Zucchini Boat of Yum

As always, I went to the farmer's market after my Saturday run.  I stopped at a vendor that had beautiful, vibrantly colored vegetables.  I knew that I couldn't pass up this stand without buying something.  Lucky for me, this vendor had huge, bright green zucchinis for only 50 cents each.  let me just clarify, that when I say huge...I mean HUGE!  It was bigger than the size of my foot and about the size of my forearm.  I would say that 50 cents for the absurdly large zucchini was a steal!

Ok...mine wasn't THAT big.  But it was still pretty big.

I had seen a couple different recipes for zucchini boats and decided to give it a try.  There are many different recipes for zucchini boats, but it essentially has 4 steps: cut the zucchini in half, hollow it out, stuff in with your ingredients, and bake.  Even with the large zucchini that I bought, not a lot of filling was needed (or really fit) into the zucchini.  Actually, I was a little over ambitious with my filling and had some leftover and ate it on the side.

My recipe is using rough estimates because I did not truly measure everything.  It is not a recipe that you will mess up by adding too much of one thing or not enough of another.  It's all about you taste and how you like it!

Zucchini Boat (2 servings per zucchini)
Ingredients:
1 large zucchini
6 bella mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
basil and garlic salt seasonings
handful of cherry tomatoes (about 8)
3 tbl tomato sauce
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cut zucchini in half the long way.

3. Scoop insides out of zucchini.  Some people save the insides to use in their mix. I thought it was zucchini overload, so I tossed them out.  Place zucchini on baking sheet lined with foil.

4. Saute mushrooms and onions with spices for 5 minutes.  Place into bowl.
5. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and cheese to bowl.  Mix.
6. Put mixture into zucchini.

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Yummy, cheesy perfection!  I will admit that as good as it was,  I thought that it would be more filling than it turned out to be.  I didn't make anything else to go with it, so I finished my dinner off with some popcorn.  I definitely recommend making something to go with your zucchini.

There are so many different types of zucchini boats. Here are some other great websites that have different flavors/types of zucchini boats incase you want to try something else:

http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/02/13/stuffed-zucchini-boats/

http://www.adashofsass.com/2010/06/22/italian-and-southwestern-zucchini-boats/

http://inthelittleredhouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-eat-zucchini.html

Continued Love for Peanut Butter

Last night, I played beach volleyball with a group of friends.  It's a fun way to break up the week and get together with friends.  Plus, the weather was great last night so it was fun to be outside by the lake.  We've won a couple of games, but last night was not our night.  You win some, you lose some!

My friend Lindsey recently moved into a new apartment and did a Target run.  Living in the city without a car, Target is a little difficult to get to.  So, I asked her a HUGE favor.  I have fallen in love with a new cereal that I have only found at Target (I think people are hoarding boxes of it at the grocery store by me).   This cereal combines one of my favorite cereals, Cheerios, and my favorite flavor, peanut butter.  That's right...Peanut Butter Cheerios!  I recommend that everyone try them.  An enormous thank you to Lindsey and her mom Cindy for picking them up for me!

It was either a post volleyball or post shower picture. I opted for the cleanliness of post shower picture.

This week, I tried making a new and different dinner.  I love Indian food and have eaten it out several times.  I don't usually think to make it at home for 2 main reasons:

1. Indian food uses a lot of spices that I don't tend to have on hand.

2. It is known to smell.  Living in a small studio apartment, I don't have the luxury of containing smelly dishes (even if those dishes are tasty too).

The other day, I saw a pre-made Indian sauce at Whole Foods.  Having a pre-made sauce took away reason 1 for not cooking Indian food at home.  I decided to take a chance with reason number 2.

Maya Kaimal makes several different types of sauces.  I chose the vindaloo sauce, which is a coconut and chili flavored sauce. I had tried a vindaloo sauce at my favorite Indian restaurant in Chicago and liked it.  Also, it said that it was spicy and I tend to opt for spicier flavors.

I decided to go vegetarian and roasted a zucchini, mushrooms, onion, and a mixed bag of cauliflower and broccoli.  I set the oven to 420, coated the vegetables in olive oil, and put them in the oven for 20 minutes.  

Toward the end of the 20 minutes I started to simmer the sauce.  I then added the vegetables to the sauce and continued to simmer together for 5 minutes.

This recipe can easily be made using a pound of meat and/or chick peas and whatever vegetables you enjoy.  Be sure to buy naan to make your Indian meal complete!

It might not look pretty, but it was delicious!  And not to mention...smell free (an added perk)!

Portabella Dinner

I usually go to the grocery store with an idea of what I'm cooking that week and a list of groceries.  This past weekend, I went with no plan.  I had no idea what to make and was not getting any good ideas looking around.  I had fallen into a dinner rut and needed some new ideas.  Dad to the rescue!  I called my dad and he suggested grilling portabella mushrooms.

I used Italian spices and added veggies, cheese, and tomato sauce.  To make the portabella, you can use a grill (outside of George Forman) or bake it.  I used the George Forman, but if you choose to make it put your oven at 420 and bake for about 15 minutes.

Grilled Portabella with Veggies (1 serving)
Ingredients:
1/2 bag spinach
sweet onion
cooking spray
spices of choice (I used garlic salt, basil, and red pepper flakes)
handful cherry tomatoes cut in half
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 portabella mushroom
1 wedge Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb
grated parmesan (if you want more cheese)

Instructions:
1. Heat skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray.  Plug in and spray George Foreman.
2. Add onions to pan.  Season as desired.  Remove from pan once softened (about 5 minutes) and put on plate.
3. Re-spray pan and add spinach. Once spinach is wilted (about 3 minutes), add to onions.
4. Add halved tomatoes to spinach and onions. Top with half of the tomato sauce.
5. Season portabella. Place on George Foreman.  Cook for about 2 minutes.
6. Place portabella on top on spinach mixture.  Spread cheese on portabella and top with remaining tomato sauce.

Please notice the Vitamin Water in the top right corner on the picture.  Yup...that's me drinking something with dinner!  Making moves to meet my new goal!

Eat-a Pita

Living away from my parents, one thing that I miss is my mom's amazing cooking.  She always made delicious dinners and this is part of what has inspired me to cook.  One recipe my mom sometimes made was falafel.  I asked for for the recipe and attempted to make them myself, with a little spin on it...

Yup...that's the falafel in the waffle maker!  I read about cooking falafel this way and decided to give it a try.  It was a part failure part success.

Failure: The consistency of the falafel was not the best for the waffle maker. The first few attempts crumbled and fell apart.

Success: By the third attempt, the falafel came out perfectly! Key to success...do not flatten the falafel mixture into the waffle maker. Pile it on!  Another success was the flavor.  The falafel (if I do say so myself) turned out delicious! Just like mom used to make. 

Ingredients:
1 can chick peas

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs (I used panko)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

1 large egg

a little bit of lemon juice

This is what the mixture looked like after the blender.

Instructions for waffle maker:

-Turn on waffle maker

-Place all ingredients into food processor and blend until smooth.

-Put generous portions of mixture into waffle maker (I divided the micture into 4 portions) and heat until golden.

Instructions for pan frying:

-Place all ingredients into food processor and blend until smooth.

-Divide mixture into 16 balls.

-Heat 1 tbl of olive oil in skillet (or use Pam). Cook until browned (about 5 minutes each side).

To go with the falafel, I had an Israeli salad (chopped tomaotes, cucumber, feta, and balsamic dressing), pita, and humus.  You can either make a falafel sandwich or eat the falafel on a salad.