Lentil Mushroom Stuffed Zucchini with Millet Crust Recipe [Vegan, Gluten-Free]

If you belong to a CSA or have a garden, you're probably swimming in summer squash right now. We are. We've grilled it on the BBQ, stuffed it into lasagna, tossed it into tofu scrambles, and made zucchini bread.

I must also shamefully admit I threw a few away. See, I don't actually like zucchini. I liked it 3 weeks ago when it was novel and heralded the start of summer. After force-feeding it to myself twice a day, I could barely stand the sight of it.

I refuse to be punked by a vegetable. Upon receiving five gigantic zucchinis in my weekly CSA share, I determined to find a new way to enjoy them.

I pulled out How It All Vegan, a classic cookbook and one of my favorites even though I'm not vegetarian anymore. I found a recipe for Stuffed Spagetti Squash, adapted it to match what I had on hand, and OMG! This happened ...

Here's how to adapt it exactly as I did. This recipe is vegan (dairy-free, vegetarian) and gluten-free.

Lentil Mushroom Stuffed Zucchini with Millet Crust

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 20 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• ¹⁄₂ cup dry lentils
• ¹⁄₂ cup uncooked millet
• 1 cup vegetable broth (optional)
• olive oil
• 1 ¹⁄₂ large zucchinis
• 2 whole red scallions (bulb and green shoots)
• 8 large cremini mushrooms
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• cumin to taste
• Braggs to taste

Directions

1. Cook lentils and millet, separately. (Tip: Use broth instead of water to make more flavorful millet.)
2. Use a spoon to remove the guts from the zucchinis.
3. In olive oil, saute scallions, mushrooms, and guts from just one zucchini, everything sliced. Cook until mushrooms are shrunken and tender. You should also have a little brown flavorful goodness on the bottom of your pan.
4. Stir in cooked lentils and seasonings.
5. Stuff mixture into zucchini boats.
6. Spoon and press millet onto zucchini boats to make a crust. Drizzle with olive oil.
7. Bake until hot and zuke boats are tender.
8. Broil for a few minutes until tops brown.
9. Put onto a plate and rekindle your love for zucchini.

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Get the How It All Vegan cookbook to see the original recipe and hundreds of other awesome ones, like the blueberry zucchini muffins and a cheesy zucchini casserole I baked today too. Both recipes are a great way to use up the extra zuke guts.

Olivia Lane Lovejoy is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. 

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