"I Need That Zucchini!"

...is what my 21 month old daughter says when she sees them now.  She also runs over to pick them up and hand them to me.  I may have created a monster!

So, people have been giving me extra zucchini that they've grown!  I like free yummy things!  :-)

To put it into perspective, I took these pictures...

 

...and now to show you some of the things I've made with all of this zucchini!  First, I went onto Pinterest, as anyone should do, and I searched for "zucchini".  You sure can make a lot of things with zucchini!

Zucchini Tots

Zucchini Tots

I give these two thumbs up.  They don't really taste like tator tots, which is fine... but more like little quiches.  I love quiche.  These are tasty.  I also did not feel the need for any dipping sauce, but you could certainly do that!

This next one was my own little experimental recipe... I chopped up 2 medium-sized zucchini and put them in a bowl.

Like so.

I then cooked them in a pan with some EVOO, pepper, garlic, pearl onions, and a bit of salt.

Then I added that mixture to whole wheat noodles and a light basil pesto sauce that I found at Wegmans.
Mmm... yum.

Very tasty!  We like anything that makes a lot of leftovers, too.  I shall call it... "Alissa's Zucchini Pesto"!

Next!

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

  

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

As you can see, I did not use chicken because I had lean ground beef in my fridge.  I also didn't add corn.  You can really make these by putting any sort of mixture into them.  They were pretty good, but the zucchini was still pretty watery after baking.  I'm not really sure how to eliminate all of the moisture!  Any suggestions?

Zucchini Coconut Raisin Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft Zucchini Cookies

My name for these is way better, I think.  ;-)  I mostly followed the recipe... although I used greek yogurt instead of shortening and added raisins, white chocolate chips, and coconuts.  No nuts.  

I will say that I had the same moisture problem with these and I'm fairly certain it's the zucchini factor!  They were AMAZING right out of the oven, but then when I put them into an air-tight container, the moisture got trapped.  What do I do about this?

Alissa's Zucchini Smoothie

It kind of looks like a green, bubbly mess... but here's what's in it:

2 bananas, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, greek yogurt, vanilla almond milk, about a cup of spinach, and a whole mess of zucchini

Both baby and husband approved.  It was delicious!

Zucchini Chips

I'm pretty sure I just flat out did these wrong.  Hehe.  First of all, when you look at the picture, it gives you an idea of how much zucchini we were trying to fit on one pan.  They didn't come out like chips, but more like warm zucchini rounds seasoned with Old Bay and garlic salt.  Not bad, but not what we were going for here!  

Ah well. 

...I think that's about it so far.  We've done lots of zucchini grilling on our grill, too.  Keep those zucchini coming!  Well, after I've used what's in my fridge.  ;-)

Carmelized Onions?

So, I actually had some time to cook last night.  Jim went shopping for chocolate supplies (look for in the next post)... and I had not one, but TWO dinners cooked and ready for him when he came home.  I was on a roll.  Why?  Who knows? 

I made good old spicy chili.  Mmm.  I also made this:

Macaroni and Cheese with Carmelized Onions

Fancy, right?  I've never carmelized an onion before.  You may say they look a little blackened... is that different from carmelizing?  Haha.  About half the onion burnt to a crisp and I had to throw it away.  Those were actually the less blackened ones...  :-)

It was still pretty tasty.  Not to mention a weight watchers recipe.  For Mac & Cheese.  Dig it.

Onions prior to blackening... I mean, carmelization.

After it was all mixed in the pot, it went in the oven for a little while and got all congealed and cheesy.  Yum.

I do have to say that while this was fairly good, I think I have to say that the blue box is still my favorite.  What kind of macaroni and cheese do you like? 

It smells delicious in here.

Spring forward!  Hey, at least it happens on a Sunday and not during the work week (for most of us).  I'm sorry if Sunday is part of your work week!  :-(  I mostly procrastinated today.  I've gotten pretty good at it, actually.  It kinda stinks when you're so busy that you start grasping every free minute you have to do absolutely nothing.  I won't know what to do with all my free time when summer comes around!

In between now and then, I'll be finishing up my Master's.  I know you know I've been taking two courses now and I'll be taking two more right at the end of the school year.  Sounds crazy, right?  ...but, at least I'll be finished!  :-)  Exhausted, but finished.  *whew*

Oooo, we watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World last night.  Awesome movie!

Thanks for reading my rant.  Now I'll show you what I made today:

I used non-canned black beans in this recipe.  I was fascinated to watch them soak because they turned into what looked like a black soupy mess.  After an hour or two, you're supposed to add them to the crockpot.

...then I added the chicken...

...the salsa and chicken broth...

...the corn and mushrooms...

...and the cumin. 

Below is a picture of it 4 hours later.  It's still cooking.  In fact, it's supposed to cook until midnight!

Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

I think I'll take it out before then, though, so I can sleep.  Yeah, so I'll let you know how the soup is tomorrow.  :-)  It smells soooo delicious in my house right now.  (*side note: If you click on that link, it will take you to the recipe that I got from an amazing crockpot site.  I think everything I've made from that site has been delicious.)  For dinner, we had pretty little salads and dared to try another sweet potato recipe.

