I pulled some ground beef out of the freezer with no clear idea of what I was going to make. That’s not unusual for me… I tend to wing it more than I do follow any sort of recipe.

While we were getting lunch together, today, I noticed a big ol’ beefsteak tomato on the counter. I had one of those aha moments and said we were having stuffed tomatoes for dinner.  With the concept formed, it was now a matter of figuring out what I was going to stuff it with…

Ground beef was the obvious first choice, and then I opened the ‘fridge. We had green onions, a zucchini, and olive tapenade in there, and our first hot pepper from the garden was on the counter next to the tomato. I grabbed the last of the monterey jack cheese, too.

I preheated the oven to 375°F and went to work.

I sliced the tomato in half and cut out a good portion of the center. That was mixed in with the ground beef, minced green onion, minced hot pepper, and the tapenade. A bit of salt, pepper, and garlic powder went in, as well.

I put a hefty slice of cheese into the tomato and then filled each with half of the beef mixture and topped each with another slice of cheese.

I sliced the zucchini into thic coins and placed them around the peppers, and baked everything off for about 30 minutes.

It was one of those things that just worked. The burger was juicy, slightly spicy, and full of lots of flavor. The tomato was fork-tender but still had substance, and the cheese made everything just creamy-good!

Not bad, at all…