Mom's Zucchini Casserole Redux

So there are some good family stories about Mom, one of the most famous being the way she claims to have "followed" a new recipe but yet has changed just about every ingredient and cooking preparation. Needless to say that this trait runs in the family. Last night, inspired by a gorgeous piece of wild, sockeye salmon (a rariety out here in the Middle), I created this side dish by "following" one of Mom's recipes.

Take a summer squash or two (I used 1 yellow zuke and 1 yellow crookneck from our garden) and dice smallish. Saute them with some garlic and olive oil. Once just starting to brown, add the sides of bell peppers (I used 1 red and 1 yellow) and rice (I used left over white rice). Remove from heat and add quartered cherry tomatoes, shredded Parmesan, and herbs (I used fresh thyme and chives from the garden). Then, spoon this into the hollowed out peppers (I cut the side off if possible so I can serve them with the top on the side... just cuz it looks cool. Cut off the tops if it's easier). I tend to make a lot, so I had enough left over to also fill both halves of a hollowed out zuke AND a small ramekin. Bake in a hot oven until done.

This is what you get!!

Notes and Next Time

• any grain would work well, brown rice, quinoa, etc
• I bet other veggies would work too... some spinach or other greens, bits of leftover winter squash (like acorn)
• tomorrow I might add leftover italian sausage and make them the main dish
• I bet different cheeses would also change things up a lot
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• some veg
• some herb
• some grain
• something to bake in (other veg or baking dish)
  
• some cheese
  

Fire Roasted Red Pepper Sausages with Orzo and Veggies

So I was trying to figure out what to do with my raab and spinach I got in my last organic produce delivery (pioneerorganics.com), so I starting digging in the cupboards and fridge. I found chicken/turkey fire roasted red pepper sausages from Applegate Farms. They are raised with no antibiotics, check out their website where you can track where you meat comes from. Found some cherry tomatoes that needed to be eaten and spiced it up with garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes. The recipe that follows has no measurements since I didn't measure anything. It made enough for 3 servings.

Ingredients/Recipe:
2 chicken/turkey fire roasted red pepper sausages (Applegate Farms) http://www.applegatefarms.com/Products/Details.aspx?ProductID=118
chopped onion
garlic
red pepper flakes
raab
spinach
orzo
cherry tomatoes
grated Romano cheese or Parmesan
evoo

Start pasta. While pasta is cooking prep veggies and sausage.
Saute onion, garlic, and raab in evoo till the raab is about half done. Add sausage and put lid on to steam while you drain the pasta. Add tomatoes and spinach, replace lid until spinach is done. Serve and sprinkle grated cheese. Delicious and simple.

Notes and Next Time:
I thought that it was fantastic. The only thing i would change for next time is to make that none of the cherry tomatoes were put into the leftovers and reheated. I would just throw some uncooked ones in after reheating.

Sometimes simple is the way to go

There are times for fancy complicated meals and times for easy, quick to whip up meals. Tonight, it was time for the latter. I threw together a quick meal of quesadillas and a pomegranate soda.

Quesadillas are one of my favorite easy things. I recently found 1/2 white 1/2 whole wheat tortillas at the grocery store and heartily recommend them. They aren't as heavy as straight whole wheat, which I've tried but can't get excited about. And they have more healthy things than the straight white ones (which I need!). I always cook my quesadillas in the cast iron skillet, and I don't use any oil or butter. I'm sure I don't have to give anyone directions for making them, so I'll just record what I filled them with this time.

We had 1/2 an avocado left over from lunch, some preshredded cheese blend, and part of a tomato that all needed to be eaten. I added to this some baby shrimp (the bay or salad shrimp size) and finely minced serrano peppers. I had to go easy on the cheese, since there was little left (maybe 1/3 cup max). I spread part of it on the tortilla, topped with the rest of the toppings, flipped it when the bottom was nice and toasted and ate.

Oh and that pomegranate soda? 2/3 pomegranate juice, 1/3 soda water or tonic water. Yum yum.

Quick, easy, tasty...


Notes and Next Time

• yum
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• tortillas
• cheese
• fillings (peppers, shrimp, chicken, tomato, avocado, etc etc)
  

Chicken, Artichoke, Mushroom

Well, I'm on my own a lot for dinner these days, so I'm trying to remember both quantity (no need to make enough for 2!) and short recipes. I'm crazy busy these days, so quick one pots meals are important. At the same time, I don't want to subsist on frozen things or totally unhealthy things.

So, tonight I was inspired by the chicken defrosted in the fridge and the package of mushrooms threatening to go bad. I decided that they'd go well together, especially with the addition of some artichoke hearts.

I started by sauteing the sliced chicken in evoo until nicely browned. I tossed in a little chopped garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. I didn't worry about cooking the chicken all the way through, but instead put the chicken in a bowl once it was nicely browned. Then I heated a little more evoo and sauted the quartered mushrooms (maybe 4 or 5 medium sized ones). I added a little more garlic, dried oregano, more pepper flakes, and a little salt and let them brown. Once they looked pretty, I tossed in drained quartered artichoke hearts (not the marinated ones, just the regular canned ones). I let everything heat and come together. Then I added back the chicken and heated the whole thing until the chicken was cooked through.

