Zucchini Fritters

It's starting again. The time of year where there's so much zucchini people don't know what to do with them.  I think I may add a zucchini tab in my cookbook so I know just where to go once they start rolling in each year. Daniel made these tonight. I'm terrible at frying anything so I gladly hand the apron over to him when the frying starts.

Ingredients

1 cup zucchini, grated

1 cup carrots, peeled and grated

2 T. onion, chopped

1/2 to 3/4 cup flour

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1/8 t. seasoning salt

1/4 to 1/2 c. oil

Mix together all ingredients except oil; set aside. Heat oil in skillet; drop vegetable mixture into skillet by tablespoonfuls. Saute until golden and vegetables are tender. Serve Warm. Makes about 2 dozen.

Recipe from: Gooseberry Patchwork Potluck Edition.

Easy Crockpot Fiesta Chicken

I'm going to start babysitting in August so my crockpot will become my best friend. When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. Sooo easy and it is really good, although it doesn't look it, believe me, it is.

4 chicken breasts, frozen or thawed

1 (15 1/2 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) jar of your favorite salsa
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (used fat free)

Take 4 frozen (or thawed), boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot. Add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn drained.  Keep in crock pot on low for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked. Once it is cooked, take it out and shred it. Return shredded chicken to the crockpot.

Add 1 package of cream cheese and let sit for about 1/2 hour then stir it in and you've got yourself a tasty dinner.


Serve over rice or in warm flour tortillas.


Recipe From: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Chicken Pillows

I saw this recipe over at The Girl Who Ate Everything and if you're looking for a healthy recipe, keep on lookin cause this ain't it. I made them because they sounded fun but who knows if I'll be making them again. They were good and MG did eat it like she said her boys did so I thought I'd share it. Her recipe calls for a gravy on top but that's just way way too much for us so here it is. Have fun if you make 'em!

Chicken Pillows

Mix together:8 ounces cream cheese, softened½ cup sour cream

Stir in:

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 ½ Tablespoons dried chives

1 ½ Tablespoons fresh onion minced

3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (All we had was skinless boneless thighs and those worked just fine too)

Assemble Pillows:

2 (8 ounce) cans of crescent rolls

1/4 cup melted butter

Italian bread crumbs (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and sour cream until well combined. Stir in salt, pepper, onion, chives, and diced chicken.

Moving on to the rolls, take 2 triangular rolls and push together at seam to make into a square. Put about 3 tablespoons of chicken mixture in the center of each square. Fold the dough corners to the center over the chicken mixture forming a pillow.Dip each pillow in melted butter on both sides. Roll in bread crumbs on both sides. Shake excess crumbs off. Place chicken pillow on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes

Recipe from: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Fudge Popsicles from Smitten Kitchen

It was 92 degrees in Glenview today. What a perfect day for homemade popsicles!! We used popsicle holders that my mom has had since my brother and I were young. They're the Tupperware brand ones with the stick that, by now, looks like we tried to eat it, it's so beat up, but still works like a charm! Todays recipe on SmittenKitchen.com happened to be fudge popsicles and they are OH SO GOOD!!! Very chocolately flavored without being overwhelming in the sugar arena.

(copy below taken directly from smitten, except for my mention of Ghiradelli chips)

Fudge Popsicles (taken from smittenkitchen.com)
from On A Stick!

Makes 4 standard-sized popsicles (3 ounces each)

2 tablespoons (21 grams or 3/4 ounce) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate * - we used Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup (67 grams or 2 1/3 ounce) sugar
1 tablespoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons (8 grams or 1/4 ounce) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups (300 ml) whole milk
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon (3 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) unsalted butter

In the bottom of a medium saucepan over very low heat, gently melt the chocolate chips, stirring constantly until smooth. Stir in sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, milk and salt and raise heat to medium. Cook mixture, stirring frequently until it thickens, anywhere between 5 minutes (for me) and 10 (suggested in the book). Remove from heat, add vanilla and butter and stir until combined.

Set aside to cool slightly then pour into popsicle molds. Freeze 30 minutes, then insert popsicle sticks. Freeze the rest of the way before serving.

Strawberry Tart

I made this tart for Mother's Day using berries we got at the Farmers' Market. The recipe is from Simply in Season. Easy, fast, and very yummy!

For the crust:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
2 tbsp powdered suger
In a mixing bowl, mix together until crumbly, with no pieces bigger than a pea. press into a 9-inch pie pan or tart pan. Bake at425 for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool.

For the filling:
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup mashed strawberries
1/2 orange juice
Blend in saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Add 2 tbsp. lemon juice and cool completely.
Stir in 4-6 cups whole strawberries, then pour into crust. Chill 3 hours.

