Anyone else trying to get in as many veggies as possible, always? Maybe it was from Marathon Training, or my love affair with vegetables, or perhaps my incessant goals to feed my family as many veggies as possible, but these were such a fun way to get a healthier dinner on the table and push the vegetables. Especially as I was trying to use up a Costco-sized bag of zucchini/summer squash I had purchased.
The squash gets nice and tender, then add in all your favorite toppings using ground turkey meat as the taco meat base, and you have a healthy and lightened up taco dinner ready to go! Hearty, flavorful, and you can make it as healthy or unhealthy as you want. I used vegan Violife cheddar cheese and greek yogurt as a replacement for sour cream. Even my hubby enjoyed them, and sometimes getting him to eat his vegetables is harder than my toddlers!!
One of my absolute favorite seasonings to use is Bobby Flay's Steakhouse Seasoning. It's very savory and actually super versatile. It's advertised as a Flank Steak Seasoning, which I have used it that way before, but I like to keep a big jar of it in my spice rack of anything that deserves some tex-mex spice. My summer squash taco boats seemed appropriate. If you're curious about the seasoning, you can find it here. Sometimes the Ancho Chili Powder can be tough to find though, so regular old taco seasoning from the jar works or you can whip up a batch homemade from this post.
So, how to make these...
Now that we have the seasoning options out of the way, let's get to the details!
I like to add a bit of onion to my taco meat. Again, vegetables, plus, it gives the meat an added depth of flavor. I'm not too big on onions but I do agree with them in taco meat.
I tossed the taco meat into a pan, starting to brown, and meanwhile chopped up my onions. Add them to the pan as well and let the meat brown. In this case I used ground turkey, but ground beef or even bison are great options. While the meat cooks, so will the onions. Add in your taco seasoning of choice.
Meanwhile, slice off the ends of the summer squash/zucchini, sprinkle a bit of the seasoning of your choice onto the squash or just use salt and pepper, put a layer of meat, then salsa and top with shredded cheese.
Bake the zucchini for 30-40 minutes depending on the thickness and top with ALL the toppings! I used greek yogurt and green onions to keep it simple, but added salsa, jalepenos, red onion...whatever you would usually use will work.
The squash is delicate and the taco meat and toppings is delicious. I promise you won't even know the tortilla is missing.
Love these funky plates? Us too! Found them on Amazon!
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