I served this with a slice of toasted sourdough bread.


Notes and Next Time

• this would be good tossed with pasta too
• asparagus or green beans would be good in place of the artichoke hearts
• the red pepper flakes are a good addition
  

Ingredients/Recipe
to serve 1

• 1 chicken breast
• 2 cloves garlic
• red pepper flakes
• mushrooms, 4-5 quartered
• artichoke hearts (1/2 can, not marinated)
• oregano
• s&p
  

Marinated Chicken with Soba Noodles

This was a classic 'clean out the fridge night.' We had some chicken breasts lying around, so I tried an experiment by marinating the chicken overnight in some Balsamic Vinaigrette (which we had taking up space in the fridge).

I ended up struggling with side dishes, since we didn't have much for veggies in the fridge. For some reason, I kept thinking of these soba noodles we had in the cupboard; I wanted to dress them in soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds, but that didn't seem to work with the balsamic chicken.

We ended up cutting the chicken in strips and sauteing it with some veggies, then putting in on top of a noodles. It was fine, but certainly not great. I think the marinating of the chicken is a good idea, but the sauce needs to take into account the sides and be a better complement.

Notes and Next Time

• The chicken should be skewered some with a fork to allow the marinade to infiltrate the chicken.
• Soba noodles are good, but I think it would be better paired with Asian-themed marinades and veggies.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Chicken
• Marinade (aka salad dressing)
• Soba noodles
  

Stuffed Peppers

Thursday night, I decided to experiment with Stuffed Peppers. This is something that I've always enjoyed eating when other have made them, but have never been able to successfully reproduce on my own. Something always seems to be off.

The inspiration for trying to make them this time was about half a pound of ground pork and some raw tomato sauce leftover from pizza night. It was taking up room in the fridge and needed to be eaten. Kimberly suggested the stuffed peppers, so I went for it.

The first step was buying 4 kind-of-large green peppers, with a wide base so they would stand up in the oven.

I consulted our Cook's Illustrated cookbook for their recipe; I mostly used it as a guide, but the 2 things I used directly were pre-steaming/boiling the peppers and cooking rice in the style of pasta (by this, I mean boiling it in an excessive amount of water then draining, rather than doing the 2-to-1 water to rice ration for 'perfect' rice cooking). Additionally, I was going to use bread crumbs as a binder for my stuffing, but decided to use the rice instead, at the suggestion of Kimberly and of the cookbook.

For the peppers, I cut off and cleaned the tops (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch), then floated them in a big pot of boiling water until they started softening. Once I removed them from the water, I cooked the rice in the same water for about 15 minutes, until tender, then drained.

For the stuffing, I sauted the diced pepper tops, half a diced onion, and a couple cloves of diced garlic in a few drops of evoo and some s&p, until starting to soften . Then I added the previously cooked ground pork (maybe 1/2 #) and the left over raw tomato sauce ('crushed' can tomato, about 1/2 c). I let the mix warm through, then added the cooked rice and a few handfuls of shredded cheese (I think it was a 'Mexican' blend). I also added some spices - I think basil, thyme, and oregano, and a couple pinches of cayenne pepper for a kick. s&p to taste.

I stuffed each pepper until it was overflowing - it turns out that we had the perfect amount for the four peppers. I topped each with another pinch of cheese, then cooked in a 9x9 oven pan at 350 for about 30 minutes. We increased the heat to about 400 for the last ew minutes to try to crisp the top of the stuffing, but I don't know if this worked or not. (I've seen the stuffed peppers topped with the cut off tops, but I think I prefer the pepper tops cooked into the stuffing).

I have to say, they came out really good, surprisingly so. The stuffing was hot throughout and perfectly seasoned, something I'm not great at judging. The top of the stuffing and cheese was nice and browned, with the melted cheese in the middle just gooey enough. And the peppers were perfectly cooked - I was worried the pre-boil would make them too soft. We each had one and then split a third. This was a good amount. And it leaves one for lunch on Friday.

Notes and Next time

• I will definetly do the pre-boil on the peppers again.
  
• I also think that cooking the ground meat (maybe turkey, but the prok was good) with the pepper and onion might be nice; but it does seem like this is a good 'clean-out-the-fridge' meal, so that might not be an option.
  
• I think it was a good idea to NOT cook the tomato sauce before adding it to the stuffing mix.
• We could use any cheese, depending on what's left in the fridge.
  
• I really liked the rice in the stuffing, but it would be interesting to see how the bread crumbs work. Although, every time I've used bread crumbs in the past, it's turned out poorly. Maybe I shouldn't be so stubborn and just go with what works.

Ingredients/Recipe

• 1/2 # of ground pork/italian sausage
• 1/2 c rice, cooked in pasta style
  
• 4 green bell peppers, kind of large
  
• onion (half to whole, depending on size)
  
• couple cloves of garlic (to taste)
• raw tomato sauce (crushed from a can), maybe 1/2 c
• spices, to taste
• s&p, to taste
• cheese, shredded