Mushy-Butt Zucchini Dolma

For my inaugural post, I was hoping for a huge triumph in the kitchen. What I ended up with was (as per post title) "mushy-butt" dolma. Well, alright, they weren't a total failure (read "waste of time and money"), but they weren't the dolma of my dreams. "Dolma", by the way, means "stuffed" in Turkish.

The story begins, well, I can't remember exactly. Pick one of the following scenarios: at the thrift store where I picked up the corer/peeler do-hicky; on a Sunday afternoon, discussing Turkish food at length with my new sister-in-law (who also lived in Turkey); or at the grocery store when I spied just the perfect dolma-making zucchini. In any case there was a circumstantial convergence such as produced the following display on my counter:

Having scoured the internet for recipes and gathered all the appropriate materials, I felt eager and equal to the task at hand. Thanks to Almost Turkish Recipes for the inspiration recipe.

The corer/peeler do-hicky does its thing to
the zucchinis--insides have been stashed in
the fridge for a stir-fry experiment later on

The stuffing: rice, cooked ground beef, chopped onion,
whizzed tomato, fresh parsley, dried oregano,
Turkish red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, and a
leeeetle bit of olive oil. This stuff smelled a-MAZ-ing!

The stuffing stuff way outnumbered the zucchini
so we ran over to Save and Prosper for some green
peppers. These babies are stuffed and ready to cook!

. . . and cooked . . .

Eaten with homemade yogurt (another
post about that to come, I promise)

Taste-Tester(s) Say(s): "Yummy, yummy in my tummy."

Cook's Word: On my little recipe card I wrote, "needs more salt! Add garlic to filling & tomato paste--don't use oregano!" In other words it wasn't what I was expecting, but I've got some ideas and am determined to try again. Also, I'll try not to cook it to "mushy-butt" stage again.