastes sort of like a cross between a cucumber and a zucchini. It does this weird "sweating" thing when sliced too - sort of like oily sweat droplets... (weird)

So, what to do with 3' worth of squash? Here's the first thing I did:

Chocolate Cucuzza Cake

This was probably the most moist cake I've ever had - yummy!

And here is the 2nd thing I did with it:

Pork Chops topped with Cucuzza Stew

These were delicious!

If you want recipes for either of these - just let me know!

Taco Cupcakes

TACO CUPCAKES

So I bought a pack of 100 corn tortillas - silly me. In an attempt to use them up before they go bad, we've had tacos, enchilladas, and tonight, taco cupcakes. I made it up, and it was pretty good - well the family ate them, so I guess they were good!

Ingredients:

1 cupcake/muffin pan

12 corn tortillas

1 lb. ground beef

taco seasoning

1 cup shredded mexican blend cheeses

guacamole (homemade, of course)

1 roma tomato, diced

(if I'd had any more onion I would have used that too)

other toppings if you like:

sour cream

salsa

pico de gallo

cilantro

1. preheat the oven to 350. warm the corn tortillas in the microwave to make them a little bit more pliable. then, form them into the cups and place 1 tortilla in each muffin slot of the pan. place in preheated oven for about 10 minutes.

2. while the tortillas are being formed into cups, cook the ground beed and add the taco seasoning.

3. make the guacamole - or rip open a package of it from your local market;)

4. when the tortillas have "formed", keep them in the pan and fill them with the taco meat and cheese (you could also add bean if you want).

5. place the filled cupcakes back in the oven, but this time with the broiler on. leave in the broiler for about 3-5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

6. remove from broiler and top with guacamole, tomatoes and any other toppings you might like.

7. enjoy!