INGREDIENTS NEEDED:

• 2 lbs of small zucchini
• 1 cup cooked ground meat (lamb, beef, veal) –Optional—make it vegetarian add small pieces of mushroom to replace the meat.
• 1 cup of short grain rice
• 4 cloves of garlic ( chopped)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 medium size tomatoes
• 2 teaspoon of salt (as desired)
• 1 dash of black pepper ( as desired)
• 1 teaspoon of red chili flacks
• 1 cup of chopped parsley
• 2 green onions (chopped)
• 3 cups of crushed tomatoes.
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• Swish chard leaves  or cut pototoes ( to close the opening of the stuffed zucchini)

PREPERATION:

• Wash Zucchini, remove stem with knife (1 inch below the stem). Hollow out zucchini using small apple corer or a special corer that you can buy from Middle Eastern store. Rinse Zucchini from the filling and let drain on paper towels.
• FILLING:soak rice in 2 cups of hot water for 10 mintues then drain.  cook ground meat until done, add  to drained rice, with all the ingredients (chopped tomatoes, Presley, garlic and green onions, then add salt,  black pepper, red pepper flacks, add Olive oil and Mix well.
• Add filling to hollowed out zucchini, half way ( 2 tablespoons of the filling).  Close the opening of the stuffed zucchini with a green leaf of Swiss chard. TIP—hold in place with a tooth pick, or instead of the Swiss chard use potatoes cut into the size of the opening of the zucchini
• Place all stuffed zucchini in stove pot or deep oven dish.
• Empty 12 oz of crushed tomatoes into a bowl; add desired salt, pepper, dried Basil. Add 12 oz of water to crushed tomatoes mix well and place on top of Zucchini. Cover pot or place Aluminum foil on oven dish.
• Place in a preheated (375 degrees) oven and cook for 1 hour OR
• Place on stove bring to a boil and let simmer on low for 45 minutes and serve.