Then top chilled tart with whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Beat with electric mixer until semi-stiff peaks form.

Semi-Homemade

I got this recipe from a friend and made it for Easter. It makes tons and they were almost completely gone so I think it was a big hit. I just copied and pasted from the Pillsbury website so obviously you don't have to use the name brand stuff. The only thing I did differently was add 1/4 tsp salt when I added the vanilla to the chocolate mixture. You could easily substitute your favorite cookie dough recipe for the the bought stuff too, but I was making a lot this Easter and appreciated a semi-home recipe.  

INGREDIENTS

1/2

cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, melted

2

cups graham cracker crumbs (32 squares)

1

bag (8 oz) Heath® Bits 'O Brickle® toffee bits (1 1/2 cups)

1

roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

1

bag (12 oz) Hershey’s® semi-sweet chocolate baking chips (2 cups)

1

can (14 oz) Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk

1

tablespoon LAND O LAKES® Butter

1

teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

DIRECTIONS

• 1Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray.
• 2In medium bowl, stir 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 1/2 cups of the cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup of the toffee bits. Press mixture evenly in bottom of pan. Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until firm.
• 3Meanwhile, let cookie dough stand at room temperature 10 minutes to soften. In 2-quart saucepan, heat chocolate chips, milk and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat, stirring frequently, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Spread mixture over cracker crust.
• 4In medium bowl, break up cookie dough. Mix in remaining 1/2 cup cracker crumbs with wooden spoon until well blended. Crumble mixture evenly over chocolate layer. Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup toffee bits.
• 5Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For a firmer bar, refrigerate 30 minutes longer. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 4 rows.

Breakfast Cassrole

On Christmas and Easter morning growing up we had a special breakfast casserole, usually paired with something sweet and fruit of some sort. It's a good tradition because the casserole is put together the night before so all you have to do is pop it in the oven in the morning. I'm making a little bit of a different version than my moms, I got it from my aunt, and is more bready than eggy. We'll see if we like it better, we're an egg family so I could see switching back. I'm pairing this with Baked Oatmeal from over at Bless Us O Lord, and probably oranges.

Sausage Egg Casserole

1 lbs browned sausage

6 eggs

6 slices bread - cubed

3 cups milk

2 tsp dry mustard

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Instructions: 

Beat eggs well - stir in milk (beat)

Add dry mustard (bead). Stir in bread

Add sausage & cheese - stir

Let sit covered in fridge overnight

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes  

Healthy Snack

Here's a healthy little snack I read about in Rachael Ray's magazine. I actually lost the recipe after seeing it but it's not one where you need exact measurement luckily.

The Goods:
1 can of chick peas
some EVOO
garlic salt
basil

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees (again, I lost the recipe so I just chose the trusty 350 degrees and it worked well). Drain and rinse beans then put on a baking sheet. Drizzle EVOO over beans (I used very sparingly so it would be healthy) then sprinkle however much garlic salt and basil you want on them and roast away. Super easy and so good.

Dairy-free, Egg-free Cake

 

My mother-in-law brought this cake up to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday last month.  Since we're always looking for cake recipes that don't call for butter, she sent the recipe my way, but I don't know where she got it. If you're so inclined you can mix all the ingredients for the cake right in the pan, but I ended up dumping all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mixing them that way first.  It was easy enough to mix in the wet ingredients in the pan.  The cake itself is really tasty, too, nice and moist.  My kids loved it anyway, and so did I.  We made it to celebrate my husband's birthday this week.

Bonus: this cake also happens to be egg-free, if that's important to you!

Three Hole Cake

1 1/2 c flour

1 t baking soda

1 c sugar

1/4 c unsweetened cocoa

1/2 t salt

1 T white or cider vinegar

1 t vanilla

1/3 c oil

1 c water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 8 inch cake pan (you can serve it right from the pan in which case you don't have to bother greasing it).  Combine the flour, soda, sugar, cocoa and salt.  Sift together into the pan (I did not sift them, just mixed them together in a separate bowl first). Shake the pan to level the ingredients and make 3 holes in it it.  Vinegar in one hole, vanilla in the second, and oil in the third. Pour the water over the top.  Using a table forkk, mix vigorously making sure to get in all the corners and incorporate all the flour mixture.  

Bake at 350 for 30 mins (mine took 35) or until toothpick in center comes out clean.  Let cool for five minutes before turning out of pan or completely completely in pan. Then frost.

Menu Planning

I think this could be a neat way to plan a monthly menu.  Maybe I'll give it a try.