Vegan stuffed zucchini

My friends are coming over for lunch today and one of them is vegan. I had a few zucchini in the house so I decided to make quinoa and brown rice stuffed zucchini.

Here's the recipe: The stuffing is delicious eaten as a salad or can be stuffed into zucchini or red bell peppers.

This recipe makes 3 cups of stuffing/salad

Finely dice 1/2 purple onion, and saute in 2 Tbs. of olive oil in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Add a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. While the onion cooks, grate 1 whole zucchini and add to the pan. Continue cooking until zucchini has softened. Add in a small pinch of dried thyme, 1/2 C. toasted pine nuts and 1/2 C. golden raisins. Stir to combine and remove from heat.

I had leftover quinoa and brown rice, you can add either or both or even couscous. I added in about 1 1/2 C. total of mixed brown rice and quinoa with another tsp. of olive oil. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. You could also saute a few finely diced mushrooms with the zucchini, and a drizzle of truffle oil would be delicious.

Remove the mixture from the pan and add 1 Tbs. of olive oil, 1 C. of bread crumbs and 1/2 tsp. of garlic salt. Cook until breadcrumbs turn brown, about 1 minute. Watch these closely and stir frequently as they brown very quickly. Remove from heat so they don't burn.

I washed and sliced 2 zucchini in half lengthwise, and using a grapefruit spoon hollowed out the center of the 4 pieces. Preheat oven to 425. Line a cookie sheet with either a Silpat mat or aluminum foil and add the zucchini boats. Fill each boat with the stuffing and top with toasted bread crumbs. Cook in the oven to 10-12 minutes.