The farmer’s market was such a wonder to me this week. There was such a huge variety of beautiful summer produce, that it was near impossible to choose. But, one of the things that always calls to me are the adorable little patty pan squash that fill the stalls this time of year. There was so much squash and zucchini, I couldn’t say no.

I mean really, how could you say no to this?

So adorable!

Sure, you can chop them up and eat them a million different ways, but I like to embrace thier cute little shapes and make perfect single serving dishes out of each one. I like to stuff them with yummy things and bake them until glorious.

Yummy!

I’m going to walk you through how I made these, but please, stuff them with whatever sounds yummy to you. These are filled with cream cheese, bacon, and basil. Boy were they good!

Step one, take a small slice off the bottoms so that they’ll sit flat.

Step two, cut off the tops at an angle (like carving a pumpkin). Like this picture below. (Now, I actually am doing these squash upside down. I cut off the tops for the flat side and used the bottom for the lids because I thought it was prettier. I’m telling you this so that you aren’t all like, she doesn’t know which end is the top!)

Once you have the lids cut off, scoop out the seedy inside bit, so you have a nice little squash bowl like this. I found that a grapefruit spoon is perfect for this task.

I then created the filling. I took about 3 tablespoons of cream cheese, chopped up two slices of cooked bacon, chopped about 1 tablespoon of basil, and mixed it all up together with a dash of lemon pepper.

Then rub the squash all over, inside and out with a little bit of olive oil. Now it is time to stuff the mixture into each squash!

Once you have that done, put the lids on and sprinkle all over with a little salt and pepper. Stick in an oven at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. Generally, I would cook at 400 for about 30 minutes, but I had something else going in the oven at the same time. Either way, cook the squash until it softens and the cheese is nice and bubbly.

Serve each person their own adorable little squash. It can be your main item or a side dish. This is a tasty and easy way to use these adorable summer vegetables.

And hey, it certainly doesn’t hurt that the vegetables are filled with cheese and bacon.

Enjoy!