Calico Relish

I think I've shared my childhood aversion to zucchini before.  I really didn't like it, and somehow my mom always had an abundance of it in the summers when I was little.  I don't remember her growing it, so I have no idea how it would end up in our kitchen, but she would use it in everything.  My mom was never big on baking, so my brother and I learned to get very skeptical if all of a sudden there were cookies since it usually meant there was zucchini in them.

There was a delicious relish we'd have a lot in the summer with grilled hot dogs or sausages or brats.  It was my dad's aunt's recipe, and I loved it.  Then I found out the main ingredient was zucchini.  I stopped eating it.  I didn't want anything to do with it because of the zucchini.  I kind of forgot about said relish until recently.  I've since learned to appreciate zucchini and actually eat it pretty often.  I don't begrudge my kids a whole lot for not eating it since I didn't when I was little.  Plus there are enough vegetables they eat willingly that I don't see the point in fighting with them about one that they don't like.

Anyway, remember how I recently mentioned Market on the Move?  One of last month's offerings was a ton of zucchini.  Not an actual ton, but it may have come close.  I was trying to figure out what to do with it since there's only so much sauteed zucchini or zucchini bread one can eat.  Well, maybe not on zucchini bread, especially chocolate zucchini bread.  But I digress.  I remembered I had gotten this recipe from my mom (once I learned to embrace the zucchini) maybe last summer when for some reason I had a bunch of zucchini to use up.  I was so excited to make up some of this, especially with it getting to be the time of year that I do a lot of grilling, so I know we'll be having it alongside a lot of meals coming up.

Calico Relish
Source: my great aunt Irene

4-6 unpared zucchini, coarsely ground (3.5 cups)
6 medium carrots, ground (1.5 cups)
2 medium onions, ground (1 cup)
2 Tbsp uniodized salt
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vinegar
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard

Combine ground vegetables, stir in salt.  Let stand 3 hours.  Drain well, squeeze if necessary.  Combine remaining ingredients and bring to boil.  Add vegetables, simmer 20 minutes uncovered.  Seal in jars.  Makes 2-1/2 pints.

*****

I found the easiest way to do this was bust out my food processor.  Oh how I love my food processor.  I put in one of the grating/shredding blades (I'm sure there's an official name for it, but I can't think of it and don't feel like looking it up...I only have 15 minutes until I need to leave to pick up kids from school) and put it on the finer of the two options so my shreds of everything would be smaller.  Actually for the onions I put in the regular blade and just pulsed until the pieces of onion were tiny.

I could barely wait to have some of this.  Shortly after making it the husband and I had grilled sausages for dinner one night after the kids had gone to bed, so I got out one of my jars and served some up with our sausage.  Oh it was so tasty!  Just as good as I remembered.  And the husband liked it, too!  It's super easy to make up, and it will be a great way to use up some of that summer bounty of vegetables!

My shredded veggies, awaiting their salt.

Boy #2 was helping with the process. This kid loves the food processor!  He wanted in on one of the pictures.  Don't mind his shaggy-way-overdue-for-a-haircut face or the yogurt stains on the table behind him.  Hmmm...maybe I shouldn't have pointed those out?

Relish cooking away.

 How freakin' adorable are these jars?!  They're wide mouth half pint jars.  I love them.

Fontina Macaroni and Cheese

It's no secret that we're cheese lovers at my house. Nor is it a secret or surprise that we also love macaroni and cheese. I grew up eating the stuff in the blue box and honestly when I was little, I didn't like homemade mac and cheese. Now that's switched, and I'd much rather have a big plate of homemade than the stuff from the box. I really try and avoid giving it to my kiddos, too, because of all the junk that's put in it. By the way, did you know there's currently a petition going around attempting to get Kraft to remove harmful food dyes from the blue boxed mac and cheese? Interestingly the same product sold in the UK does not contain these dyes because of consumer outcry there. Why not take a second and add your name to the petition? I believe the goal was to get 250,000 names, and it's currently at 249,910! So close!!

Petition to remove harmful dyes from Kraft mac and cheese

I'll get down off my soapbox now and back to my regularly scheduled post.

Although I have a go-to mac and cheese that I make pretty often and we all love, I'm easily convinced to try a new version. The husband helped me meal plan recently, and I pulled up a few things on Pinterest that I'd been wanting to try. This is one he chose because, like I said, we're a family of suckers for mac and cheese. Plus I love fontina cheese, so I jumped on board with the idea. We made sure to have it before a big cardio workout day to really justify having it as our main course instead of a side.

Fontina Macaroni and Cheese
Source: Annie's Eats via Pinterest

1 lb. small or medium pasta shells
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. Fontina cheese, shredded
Salt
Pinch of grated nutmeg
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta according to the package directions just until 1-2 minutes shy of al dente.

Meanwhile, dice 4 tablespoons of the butter and place in a large mixing bowl. Warm the cream in a small saucepan or the microwave. Cover to keep warm.

Once the pasta is cooked, add to the bowl with the butter and toss to coat well. Stir in the warm cream and the Fontina until the cheese starts to melt. Mix in salt to taste, and add the nutmeg.

Pour the mixture into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. In a small bowl, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Mix in the panko breadcrumbs and shredded Parmesan. Toss with a fork to coat evenly with the butter. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture evenly over the pasta in the baking dish.

Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the topping turns golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

*****

Talk about decadent!! Butter, cream, cheese. Yowza! This was definitely a hit with my family. This was definitely tasty, but I don't think it will necessary replace my normal mac and cheese just because it was so rich and decadent. It was definitely a nice change of pace and something I'd make again when I had a hankering for fancy mac and cheese!



I'll admit, it's a little blah looking before going in the oven. I left panko off one end because one of my kids didn't want any on theirs. Worked for me.


