stuffed tomatoes! happyface!

when you've got a lot of local tomatoes and you don't want them to go to waste - stuffed tomatoes = the way to go! in researching stuffed tomatoes (we've never made them before) we found this recipe and were pretty excited to try it out because we had all the ingredients on hand and it was an easy recipe to tweak ('cause we wanted to add in more local veggies) and make our own. end result - yummmmmmmmmy! these stuffed tomatoes were so tasty, and even better with a little "parmesan" on top. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! we're going to be making these over and over again when the tomatoes are bountiful - 'cause it's just that good. now here's what we did for these tasty & easy deliciousnesses...

ingredients for the stuffed tomatoes:
4 large tomatoes
3 cups water
1 cup arborio rice
1 zucchini, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley (dried is okay, too)
10+ fresh basil leaves, chopped
olive oil cooking spray
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (yay for B12!)
1/2 tsp black pepper
a pinch 'o sea salt
(i bet mushrooms and other veggies would be rock'n in this recipe, too - so feel free to add all your favorites in! i would have added in mushrooms but i live with a mushroom hater! ahahahahaaa!)

ingredients for the "parmesan":
2 tbsp walnuts
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
pinch 'o sea salt

what you'll need:
- food processor (for the "parmesan")
- medium pot
- large skillet
- baking dish large enough for your tomatoes (we used a bread pan)
- small baking dish + aluminum foil if you've got extra rice mix

what'cha gotta do:
pour water into medium pot & add in the rice & a pinch of sea salt. boil everything for 10 minutes, stirring it all up every minute or two. remove from heat, drain, & rinse the rice with cold water. set aside.

while the rice is cooking you can saute the veggies. spray the large skillet with a little olive oil cooking spray. saute the zucchini & onions with the basil & parsley (add in any other delicious veggies if you want here, too) on medium-high heat until the onions & zucchini starts to brown. remove from heat.

add the rinsed rice to the skillet with the cooked veggies & combine well.

slice off tomato tops & scoop out the innards. take about a 1/2 a cup's worth of the pulp & juice and add it to the veggie-rice mix. combine well.

spray both baking pans (if you have really big tomatoes you may not have a lot of stuffing left over, if not - then you'll need 2 pans - one for the tomatoes and one for the remaining rice mix) with a little olive oil cooking spray. load up the hollowed out tomatoes with some veggie-rice mix and put the tomato tops back on the tomatoes. place the rest of the rice mix in the other baking pan and cover with aluminum foil (no need to cover the stuffed tomatoes because they have their little tops back on!). bake everything on 350 degrees (no need to preheat) for 20 minutes. remove from heat.

while the tomatoes are cooking pulse together the walnuts & nooch in the food processor until fine.

top stuffed tomatoes and left over rice mix with "parmesan" and enjoy! this recipe made for 4 large stuffed tomatoes & about 2 cups of left-over veggie-rice mix. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!