Stuffed Zukes, Austin-Style

4 medium-sized zucchini (about 7")
1 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups minced onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped fine
6 medium garlic cloves, minced (if this is too much work, by jars of minced garlic in produce section)
3 T. lemon juice
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups finely minced or ground almonds
Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso, to top.*

Cut the zukes lengthwise down the middle. Use a spoon to scoop out the insides, leaving a conoe with a 1/2" shell. Finely mince up what you scraped out, set the zuke canoes aside.

Heat olive oil in med. sized skillet.  Add onion and salt, and saute over medium heat 5-8 minutes or until onion is soft.

Add zuke scrapings and mushrooms, and saute another 8-10 minutes Add the garlic during the last few minutes.

Place rice and almonds in a medium-sized bowl.  Stir in the saute and lemon juice and mix well.

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill the zucchini shells with everything but the vegan queso  and bake for 30-40 minutes--til heated through.  Heat up some queso...the amount is up to you, but we personally like to dollop on a healthy helping atop each zuke.

*You can also mix some vegan queso in prior to cooking. I haven't personally done this yet but I've been told some prefer it this way from a restaurant that used our queso. No wrong answer here about when to put it in or how much to use, it's whatever you prefer.

Serve hot