Delish!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

It's cold here. If you don't live in AZ you're probably chuckling and shaking your head saying, "Silly girl...it doesn't get cold in Phoenix." But it is. Right now according to the weather on my phone it's 34 degrees at 11:50 AM. Brrrr. Once it's cold (or even AZ cold which usually means low 60s for the high), I want to eat soup. I love soup, and I'm always looking for a tasty homemade soup recipe. I rarely eat canned soup anymore because the ingredients are mostly stuff I don't want to put in my body, and they're just too darn salty for my taste. Except Campbell's tomato soup. I'll eat that when I'm sick, HFCS be damned! I like it made with milk and crushed up saltine crackers stirred in. Yum.

Anyway, one of my online friends, Stephanie, posted this recipe on the message board website I frequent, and I was dying to try it. My kids are pretty hit or miss when it comes to soup, but they love broccoli and cheese, so I took a chance that this one would be something they'd like. Plus Stephanie is a nutrition consultant, so I knew I could trust that this was something healthy to feed my family.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Source: The Mamasphere via Stephanie

1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 medium chopped onion
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
2 cups chicken stock (I use homemade)
1/2 lb fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

1. Sauté onion in tablespoon butter. Set aside.

2. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.

3. Stir constantly and add the half & half.

4. Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes.

6. Add salt/pepper/nutmeg to taste. Puree with immersion blender.

7. Return to heat and add grated cheese.

*****

I've made this twice in about the past month, and it's a big hit with my family. My boys always grumble a little when I've made it, but they both eat it all up. Actually I made it this past week and doubled the recipe to take some to an injured friend and her family. They all liked it, too. It's really hearty and filling, and it comes together pretty easily, too. I really should just double it on a regular basis so I have some to eat for lunches or stick in the freezer because one batch goes pretty quickly. This is definitely a great addition to my go-to soup repertoire! Add a salad and some crusty bread or rolls, and you have a great meal!

Penne Rosa

Well, it's another rainy day at the beach. Bummer as far as my vacation fun goes, but at least I'm getting lots of blog posts done, right? We just got rid of cable at our house, so my kids are fascinated at having Cartoon Network again, so at least they're happy being cooped up inside. The sun came out briefly this morning but then quickly got rainy and then windy. I just washed, dried, and flat ironed my hair (a whole lot of good that did with this humidity, let me tell you...note snarky tone in that) in the hopes that it would help bring out the sun because then I'd want to swim but would have to sacrifice my hair to do so. Does that make sense? Basically I'm hoping that my hairstyling will have control over the weather somehow.

With that note, on to my post.

I love me a creamy pasta dish, but since I'm pretty conscious of my calorie intake and eating healthy, creamy pasta sauces are something I tend to avoid unless I'm being really indulgent. So I was pretty excited when I saw this recipe on Pinterest for a creamy pasta sauce that used Greek yogurt for the creamy aspect of it. If you haven't discovered Greek yogurt yet, you need to try it! It's super tasty and very high in protein, which I love. The husband and I go through it like there's no tomorrow. Thankfully Costco sells it for super cheap! We both like it for a fast, high-protien breakfast or snack, plain with a little honey drizzled on the top, or it's delicious with fruit mixed in as well. And you can use it in place of all sorts of things. It's fantastic!! I even used it to make boxed mac and cheese recently when I was out of milk, and the result was amazing.

Now, I'll step down off my Greek yogurt soapbox and get on with my blog post.

Penne Rosa
Source: Back to Her Roots blog via Pinterest.com

12 ounces whole wheat penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
2 medium tomatoes (about 1/2 lb.) chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups fresh spinach
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/3 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese


Cook penne according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet with a lid, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to soften.

Add in mushrooms, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to release their water. Remove from heat, add in spinach and cover skillet. Let spinach wilt for 2 minutes.

Remove lid and place skillet back over low heat. Add the penne, Greek yogurt and pasta sauce. Stir until sauce is mixed well and all pasta and veggies are coated. Heat until just warmed through. Divide into pasta bowls and serve topped with parmesan cheese.

*****

The original recipe called for shrimp, but I left that out because I didn't have any, and my kids don't really like it anyway, plus I thought we needed a vegetarian meal because we hadn't had one in awhile. Wow that was a long sentence. That was the only modification I made. This was a pretty big hit all around with my family. I think it would be delicious with the shrimp the original post used,k but it was good on its own with just the vegetables. It's definitely something I'd make again, especially when I want a creamy pasta fix!


Mmmm...sauce.

Muffin Mix

I've been on a huge muffin kick lately. I found a recipe from an online friend for zucchini, carrot, raisin muffins (recipe coming at some point). I sent her a note saying I was making them, and she told me that she makes muffins every week for her kids to have for breakfast. I thought it was genius! Especially the next day when all I had to do was throw a muffin, some fruit, and some yogurt on a plate for each of my kids. Voila! breakfast was ready. I don't handle breakfast well. I'm not always caffeinated when my kiddos want to eat, and a lot of times there are fights about what they're going to have. But no one fought the muffins! I mentioned this at one of my bible study groups, and my friend Sarah said she had a recipe for an all-purpose muffin mix, that you just mix up a huge batch and keep it in the pantry or freezer and pull from it as needed and mix in all sorts of things to make different kinds of muffins. Genius!! I copied it down immediately and mixed it up the next day. I just used the last of my mix this morning (well, almost...there's maybe 1/2 a cup left in the container I was storing it in) and figured it was high time to type out the recipe so I didn't always have to look for my scrap of paper on which the recipe is written when I want to make these up. I'll have to mix up some more tomorrow--I don't want to be without my mix!

Sarah's Muffin Mix
Source: My friend Sarah (who runs full marathons!)
Yield: 4 batches of muffins

8 cups flour
3 cups sugar
3 T. baking powder
2 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. nutmeg

Combine above ingredients. Store in pantry or freezer up to six months.