Alissa's Pretty Little Salad :-)

Sweet Potato with Orange-Thyme Butter

Sweet potato... uh, I won't say it was bad because if you like baked sweet potatoes it might be a good recipe for you to try!  I, however, am officially declaring that I do NOT like baked sweet potatoes.  Ah well. 

Mmm... Cheeseburgers.

If you're looking for a good, easy burger to make... look no further.  Use this seasoning!  It was super fantastic and the burgers were all juicy and delicious.  I think this was the first time that I've actually cooked burgers to perfection.  The packet says you add it to ground beef, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't use it on ground turkey or chicken.  Live dangerously! 

Cheeseburgers are one of my favorite things ever.

All-American Cheeseburgers and
Cumin-Scented Regular Potato Fries

I even made fries to go with our burgers tonight!  It just seemed... right.  Hey, we scarfed it all down.

March Madness!

Happy March everyone!  I can't believe it's March already!  I am pretty excited that it's almost spring.  I've got spring break coming up eventually... and next weekend we "spring forward" and lose sleep, but it will be sunnier in the mornings (I think).  That makes sense, doesn't it?  I could never be a time traveller.  I'd get too confused.

I'm sorry I've been kind of MIA.  Two grad classes is a little overwhelming and I've been really bad about cooking new things.  I have been cooking, so that's a plus.  You just already have links to all of those recipes!  I decided I wanted to cook some new things this week, so I planned it all out.  I also did a lot of cooking this weekend so that lunches and dinners are going to be ready to go throughout the week.  I made Eggplant Parmigiana and Taco/Bacon Noodley Goodness and they are in giant containers sitting in the fridge.  I think you can search for those recipes through my site if you're interested!  Let me know if that works.  :-)

I also discovered that apple cider, when left sitting in the fridge for a while, explodes.  Yep.  Sticky, gooey mess all over everything.  Who knew?

Back to dinner.  Here's what I made tonight:

Maple Pork Chops

Bacon, Cremini, & Brie Potato

...oh, and steamed asparagus.  We drizzled the asparagus with the maple concoction leftover from the pork.  Super yum.  The pork was all tender and sweet.  I think it might be my favorite way to cook pork so far (not that I've tried very many). 

The potatoes were to die for.  I know, you can barely see the potato in that picture!  They are exactly as they sound from the caption.  Unfortunately, I cannot post the link because they are a "member only" recipe on the Taste of Home site.  They do say it all right in the name though.  These were really fabulous.  You know, if you like bacon and cheese.  The mushrooms were a good touch, too.  Baked potatoes are seriously filling.  I always seem to forget that when I sit down to eat one and then remember about halfway through. 

I can't promise I'll be more regular with my posts, but I'll try!  The good news is that I'll be completely done with my Master's degree by July!  Can't wait.  :-)

Seeyas soon!

Potato Battle!

Potato vs. Sweet Potato... who will win?

I got some advice about the sweet potatoes yesterday and thought I'd do a little experiment today.  You know, since we were blessed with another glorious snow day!  :-)  Anyway... I figured since I had some time and some potatoes, it was the perfect opportunity.

Peeling ease... Potato: 1, Sweet Potato: 0

 Slicing ease... Potato: 2, Sweet Potato: 0 (too curvy!)

Then, I started cooking the regular potato on my little grill.  They cooked.  And cooked.  And cooked some more.  And cooked.  ...and they weren't actually cooking.  Seriously, these were on for about 20 minutes and didn't actually get soft.  What's wrong with this picture?

Grill vs. Oven... who will win?

I started the regular potato fries on my grill before I put the sweet potato fries in the oven, but I ended up taking them out around the same time. 

Grill: 0, Oven: Yum!  +1

(I think the sweet potato fries should even get an extra point because they are orange.)

Oven-Baked Cumin-Scented Sweet Potato Fries

These were sooooooo much better than they were on my grill!  They were soft on the inside and crispy on the outside and yummy all over.  Grill fail.  However, now I am very full of all kinds of potato.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing... just the truth.  :-)  I think I'll have to make these again sometime!



Sweet Potato Fries

I have a new quest.  Find a way to make sweet potatoes taste good.  In general, I do not enjoy them.  I'd like to... but I don't.  I'm wondering if it's just because I don't like the dishes they are in with marshmallows (also not a fan), which typically is the way people prepare them, or if they just suck.  I'm hoping it's not the latter. 

Anyway, I made these today:

Cumin-Scented Sweet Potato Wedges (WW recipe)

 1.  Get some sweet potatoes.  Peel them.

 2.  Cut them each into 8 wedges.

 3.  Spray them with EVOO and add some cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper.

 4.  Grill them.

5.  Eat them.

I dipped them in light ranch, which is not good, but all we had in our fridge.  Never get light ranch.  If you're going to go for ranch, get the good stuff.  Just sayin'.  I'd say these were pretty good, but nowhere near the best fries ever (in my opinion).  Keep in mind that I'm not sure I even really like sweet potatoes.  I might try this recipe with regular potatoes and see how they are.  :-)  Maybe I'm on another quest, too.  Create the best fries ever.  Hmmm... maybe my quests will even coincide someday. 

Anybody have a good sweet potato recipe?