Squachos

The Zucchini Fairy made these zukes appear overnight. Most will be made into zucchini bread.

Thanks to an early and prolific summer garden, the squash/zucchini-to-person ratio in our house is currently about 5-to-1. We plucked five giant zucchini (and I do mean giant; the biggest one weighed in at 1 pound, 7 ounces) from our plants this weekend and doled them out to neighbors. But we still have plenty in the produce drawer at home.

Dinnertime was upon us, and I'm not sure if I was inspired by the thirst-quenching Lone Star I enjoyed or the garden surplus, but suddenly I had the second-greatest idea I've had this year:

Squachos.

Squachos: grilled yellow squash and jalapenos top run-of-the-mill nachos, elevating them to new heights.

Go ahead and let it settle in your brain for a moment. Squash and nachos coming together in one unmistakably easy and delicious dinner. Mmmm-hmmm.

The word popped into my head and I got myself into a full-on giggle fest, right there in the middle of the kitchen, with a chef's knife in one hand and a frosty beverage in the other. The absurdity of it all is not lost on me.

Growing up, my dad made us oven-broiled nachos every Sunday night. They are the perfect weekend-send-off food—cheap, easy, fast, tasty; qualities I appreciate now more than ever. I've even figured out how to make them healthier (black beans instead of refried, fresh veggies on top, and a little less cheese than before).

The squachos version involved just one extra step: grilling strips of pattypan squash in some olive oil and season salt prior to adding them to the nachos. I'm not sure this merits an actual recipe; you get the drift. Tortilla chips topped with cheese, black beans, grilled squash, fresh jalapenos, and baked at 450 until everything is toasty and the cheese is melted. I topped ours with store-bought tomatillo salsa and a few dollops of Greek yogurt.

Squachos are inspiring; I'm already thinking that squashadillas will be a regular part of our summertime diet, and I can't believe that I haven't already come up with the name "squacos" for these squash and zucchini soft tacos from last week.

The moral of the story is this: If you can't have fun cooking, why do it at all?