For each batch of muffins:

2-3/4 cups muffin mix
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

Place muffin mix in bowl. Whisk egg, milk, and butter together and stir into dry ingredients. Include whichever mix-ins below (mix any dry ingredients in with mix, wet ingredients or fruit into wet ingredients or at the end). Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-21 minutes.

Add-Ins:
Banana: 1 cup mashed bananas
Cranberry Pecan: 1 cup chopped cranberries, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 3 T. sugar
Cappuccino: 1 cup mini chocolate chips, 2 t. instant coffee granules
Apple Cheese: 1/2 cup shredded apple, 1/2 cup colby jack cheese
Blueberry: 1 cup blueberries
Carrot Raisin: 3/4 cup shredded carrots, 1/3 cup golden raisins

*****

Sorry if the directions for when to mix in what are vague. I didn't copy that part down because it all seemed self-explanatory to me. For most of the varieties I think I'd mix everything in at the end, except the banana I'd mix in with the wet ingredients, the coffee granules I'd mix in with the dry ingredients. I think that's it.

So far I've made blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and this morning I made banana chocolate chip. I know, I'm fancy. I think the banana chocolate chip have been our favorite so far. I'm dying to try the apple cheese, but my kids ate all the apples I bought last time at the store. I'm also looking forward to the carrot raisin--I LOVE carrot raisin muffins!

I did make a few substitutions to the mix recipe. I used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. I also cut the sugar down to 2.5 cups. Three cups seemed like a lot (I think I figured it out to be about a tablespoon per muffin if your batch made 12 muffins...mine usually made 18-24 though), and plus the day I went to mix it up I only had 2.5 cups of sugar on hand. I figured I'd try it and see how it turned out. Now I think I'll keep it that way. I had meant to add in some ground flax seed to the mix but forgot when I mixed it up and then kept forgetting each time I make a batch.

This was super, super easy and it's so nice to have on hand! I've even made muffins first thing in the morning when I get up to have for breakfast if we were out, and it wasn't time consuming at all. My kids don't even mind waiting a little longer for breakfast knowing they're going to get a tasty warm muffin out of the deal!

If you make these and try any other variations that you love, leave me a comment and let me know what they were!

Hmnmm...apparently in all the batches of muffins I've made, I haven't taken a picture of any of them. Next time!

Fancy Baked Sweet Potatoes

I was reading through a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living (I told you I love Martha!) and saw these amazing looking sweet potatoes. There wasn't really a recipe, just a one page thing about how fantastic sweet potatoes are. The picture was gorgeous! I decided I must try them, and the opportunity presents itself shortly thereafter when I received a bunch of sweet potatoes from my produce co-op one week. I knew there was no way my kids would eat these, so I slated them for a date night dinner for the husband and me.

Fancy Baked Sweet Potatoes

Per serving:
1 baked sweet potato
1 cup roasted Brussels sprouts
2 Tbsp blue cheese
2 Tbsp dried cranberries
1/4 cup toasted pecans

Split baked potato lengthwise and top with Brussels sprouts, blue cheese, dried cranberries, and pecans. Serve.

*****

Doesn't get a whole lot easier than that. The sweet potatoes I had were pretty little, so I baked two for each of us. All other ingredients are estimated because I'm really not sure how much of each I used. These looked GORGEOUS--the orange potatoes, green Brussels sprouts, crimson cranberries, flecks of white and little bits of blue from the cheese. I was so excited to eat these...then I took a bite and was so disappointed. It was not at all what I expected and honestly I thought it was kind of gross. So did the husband. But we didn't really have anything else we could make for dinner at that point because it was late on a Friday. So we muscled through it, and surprisingly we discovered that the more bites we took, the more we liked it. The trick was to have a little of each component on each bite. We ended up both really liking it and cleaning our plates. I'm so glad it worked out because I was really apprehensive after that first bite and debated running out to get us a pizza. I'm glad we stuck with it and finished them off. It ended up being so tasty!

Spinach and Feta Quesadillas

Have you discovered Pintrest.com yet? I'm pretty addicted to it. It's a cool way to keep track of things you come across online that you want to remember. It links up to Facebook so you can have friends and see what they're pinning too. My friend Jenn had pinned this spinach and feta quesadilla recipe recently, and I thought it looked super tasty and like it would be a great summer, hot weather, meatless dinner.

Spinach and Feta Quesadillas
Source: ClosetCooking.com

(makes 1 quesadilla)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup spinach (steamed and squeezed to drain)
1 tablespoon herbs (chopped, I used mint, dill and parsley)
1 green onion (sliced)
1 handful feta (crumbled)
salt and pepper to taste
2 (8 inch) tortillas
2 handfuls kasseri or mozzarella or jack (grated)

Directions:
1. Mix the spinach, herbs, green onions, feta, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Melt a touch of butter in a pan.
3. Place a tortilla into the pan, swirl it around in the butter and repeat with the second tortilla.
4. Sprinkle some cheese on the tortilla followed by the filling and then more cheese and finally the other tortilla.
5. Cook until the quesadilla is golden brown on both sides and the cheese is melted. (I placed a plate onto the quesadilla and flipped it from the pan to the plate and then slid it back into the pan.)

*****

Obviously I increased the amounts so it would feed my whole family. I steamed my spinach in the microwave which was super easy and fast. I have a microwave steamer that I put the spinach leaves in with some water and then just let it cook for a couple minutes. So easy! You could easily use frozen spinach that you thawed and drained, too. I pulled out my electric griddle to cook them so I could do more than one at a time, and it worked great.

