Stuffed Zucchini

This one was on 30 Minute Meals, and it looked really easy and delicious. I thought I'd try it on my parents, since they like vegetables and my husband does not. It is really good...and very satisfying. I'm thinking next time I will mix all the parmesan in and top it with some monterey jack at the end. Make sure your zucchini are thick enough around to halve and scoop out the insides. The first store I was at had about pencil-thick zucchini. That would have been tough to stuff!
We had apple pie and vanilla ice cream afterwards, but you certainly don't have to do that. You should though, because apple pie and ice cream are wonderful!

4 small zucchini, 5 to 6-inches long, 1 1/2-inches thick
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
12 crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 small to medium yellow onion, chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, grated or chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 vine ripe tomatoes or Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 slices white toasting bread
Softened butter
A small handful flat-leaf parsley
A few sprigs fresh tarragon or a small handful basil leaves
3/4 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 egg, beaten

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Halve 4 of the small zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and soft center flesh with a spoon to produce a set of shallow shells to hold the stuffing. Reserve the center flesh. Arrange the small hulls in a baking dish. Drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Chop the reserved zucchini flesh and set aside.
Heat the remaining extra-virgin olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Add in the reserved zucchini and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, to taste and heat through for 1 minute, then remove from the heat.
While the veggies cook, toast the bread in a toaster, then spread liberally with butter and tear into pieces. Add the bread to a food processor along with the parsley and tarragon or basil, and pulse into herb crumbs.
Fold the herb crumbs into the veggies along with 1/2 cup Parmesan and the egg. Mound the zucchini stuffing in to the shells and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the tops with remaining cheese and broil for 2 to 3 minutes to brown.

Yakitori Noodle Bowls

This one comes from Rachael Ray (big surprise!). It calls for soba noodles, which can be found in the Asian foods aisle, but I bet you anything it would taste really good on linguine or thin spaghetti too. I liked the soba noodles, and I have a TON left over (as well as the tamari, sesame seed oil and sherry) , so I'll make it again. I will cook the noodles less this time though than I did before. They got a bit mushy for me. I also think I might make this up ahead of time and cook the noodles as-needed. Otherwise, this was really tasty and I liked it a lot!

Salt
1 pound soba noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders, cut into bite-size pieces
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely minced
Freshly ground black pepper
2 bunches scallions, trimmed of roots and cut into
2-inch pieces on an angle
1/3 cup dry sherry (eyeball it)
1/3 cup tamari (eyeball it)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Place a large pot of water over high heat for the noodles. Once boiling, add some salt and the noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain thoroughly.While the water is coming up to a boil, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of vegetable oil, about 2 tablespoons. Toss the chicken with the grated ginger and season with some pepper. Add the chicken to the hot skillet, spread it out in an even layer and let it brown up a couple of minutes.Shake and stir the skillet to turn the chicken pieces then add the scallions, sherry, tamari, sugar and sesame oil, bring up to a bubble and simmer one minute.Add the drained noodles to the skillet and toss to combine. To serve, transfer to serving bowls and sprinkle with some of the toasted sesame seeds.

Slow Cooker Pizza Soup

A while back I heard about this woman who decided to make something in her crockpot every single day for a year. That year has passed, she accomplished it, and she's still cooking in her crockpot. I think I first saw her on Rachael Ray actually, and have had her blog on my update list since then! I haven't made a lot of her recipes, but this one is a keeper for sure. She even has a cookbook, you can find that on her site. The only thing I did was leave out the green pepper and add salt & pepper at the end. Oh, and I was going to freeze some of this (but it's so good, I keep eating the leftovers) that I scooped out what I was going to freeze before adding the noodles. That way your noodles don't go all weird and soggy when you freeze and reheat. If you do freeze and reheat, just add some cooked noodles to the soup. It's delicious...with or without noodles!

1 jar (14 oz) of pizza sauce
3 empty jars full of water
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup baby tomatoes, cut in quarters (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)
2 already-cooked Italian sausage
1 cup sliced pepperoni, sliced in quarters
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1/2 T dried)
1 T dried oregano
1/2 to 1/3 cup of dried pasta (if your pasta is tiny, use 1/3 cup. if it's big, do 1/2.)
shredded mozzarella cheese (to add later)

Use a 5 or 6 quart crockpot for this recipe. Serves 4 hungry adults, or 2 hungry adults and 2 kids with enough leftovers to feed them all again.Wash and prepare veggies. Dump them into the crockpot. Cut up the sausage into small pieces--I sliced, then cut the pieces in fourths. Add to crockpot. Cut up the pepperoni, add it, too. Add basil and oregano. Pour in the pizza sauce, and follow with three empty jars of water.Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours. Everything in this is already cooked, so you are really only heating through and allowing the flavors to meld.Thirty minutes before serving, add the dry pasta, and turn to high. My pasta only took 20 minutes to soften quite nicely.Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

HERE is her website. Definitely one to bookmark!

