Squash Casserole

Squash Casserole

3 cups cooked squash
3 Tbsp butter
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cup grated cheese
12 oz can evaporated milk
3 cups cracker crumbs

Mash cooked squash.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Pour into greased baking dish and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Caprese Salad

I love, love, love this dish!  It is so quick and easy to make and it tastes delicious when the ingredients are fresh from my garden.  The amount of ingredients I use are never exact measurements, so the recipe below is a general guideline.  Feel free to change to suit your tastes.

Caprese Salad

·         1 large tomato, sliced

·         2 oz fresh mozzarella

·         Fresh basil leaves (one for each of the tomato slices

·         1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

Place the tomato slices on a serving platter.  Slice the mozzarella and place on tomato slices.  Top each slice with a basil leaf.  Drizzle with vinegar & oil.  Enjoy!

If you don’t have fresh mozzarella on hand or you want a dairy-free option, this recipe is a delicious alternative:

Faux-prese Salad

·         1 large tomato

·         ¼ cup sweet onions

·         1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

·         1 Tbsp olive oil

·         Fresh basil leaves 

·         Salt and pepper

Slice tomato and arrange on serving dish.  Chop the onions and arrange over tomato.  Drizzle oil and vinegar over the tomato and onions. Top with basil leaves.  Add salt & pepper to taste

Stuffed Gypsy Peppers, Take two!

After our first stuffed gypsy pepper recipe didn't turn out how we hoped, we created a recipe that we like.  We started with the ingredients for a chicken & celery pot sticker recipe and used that mix for our pepper filling. 

Stuffed Peppers

1/2 lb ground chicken
3 1/2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp dried basil
5 medium peppers (we used 3 gypsy peppers and 2 green bell peppers)
3/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

Brown chicken with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and basil. 

Meanwhile, remove seeds from peppers (We cut a slit in the side, but you could also remove the top).  Cook peppers on a heated grill until skin browns and bubbles up, turning after a couple minutes to get all sides.  Remove peppers from grill, let cool slightly and peel off the outer skin of peppers. 

Mix celery and cheese into the chicken mixture.  Place peppers on individual aluminum foil pieces.  Stuff peppers with chicken mix.  Roll up in foil and heat on grill 3-5 minutes until heated through.

Makes 2 1/2 servings.


Our inspiration came from a Gourmet recipe on Epicurious.com.  Here is the link in case you want to view the original recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-and-Celery-Pot-Stickers-358116

Stuffed Zucchini with Avgolemono (Lemon Egg) Sauce

As promised, I slayed the giant zucchini to create this:

Stuffed Zucchini with Avgolemono (Lemon Egg) Sauce

6-8 servings

2 lbs zucchini

3 Tbsp butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 lb lean ground beef

½ cup rice

1/3 cup parsley, chopped

2 tsp salt (may reduce)

Pepper to taste

Sauce:

2 eggs

1 Tbsp water

3 lemons, juice of (about 1/3 cup)

1 cup chicken broth

1.       Wash zucchini, trim ends, cut in half, scoop out centers.  Chop pulp.

2.       In large saucepan, heat butter, sauté onions, add meat and cook until brown, add rice, zucchini pulp, parsley, salt and pepper.  Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes.

3.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spoon mixture into zucchini shells.  Place in greased baking dish.  Cover and bake for 45 minutes. 

4.       Meanwhile, make the avgolemono sauce:

Beat eggs and water.  Slowly add lemon juice and broth, mixing the whole time.  Warm sauce over low heat.

5.       Uncover  stuffed zucchini and bake 5 minutes.  Top with avgolemono sauce.

If you happen to make this recipe with a giant zucchini, you can cut it into individual servings. 

This recipe was made from The Key to Greek Cooking cookbook, which we bought from the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Atlanta, GA.  The above link will take you to Amazon, but I think only used copies are available at this time.

Cucumber Salsa

Here's another one from the Grow It, Cook It magazine.

Cucumber Salsa (Yields 2 1/2 cups)

2 cups cucumber: peeled, seeded & finely chopped
1/2 cup tomato, finely chopped & seeded
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 spicy pepper, seeded & chopped
4 1/2 tsp minced fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
Tortilla chips

In a medium bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients.  In another bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, lime juice, cumin and seasoned salt.  Pour over cucumber mixture and toss gently to coat.  Serve with chips.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille is not a pretty dish.  What it lacks in beauty, though, it more than makes up for in taste...especially when you use fresh local produce.  Here is a pic of the vegetable ingredients:

Look at all those vibrant colors.  Just like in painting, if you mix all those colors you get brown.  Cooked up it looks like this:

And it is delicious!

I serve it over rice, so the first thing I do is make enough rice servings for my family.  By the time the rice is done, so is the Ratatouille.

Ratatouille (6 servings)

1 medium eggplant (1 - 1 1/2 lbs)

2 small zucchini (1/2 lb)

1 medium green pepper, chopped (1 cup)

1 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)

2 medium tomatoes, cut into fourths

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Wash eggplant and peel (if desired).  Cut in half inch cubes.  Boil 5-8 minutes or until tender.

Wash zucchini.  Remove stem and blossom ends but do not peel.  Cut in half inch cubes.  Boil 3-6 minutes.

Cook eggplant, zucchini and remaining ingredients in 12" skillet over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender.

Serve over rice.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup and Zucchini bake

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

4 tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
14 fresh basil leaves
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and seed tomatoes:
Cut out the cores and score a cross in the base of each tomato.  Immerse the tomatoes in a pan of boiling water for 8-15 seconds.  Transfer to a bowl of cold water with a slotted spoon.  The skin should peel off easily...lift the edge of the skin with a knife, if needed.  Seed the tomatoes by halving them and squeezing the seeds out.  I prefer to rinse them out in my kitchen sink.

For the soup:
Place tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Let cool before transferring to a blender or food processor.  Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves.  Return the puree to the stock pot.  Place the pot over medium heat, and stir in the heavy cream and butter.  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat, stirring until the butter is melted.  Do not boil.


Zucchini Bake

3 cups zucchini, unpeeled and sliced
1 cup biscuit mix
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
dash garlic powder
2 Tbsp fresh parsely, chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheast oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; mix well.  Pour mixture into a greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish.  Bake for 30 minutes until lightly browned.

My confession:  I was not a big fan of this zucchini bake at first (I think because of the parmesan cheese).  However, I do like to eat tomato soup balanced with some carbohydrates (grilled cheese sandwich or crackers).  Since one of the ingredients in this casserole is biscuit mix, I decided to try dipping the casserole into my soup and eating it that way (weird, I know).  It was delicious!