The husband and I LOVED these. My kids, not so much. Boy #2 ate his okay, but Boy #1 said (and I quote), "This tastes like poop." To which of course I had to ask, "How do you know what poop tastes like?" Nothing like stumping a five year old. Needless to say, he was not a fan of this dinner. I thought it tasted fantastic. There was enough filling left over for a fifth quesadilla, and the husband had one for lunch the next day. I'd definitely make this again but probably just for the husband and me.

Panzanella

I've somehow found myself with another night to myself. The husband and his buddy went to a baseball game, my kids are in bed. Woo hoo! More blog updating! And Spotify listening. A friend of mine had mentioned Alison Krauss in a Facebook status today, and I'd never heard of her. I pulled her up on there and am grooving to her amazing voice!

I was pretty pleased to get three blog posts knocked out the other night, but I still have seven on my list. Yikes! I'd better get to focusing. I tried to use some of my lesser used cookbooks when meal planning recently. One I pulled off the shelf was Ellie Krieger's So Easy. I find Ellie Krieger recipes to be kind of hit or miss. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're just "eh" and still other times if I change them up a bit we really like them.

This recipe was basically for the panzanella, although the official title was "Panzanella With Chicken Sausage." Since it didn't require you actually make your own chicken sausage, I'm just going with panzanella. I had some sausages in the freezer from a grill pack I bought over 4th of July weekend. I was really excited to try panzanella because I'd never had it before, much less made it. Plus I love a good salad in the summer!!

Panzanella
Source: So Easy by Ellie Krieger, Copyright 2009

8 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges (about 1-1/2 pounds)
1 small English cucumber, cut into half moons
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small whole-grain baguette or other crusty bread (preferably day-old; about 8 ounces), cut into 3/4-inch chunks
1/3 cup basil leaves, coarsely chopped

In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add the bread chunks and basil and toss well so all the bread is well moistened.

*****

I couldn't find a whole grain baguette, so I just got a regular, grocery store bakery baguette. I bought it a few days before I needed it, but somehow it was still soft when I went to use it. I won't discuss how mildly grossed out I was about that. Shouldn't bread get stale when it sits out for a few days? Anyway...I cut the bread up into chunks, then threw all the pieces onto a cookie sheet and toasted them for a bit, just so they weren't super soft and would get all soggy in the salad.

This was one of the Ellie Krieger recipes that I didn't have to modify at all. It was so tasty!! I kept taking bites out of the salad bowl once I'd assembled the salad. The tomatoes (oh this would have been amazing with either fresh, local tomatoes or with heirlooms), cukes, onion, vinegar and basil would soak into the bread a little--not so much that it was soggy, just enough to infuse some flavor into the bread--and it was this amazing bite of summer in my mouth. Yum! Wow that sounds dorky and overly poetic. But it was so good! In the summer I generally have all of the ingredients except the baguette on hand for this. I'm so excited to make it again!

Baked Camembert Pasta

I happened to be grocery shopping with my friend Jen recently and saw a marked down package of camembert cheese in the deli section. I turned to her and said, "Didn't you use camembert for something recently?" To which she replied, "Why yes I most certainly did." Or something along those lines in the way of an affirmative answer. She said it was like a decadent, grown-up mac and cheese. Sold! That was all I needed to hear to throw the package in my cart. I know I've professed my love for mac and cheese before, so I won't bore you with the details of it again.

I'm copying the recipe from Jen's blog but she found it from a Jamie Oliver cookbook.

Baked Camembert Pasta
Source: Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver

a box of Camembert Cheese (250g)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, pick the leaves off the woody stalk
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
100g grated Parmesan cheese
400g dried rigatoni
150g fresh spinach

Directions:
1. Open the box of cheese and unwrap it. Place it back to the wooden container.

2. Score a circle into the top of the skin, then lift it off and discard.

3. Lay the garlic slices on top of the cheese, sprinkle some pepper and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil.

4. Scatter the rosemary leaves over the top and gently pat with your fingers to coat them in the oil.

5. Bake the cheese in a preheated oven of 180C (350F) for about 25 minutes, until golden and melted. (***May take a little longer until the cheese is melted***)

6. When the cheese has 10 minutes left to cook, add the pasta to the pan and cook according to packet instructions.

7. When the pasta is cooked, add the spinach to the pan – it only needs cooking for 10 seconds or so.

8. Drain the pasta and spinach to the pan and let it wilt.

9. Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of extra virgin olive oil and add the grated Parmesan. If the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of reserved cooking water to thin out a bit. Season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir.

10. Remove the cheese from the oven. Divide the pasta between your serving bowls. Either drizzle the melted Camembert on top or pop cheese on the table and let everyone help themselves to a lovely, gooey spoonful.

*****

I forgot the spinach when I was getting the other ingredients I needed. Oops. And I used whole wheat rotini instead of rigatoni. This was indeed a decadent, grown-up mac and cheese. So much so that I tried to ration the amount of cheese I gave my kids on their pasta so that the husband and I could have more. When I pulled the cheese out of the oven it smelled AMAZING. And the cheese was all gooey and melty with yummy slices of garlic and bits of rosemary on top. Oh man. I seriously could have stood there and eaten it with a spoon.

I don't know how often I'd make this just because camembert is not an inexpensive cheese, so it would have to be a special occasion. Or if I happened to find it marked down again. But if it's in your grocery budget, I say give this a try. But only if you look gooey, melty, awesomeness.

I would advise putting your cheese on a baking sheet of some sort. Just in case something like this happens. It would 1) be a shame to lose the cheese and 2) suck to have to clean that mess up from the bottom of your oven.

Green Goddess Grilled Cheese Panini

I heart cheese. That's not news. I heart paninis, too, and that's probably equally newsworthy. There's a panini blog I follow, Panini Happy. She has all sorts of amazing sandwiches on there that I'm dying to try. Ummm...grilled mac and cheese with pulled pork?! Yes, please!! I had seen her post about this Green Goddess Grilled Cheese on St. Patrick's Day and thought it sounded fantastic. I found myself needing to be somewhere near our Saturday's Farmer's Market recently and decided to stop in to get the fresh herbs I'd need to make this.