"Real" Texas Chili

Searching for a chili without beans, I came across this one on allrecipes. I decided I'd try it, and also looked for a video telling me how to cube a chuck roast. I found a video that really showed me how to break it down, so I did. Got rid of all the connective tissue and cut it into cubes. Man, I wish I had a butcher. But, this is DELICIOUS. I made it as-is, except I used 1 can of chicken broth because I only had 1 can of beef. After it did all it's cooking, I mashed it a little with a potato masher to get more of a chili consistency and to break up the meat. I also added cooked macaroni noodles to it later, because 3 pounds of roast is not enough to serve 4 hungry men. They loved it. Scraped the pan clean. I will certainly make this again. Maybe with hamburger next time...it's a little cheaper!

3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast - cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the beef cubes in the oil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the garlic.
In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, cumin and flour. Sprinkle over the meat and stir until evenly coated. Crumble the oregano over the meat and pour in 1 1/2 cans of the broth.
Add the salt and ground black pepper, stir together well, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer, partially covered for about 90 minutes. Pour in remaining broth and simmer 30 minutes more, until meat begins to fall apart. Cool, cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to blend.

Edamame Dip

I really like edamame, so when I see that Alton Brown has an entire episode of "Good Eats" dedicated to it, I set the DVR to record. What a good idea that was! He made this dip that is so easy and so delicious! I had to search (and have someone else search too) for the miso, but it's in the refrigerated section by the tofu...at least at my local store. It comes in a big tub and you only need a tablespoon, but I guess that just means I have to make it again...or find another recipe that requires miso. Oh, and it calls for brown miso, but my package said red (brown wasn't an option). The miso is brown. Not sure how "red" got on the label!

• 12 ounces shelled, cooked, and cooled edamame
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro or parsley leaves
• 1 large garlic clove, sliced
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon brown miso
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon red chili paste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons olive oil

Place the edamame, onion, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, miso, salt, chili paste and pepper into the bowl of a food processor and process for 15 seconds. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl and process for another 15 to 20 seconds. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Once all of the oil has been added, stop, scrape down the bowl and then process another 5 to 10 seconds. Taste and adjust seasoning, as desired. Serve with chips or crackers. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Christmas Breakfast '09

For a few weeks before Christmas, I was told "If you're bringing an egg dish, like the one from last year, bring enough! It was good and we ran out!" Well, no one could tell me what it was I'd brought. So, I picked something new and decided that would be our Christmas morning breakfast egg dish. OMG, it's yummy! It's not heart-healthy, but it's good! And easy! Mix up the night before and throw it in the oven in the morning!

From Allrecipes: Sausage Egg Casserole

• 3/4 pound ground pork sausage
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 10 eggs, beaten
• 1 (16 ounce) container low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 2 (4 ounce) cans diced green chile peppers, drained
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, and set aside. Melt butter in skillet, and cook and stir the green onions and mushrooms until tender.
2. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, cottage cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and chiles. Stir in the sausage, green onions, and mushrooms. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the melted butter. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake 40 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Spicy Meatloaf

This is what it says...unless you use mild sausage of course! I found a recipe on Allrecipes for meatloaf that contained beef and sausage. I thought "Yum! I have some spicy sausage leftover, I'll try it!" It was delicious. My husband, who grew up hating meatloaf (and many, many other things) really likes this one. If I remember, I will make meatloaf with sausage from now on. It doesn't actually make it spicy, there's just a hint of a burn to it. Really, really tasty!

1 1/4 lb ground beef

1/2 C Italian bread crumbs

1/4 lb ground pork sausage, spicy if you want

1 egg

1/2 C milk

1 small onion, diced

Dash (or 2) of Worcestershire sauce

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients until just mixed evenly. Do not over-work the meat. Form into a loaf and place on a sheet pan. I made 6 individual loaves with this, to speed up the cooking process. Bake at 350 until meat is no longer pink in the middle. It was about 40 minutes (possibly less) for the mini loaves, probably about an hour for a large loaf. Enjoy!