Panini Happy's Green Goddess Grilled Cheese Panini
Source: PaniniHappy.com

1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 oil-packed anchovy, finely chopped
1 teaspoon lime zest (about 1 lime)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 ounces cream cheese, cut into smaller cubes
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
8-12 slices sourdough bread
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Add garlic and anchovies to a mini-prep food processor and pulse for a few seconds until it’s really finely chopped, almost like a paste (if you don’t have a food processor, you can always just chop the ingredients really well with a knife on a cutting board).

Add in the lime zest, parsley, tarragon, cilantro, basil, shallot, mustard and cream cheese and pulse again until well blended. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and stir in the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.

Preheat the panini grill to medium-high heat.

For each sandwich: Spread a generous amount of the cheese mixture onto one slice of bread. Close the sandwich with a second slice of bread. Brush a little olive oil on top. Grill for 5 to 6 minutes until the cheese is melted and oozy and the bread is toasted. Serve immediately and enjoy!

*****

I'm lazy and didn't chop everything on my own...I tossed it all in my food processor to let it work for me. What's the point of having machines in my kitchen and me doing all the work they can do? Oh, but I didn't have any shallots. I don't know why my grocery store is so hit or miss with shallots. they aren't that uncommon an item are they? Oh what I'd give to have a store that carries everything nearby. I shouldn't complain...when we first moved to this area there was only one grocery store. Now I at least have choices. Anyway.

The cheese filling on this was FANTASTIC. Before it cooked it had a really garlicky bite to it, but that mellowed a lot while the cheesy goodness melted while the sandwich was on the panini press. My only complaint was my bread choice. I didn't buy sourdough bread for this because I figured we could just use the regular whole wheat bread we use on a regular basis. I was WRONG. Don't make my same mistake. This sandwich needs a sturdy bread, not lame-o Oroweat Double Fiber Whole Wheat bread. And be generous with the filling on said sturdy bread. It's worth it. Oh, and don't forget to put the leftover spread away and sitting on your kitchen counter all night because you'll be a sad cheese-lover in the morning when you come downstairs and discover your mistake. I'm just saying...learn from my mistake.

I'd totally make this again but only with a better kind of bread.

Sandwich filling:

Caillou's Fruit Salad

If you have young kids, you probably know who Caillou is. If you don't have kids, you're not missing anything. He's a whiny, bald four year old cartoon character from a PBS show. I can't stand it--nor can most parents I know--but for some reason kids really like it. Thankfully we don't watch it very often, but Boy #1 likes to play Caillou games on the PBS Kids website. There's some game where Caillou cooks with his grandma, and then you can print out recipes. Boy #1 LOVES to print things when he plays on the computer. Recently he printed out a fruit salad recipe and said he wanted to have it at his birthday party. he turned five this past weekend, by the way. FIVE!!! I can't believe it. So I made it for his party, but I changed it up slightly.

Caillou's Fruit Salad

2 apples
2 oranges
1 melon
1 basket of strawberries
1 bunch of grapes
2 kiwis
Fruit of your choice: banana, mango, watermelon, etc.
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of one lemon
Juice of two oranges
A few mint leaves

Skin or peel fruit and cut into small cubes. Place all cut fruit into a large fruit or salad bowl. In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice. Pour over fruit and toss lightly. Allow to set in refrigerator. Decorate with mint leaves and serve cold.

*****

I guess it's pretty basic as far as fruit salads go, but I really liked the addition of the sugar/juice dressing. It was pretty sweet, so the amount of powdered sugar I'm sure could be reduced. This was super kid friendly, and the moms at the party all liked it too. I was worried it wasn't going to be enough fruit, but it really was. I only used half a cantaloupe for the melon, and I cut up two bananas, in addition to what else was listed in the recipe.

Oh, and thanks to my friend Jessica for oranges from her yard that I used for this! They are so tasty!

Pioneer Woman's Macaroni and Cheese

i love me some macaroni and cheese. When i was little i'd only eat the stuff out of the box, never homemade. Now i much prefer homemade to the blue box. Even though there are several good mac and cheese recipes i've discovered in the past few years, i'm always game to try a new recipe because what if it's the best ever?! So when I saw this recipe in PW's cookbook I figured we'd have it one night during Pioneer Woman Cookbook Week.

Pioneer Woman's Macaroni and Cheese
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

4 cups Dried Macaroni
1 whole Egg Beaten
1/4 cups (1/2 Stick Or 4 Tablespoons) Butter
1/4 cups All-purpose Flour
2-½ cups Whole Milk
2 teaspoons (heaping) Dry Mustard, More If Desired
1 pound Cheese, Grated
1/2 teaspoons Salt, More To Taste
1/2 teaspoons Seasoned Salt, More To Taste
1/2 teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
Optional Spices: Cayenne Pepper, Paprika, Thyme

Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain.

In a small bowl, beat egg.

In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.

Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.

Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.

Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.

Add in cheese and stir to melt.

Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed! DO NOT UNDERSALT.

Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.
Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

*****

I added some Lawry's seasoned salt to mine for some additional flavor. The husband was pretty impressed and intrigued when he saw me making a roux for mac and cheese. What can i say, he's from louisiana...he likes a girl that can make a roux.

i had to sample a bite before putting it in the oven. It was AMAZING. I could have just kept eating it from the pot instead of baking it with additional cheese on top. My whole family loved this. Both my kids had seconds. I had seconds. I was disgustingly full afterwards but it was worth it. My kids had leftovers for lunch the next day...this is the only thing I can think of that they've willingly had leftovers of for lunch the next day. My theory of trying new mac and cheese recipes paid off because i think this is my new favorite!!

better pics are available on PW's original post.

Quick Chile Relleno Casserole

I kind of have a thing for chile rellenos. My mom LOVES them and would always order them at Mexican restaurants when I was growing up. I never really understood them and thought they sounded gross. Then I tried one and was hooked. Since they're ridiculously unhealthy (filled with cheese, battered, and fried), and I assume not super easy to make at home, I generally don't eat them very often anymore. I was at Walmart on Friday picking up a few things for the husband's birthday yesterday and saw they had Anaheim chiles for $0.10 per pound. I had originally slated us to have steak for our Friday date night dinner, but I hadn't bought any steak yet. I saw the chiles and figured I'd scrap the steak plan and do some kind of chile relleno casserole instead.

At one point several years ago I made a chile relleno casserole in the crockpot, but I had no idea where that recipe was, so I turned to Google. Because isn't that what you do when you need to find something? One of the results that came up was from Food.com, and since I've generally had good luck with recipes from there, I figured it was worth a shot. The first recipe I came across sounded good and had good reviews, but it took almost an hour to bake. Conveniently for me, at the bottom of that page was a link to another recipe for Quick Chile Relleno Casserole. That one sounded much better because it only needed 30 minutes in the oven. It called for canned green chiles, so I modified it since I had fresh chiles I was using. The recipe below is my amended version.

Quick Chile Relleno Casserole
Adapted from Quick Chile Relleno Casserole on Food.com

4 Anaheim chiles
1/2 lb monterey jack cheese, sliced
4 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Roast chiles under the broiler or over gas flame until skin is charred. Place chiles in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand at least 10 minutes. Remove skins from chiles while trying to keep chiles intact. Cut a slit in each chile, remove seeds, and stuff with sliced cheese.

Coat an 11x7 baking dish with nonstick spray. Place chiles in prepared dish.

Beat eggs with whisk or electric mixer until thick and foamy. Add milk, flour, and baking powder and beat until smooth. Pour mixture over chiles. Top with cheddar cheese.

Bake, uncovered, in a 375F oven for about 30 minutes or until casserole is puffed and appears set when gently shaken.

*****

The only thing I would change about this would be to use more chiles next time. The husband and I ate the entire dish of this. There was enough of the batter in the dish to accomodate a few more chiles, but since I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them when I bought them, I didn't know how many to get. If I was making this for the whole family I'd definitely up the number of chiles. I used Egg Beaters in my batter as I was saving the eggs we had on hand for a birthday breakfast for the husband, so Egg Beaters were my only choice. Plus I figured it made the recipe that much healthier.

This is something I'll definitely make again. We both loved it. The husband ate his in record time.

Roasted chile stuffed with cheese:


Stuffed chiles swimming in the batter:


Finished product! Oh man...I wish I could have somehow captured the smell of this because it was AMAZING!!

Tomato and Pesto Pizza

I wasn't going to post this because it was ridiculously easy, but my friend Jen said since I liked it so much I should document it so I remember it. She probably has a point, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was saying it so she remembers to make it at some point. ;)

I'm finally out of Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet (down 12 pounds!!), so I'm starting to incorporate some good carbs back into my diet. I had an apple this morning on the way to pick up my oldest from school (I don't think an apple has ever tasted so good), and then I made pizza crust with whole wheat flour for dinner. I'm still kind of timid to add carbs back in a whole lot since I had such great success with taking them out of my diet. For the first week or so I'm going to take it pretty easy and probably do something similar to what I did today--a little bit of fruit and some whole grains. Anyway, this should probably go on my weight loss blog instead of here.

I've been dying to have pizza for some reason while I was carb-free. Normally I can really take or leave pizza, but I think just not being able to eat it has made it more enticing. I was going to make a margherita pizza and a cheese pizza, but upon taking my basil out I realized the stems were fuzzy. Yuck. So, not wanting to feed my family moldy basil (or eat it myself), I had to do some quick pizza thinking. This is what I came up with.

Claire's Tomato and Pesto Pizza

1 recipe homemade pizza dough, made using all whole wheat flour
1/4 cup pesto (homemade or store bought)
3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced thin
Mozzarella cheese

On rolled out dough, spread pesto to completely cover dough. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.

*****

I'm sad I didn't take a picture. I thought about it before I put the cheese on because it really looked awesome with the green pesto and the various colored heirloom tomatoes. Have I mentioned that heirloom tomatoes are my new BFF? Okay, not really, but I do like them a lot. When I picked these ones out at Whole Foods today I could tell that heirloom tomato time is coming to an end. Most of the ones I picked up were pretty mushy and over-ripe. Sad. I kind of freaked out a little when I discovered my basil wasn't good anymore because I had already sliced the tomatoes, and there was no way I would let them go to waste. I was pleased with my quick thinking and coming up with what turned out to be an awesome pizza!

Confetti Corn

My entire family came over for dinner on Saturday night because my grandmas and my cousin hadn't seen the new house yet. I had a bunch of corn in the freezer from my recent purchase of 48 ears (ugh...I'm so done with cooking corn!), and I thought there were a couple different Barefoot Contessa corn recipes from which to choose. The first cookbook of hers I grabbed off my shelf--"Back to Basics"--had a corn dish in it that sounded fantastic and easy. That's one of the things I love most about Ina's recipes, none of them require a lot of ingredients, but the ingredients they do use need to be high quality and fresh so you can really appreciate the taste. I'd much rather prepare dishes that way than ones that require 30 different ingredients.

Barefoot Contessa's Confetti Corn
2008, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, All Rights Reserved

2 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 small orange bell pepper, 1/2-inch diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kernels cut from 5 ears yellow or white corn (4 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil, minced fresh chives, and/or minced fresh parsley leaves

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes, until the onion is soft. Stir in the bell pepper and saute for 2 more minutes.

Add the butter to the pan and allow it to melt. Over medium heat, add the corn, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the corn just loses its starchiness. Season to taste, gently stir in the basil or other green herbs, and serve hot.

*****

I don't know if I've gone on before about olive oil, but it really does make a huge difference to use good quality olive oil instead of whatever is cheapest at the store. I used to be one of the "buy whatever is cheapest" shoppers until I was at Sur La Table one day and was convinced by the sales lady to try an olive oil they had on special. Oh man, did it ever make a difference!! You could taste how much better it was, and the smell is so flowery and yummy and awesome. If you don't already, try buying a really good olive oil sometime and put a little in a dish and put some of the cheap stuff in a dish. Dip some bread in each (don't mix them, you want to taste each on its own) and see what I mean.

Back to my review, this was super easy to make, and it was a huge hit!! Everyone really liked it. My mom was still talking about it yesterday when I called her for something. I think I cooked the onions a bit too long because they were starting to take on that gray tinge that cooked red onions can have, but they were still good. This was a great summer dish, and so flavorful and pretty! Now I'm kind of glad I have all that corn in my freezer!

Baked Kale Chips

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do here! I didn't think we'd really had anything interesting (other than this past Friday and Saturday night), but when I went through the pictures on my camera and made a list of what all I needed to post there were eight things! Yowza! Guess I'd better get to typing.

I've been seeing a lot about kale chips recently. I was intrigued with the idea of them and really anxious to try them out. I saw some kale at a market last week for only $0.69/bunch, so I figured I'd get some and try it. I'd seen a recipe on the same blog on which the infamous Bacon Salted Caramel Brownie recipe, so I went back looking for that. The blog is Savour-Fare.com and she has some really yummy looking stuff posted there! Her recipe for kale chips called for sprinkling furikake over them once they were done, but I just stuck with salt and pepper.

Baked Kale Chips
Adapted from Savour-Fare.com

1 head curly kale
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove the central vein from each leaf and tear the kale into bite sized pieces. Place kale pieces in a large bowl. Pour vinegar and olive oil over leaves, and toss the kale in the vinaigrette and spread on a baking sheet, lined with foil.

Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes. Season with salt.

*****

Like I said, I was really excited to try this, but apparently I was the only one. Neither of my kids would even try it. I take that back--I made the boy try a piece and he wanted nothing to do with it. The husband said he liked the flavor at first but not at the end of the bite, that it tasted too "vegetable-y." I however, really liked these! Talk about healthy, and I loved the crisp texture and the flavor of them. Since kale is a winter vegetable, maybe I'll have more luck feeding this to my guys when it's actually in season. If not, it's their loss!!

Kale in chopped form:


Kale in baked chip form:

Eggplant and Mozzarella Melt

I mentioned recently that I went on a trip to the beach in CA with two of my friends from college a few weeks ago. One of them is my friend Teri, and she was nice enough to fly into Phoenix and drive to LA with me so I'd only have to do one leg of the drive by myself. Isn't that awesome of her? It was so fun, too! A long boring drive like that sure goes by a lot faster with a fun friend in the car. She was telling me about a Martha Stewart Everyday Food cookbook that she has and loves, so once I was back home I put one on hold at the library. I don't think I got the same cookbook that Teri was telling me about, but this one has some great recipes in it. I think I'll hold it hostage for awhile, or at least as long as I can. I mentioned to my friend Jen how much I liked it, and she was talking about putting it on hold, so I'll assume if I can't renew it, it's because she's going to take it from me. ;)

Last week in my Bountiful Baskets produce co-op basket I got an egpplant. I was really excited because I love eggplant and have a lot of things I like to make with it, but I had seen a recipe in the Martha Stewart cookbook I wanted to try. It worked out perfectly, too, because last Sunday I made some tomato sauce for spaghetti and meatballs, so this way I could use up most of what was left of that sauce.

Eggplant and Mozzarella Melt
From Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

2 large eggs
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
Olive oil, for baking sheet
1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound), sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
1 loaf (8 ounces) soft Italian bread
2 cups store-bought tomato sauce
8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1.Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a shallow bowl, lightly beat eggs with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread breadcrumbs in a pie plate or shallow bowl.

2.Oil a rimmed baking sheet. Dip eggplant rounds in egg, then dredge in breadcrumbs, turning to coat completely; transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake (without turning) until golden and tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

3.Meanwhile, split bread lengthwise, and place cut side up on another baking sheet; press gently in centers to create a well. Layer both halves with tomato sauce, eggplant, and cheese. Bake until cheese is browned in spots, 6 to 8 minutes.

*****

This came together really fast. I used panko for the breadcrumbs because I didn't feel like getting out my food processor to make breadcrumbs. I wouldn't recommend using panko, but it turned out okay. They just didn't cover the eggplant as thoroughly as regular breadcrumbs would have. But it worked. I ended up spreading a bit of sauce on top of the eggplant slices, too, when I assembled everything and then topped with cheese.

The husband was very excited when he saw this come out of the oven. He said it looked like eggplant parmesan pizza, which I guess it kind of was. I think my loaf of bread must have been bigger than eight ounces because the recipe said this was four servings, and those seemed really huge since that basically meant cutting each half into halves. Although the husband ate 1.5 servings, and the baby ate as much as I did! He and the boy split one serving, and then he ate half of mine! So I guess he ended up having an entire serving on his own. My kid can eat!

This was super fantastic and tasty and something I will definitely make again!

One side cheesed, the other awaiting its cheese:


Mmmmmm...eggplant and mozzarella melt...

Homemade Quick Black Bean Burgers

My friend Jen recently sent me a link to a list of vegetarian burgers/sandwiches from the Cooking Light website. I was looking for some vegetarian options in my meal plan recently and going through my Recipes folder in my email and saw that. These burgers sounded super easy and tasty. I wasn't sure what the husband would think because he says he doesn't like black beans, so I made him go hang out upstairs in the play room with the kids while I worked on them so he wouldn't know what it was. ;)

Homemade Quick Black Bean Burgers

1 (2-ounce) hamburger bun, torn into pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 (15.25-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1. Place bun in a food processor; process 4 times or until crumbs measure about 1 cup. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Combine 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, and beans in processor; pulse 8 times or until beans make a thick paste. Scrape bean mixture into bowl with breadcrumbs. Stir in rind and remaining ingredients. With moistened hands, divide bean mixture into 4 equal portions (about 1/3 cup mixture per portion), shaping each into a 3-inch patty.

3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan; reduce heat to medium, and cook 4 minutes or until bottom edges are browned. Carefully turn patties over; cook 3 minutes or until bottom edges are done.

Nutritional Information
Calories:182
Fat:12.3g (sat 1.3g,mono 6.7g,poly 3.6g)
Protein:6.6g
Carbohydrate:15.6g
Fiber:4.6g
Cholesterol:53mg
Iron:2mg
Sodium:448mg
Calcium:103mg

*****

I used two pieces of whole grain whole wheat bread instead of the bun. Oh, and I didn't have any fresh oregano, so I think I added in some cumin because I heart cumin and thought it would work nicely with the other flavors. The burger mixture was pretty wet and sticky, so I'd recommend a little non-stick spray on your hands to make it easier to work with and get the burgers in the pan.

I topped all the burgers with monterey jack cheese, then the husband and I also had avocado and tomato on ours. The boy doesn't like either of those, and the baby actually picked off the tomato and avocado and ate them on their own. He was not a fan of this dinner. The boy ate his well enough but wasn't happy about it. The husband and I both really liked these burgers, so I'd probably make them for a dinner we'd have after the kids are in bed. I liked these a lot better than some frozen veggie burgers I've tried, and I loved the chili powder and cumin in them.

Sorry for the half-eaten picture...I was so excited to eat I forgot to take a picture before I sat down at the table!

Tofu Enchiladas

I've posted this recipe before, but it was a really long time ago. It's one of the husband's favorites, and I had most of the ingredients for it recently. I'd forgotten how much I like it, although I think it's a lot better when it's fresh as opposed to the leftovers. The husband had no problem eating the leftovers, but I just didn't care for them as much. This is a great recipe for disguising tofu because you really have no idea it's even in there. My college roommate, Joanne, made this for me one time while she lived here in Phoenix, and I immediately fell in love with it. This was also one of the first--if not the actual first--meal I made for the husband when we were first dating.

Tofu Enchiladas

1 package firm tofu
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp paprika
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3-4 green onions
1 cup sliced olives
1 can drained black beans
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Mexican seasoning
12 corn tortillas
2 cans mild enchilada sauce
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Mix together first 10 ingredients. Divide filling between tortillas, following diections for rolling on can. Top with 1 cup grated cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

*****

The only thing I did differently was to use whole wheat flour tortillas instead of corn because I had them on hand and didn't feel like making my own corn tortillas. I had some filling left over--not enough to fill another tortilla but too much to just throw away--so I spread it on the top of the enchiladas before pouring the sauce on there.

We all really liked this. The boy doesn't like mushrooms, but he picked them out. The baby ate just as much of this as I did! He's an eater for sure, but it always amazes me when he eats an adult size portion! I'll have to get this in the dinner rotation more often since we all enjoy it.

Enchilada filling:


Mmmmm...saucy, cheesey enchiladas:

Spicy Zucchini Quesadillas

My internet is working currently (which means it will probably stop in the next couple minutes), so I just had to really quick post the recipe I made last night because they were AWESOME!!! So awesome in fact that I didn't even take a picture because I was too busy diving into it. The recipe comes from a cookbook put together by members of a parenting message board I belong to and has all sorts of yummy recipes. I was looking through it recently for some new vegetarian meal ideas and saw this. Since I occasionally get zucchini in my produce co-op basket I made a mental note of the recipe. Of course when I got said zucchini this past weekend, I had already packed that cookbook for our big upcoming move. Oops. But, thankfully, one of the other women on the board posted the recipe so I didn't have to open all my cookbook boxes (yes, I have multiple already and still haven't finished packing them all) and find this one.

Spicy Zucchini Quesadillas

1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup sweet red pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon butter, softened
2 cups zucchini, shredded
2 TBSP taco seasoning
2 Tbsp butter, softened
8 flour tortillas
8 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded

In a skillet, saute onion and red pepper in 1 tsp. butter for 3 mins. Stir in zucchini and taco seasoning; saute 3 to 4 mins longer or until veggies are tender. Remove from heat. Spread remaining butter onver one side of tortillas. Place tortillas butter side down on a griddle. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup cheese and 1/4 cup zucchini mixture over half of each tortilla; fold over. Cook over low heat for 1-2 mins on each side, or until cheese is melted. Serve with salsa, sour cream, and jalapenos.

*****

The only thing I changed was using Monterey Jack cheese instead of pepper jack because I didn't think the boy would eat it that way. And instead of sauteeing the onion and red pepper in butter, I just sprayed the pan with non-stick spray to save some calories. I wasn't entirely sure if the recipe was supposed to make eight quesadillas (each tortilla fold over in half) or four (tortilla spread out and topped with a second), so I went with making four.

These were FANTASTIC!!! We all really liked them. The boy and baby originally split one, but the baby ended up having part of mine because he wanted more! The husband and I both thought a whole one was very filling, which was good because I was concerned it wouldn't be enough food and we'd end up hungry still after we ate. This is definitely getting added in to my vegetarian meal rotation--especially with the summer approaching and the abundance of zucchini it can bring!

I'll make them again soon so I can post a picture!