Pizza Stuffed Squash

I got three enormous squashes this week and they seemed to be begging to be stuffed. I wanted something a little different and I came across a recipe that called for pepperoni. I thought that was brilliant, but these seemed a little large to have pepperoni be the star player. But, it had me thinking pizza. So, I picked up some Italian turkey sausage at the store. I used the whole package, but I probably didn't need to, because I ended up with too much stuffing. However, the mixture would be great served over pasta or rice as well. It was a hit with the family and it was low carb-ish and had a variety of colors, flavors and veggies. I almost snuck some spinach in there, but forgot.

1 package Italian sausage (I used turkey)
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
i can diced black olives
1 jar pizza sauce
several handfuls of mozzerella
parmesan, if you so desire

Decase (is that a word?) the sausage, and crumble it in the pan and let brown, with some olive oil. Then add the pepper and onion and cooked until softened. Then add pizza sauce and olives and let it warm to a simmer. Meanwhile, slice the squash lengthwise and scrap out the insides. Then spoon warm mixture into the squash, top with cheese and cook on a baking pan till tender, about 20 minutes at 350.

If you want it extra cheesy, you can add cheese to the mixture before stuffing the squash. I simply added it to the top.

Between the sauce and the sausage, there were plenty of seasonings, so I added no salt to it.

Hey, don't forget to add me to your facebook, I'll be doing a giveaway before the end of the month.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Peanut Sauce

I made a menu for this week, which included lettuce wraps. I was a little tired of using my romaine for salads only. And it's hot hot. So lettuce wraps sounded great. I was going to use ground meat of some sort. But, I went to the store and forgot all about the meat until I was at the car. How I forgot meat, is beyond me, because I even brought a list. In any case, I wasn't about to leave my food in the car and go back for meat, because, as mentioned in a previous post, it's roughly 137,000 degrees in the great state of Texas these days. So, I decided to use chicken instead. I simply used one zuchinni, diced. Plus one package of chicken breast tenders, also diced. For the sauce, I used:

2 tablespoons spicy peanut butter

if you don't have spicy peanut butter (you really should) you could use regular peanut butter and add some ceyenne or hot sauce. Or if you don't like spicy, just use regular peanut butter.

about 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
ginger, grated, till I got bored (2 teaspoons)
1 clove garlic
rice wine vinegar
a bit of water if it's too thick.

I added some corn starch and I don't think it's needed, because the peanut butter seems to thicken it. Also, it wasn't very salty, so if you like salt, add more soy sauce and less water.

After the chicken was cooked, with the zuchinni, I tossed it together with the sauce and let it cook for a moment.

I also used some basmati rice in them, but for a low glycemic meal, leave the rice and sugar out. And if you really like peanuts, throw some in there for crunch.

Don't forget to like my facebook page, I'll be doing my giveaway soon.

Ice Cream Pops

Check these out. I love these.

Tovolo Ice-Cream Pop Molds, Set of 4


I them ordered off of amazon a few weeks ago. I already had a couple other sets of the same brand. But I saw these and thought they were adorable and fun. I used my strawberries to make "strawberry ice cream." Which, is essentially strawberries and yogurt. Typically, I would have used vanilla yogurt, but all I had was plain. So, I added some sugar to the strawberries and let them sit for a while and blended them with the yogurt. Aside from the added sugar, I think this is a totally healthy afternoon snack. Especially when it's 137,000 degrees outside, like it's been lately.

I will be doing a giveaway soon, so don't forget to "like" my facebook page, so you can stay updated.

Rice with Mushrooms

My mom used to make this recipe all the time. It's so simply, yet so delicious. I used my mushrooms from last weeks basket to make it. I used brown rice, because that's all I had. But white rice is honestly better. But, as I was making it, I was thinking it would be amazing with wild rice.

I used half a container of mushrooms, because that's what I had. But you could certainly use the whole container. I would have if I had a whole container left.

First slice the mushrooms, then brown them with some olive oil. Then, add one diced onion and some salt to taste. And black pepper. Lots of black pepper. Then take rice, already prepared (like 3 cups) and mix it all together in the pan till warm. Then eat it. I served mine with rosemary chicken and some carrots.

Did you know that portabella mushrooms have more potassium than a banana?

Oh, I'm going to do a giveaway soon, so be sure to follow my facebook page so you'll be informed.

Picka-chee Patties

I was at work this morning, before I realized that I hadn't taken any meat out of the freezer to defrost. I do technically have a roast in the fridge, but tonight was not a roast kind of night. With Tweety Bird having volleyball practice, that gives me about 40 minutes from starting the meal, to when we have to leave. So, I figured I could pull something out of the pantry for dinner.

I remembered I still had some spinach in the fridge, from my basket. Now, my daughter will eat all kinds of veggies. She will eat brussel sprouts without a second thought. Asparagus, no problem. But her least favorite veggie, by far, is spinach. She hates it. So, I have two choices when feeding spinach. I can either just tell her to deal with it and eat it. Or I can do my best to transform it to something a little more pleasing to her palette.

So, I decided to make garbanzo bean patties. Or chickpeas. Or pickachees, as my daughter refers to them. I threw the garbanzo beans and spinach into the food processor. I used the smaller food processor, so I had to do it in batches. I have to say, next time I may add an egg or something else to hold it together. And possibly grind the garbanzo beans finer. But everyone liked them a lot. I served theirs on grilled bread and ate mine by itself. We ate these as the main course (because I totally forgot about that whole roasted broccoli thing I had planned), but these would go great as a side dish to chicken or lamb as well.

Recipe:

1 can rinsed and drained garbanzo beans
1 and a half cups chopped spinach
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup crumbled feta
some chopped parsley
1-2 TBLS olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ceyenne (or more or less)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients (except feta) in food processor until blended. Fold feta into mixture. Form into patties and grill until cooked.

Like I said, maybe adding an egg to the mix would help.

Fajita Tacos

I was craving avocados tonight. And beef. Maybe I need iron. I don't know. At work when I was deciding what to eat I was thinking taco salad. It's great because I can make a giant taco salad for myself and it was easily transformed to regular old tacos for those in the family that weren't terribly interested in having a salad for dinner. Which is all of us. But then I figured if I made fajitas, I was still getting the benefits of some extra veggies in there. Plus if I made enough there were be leftovers for lunch tom morrow. I can just throw the fajita mix on a salad and I'm good to go.

From my basket I used mushroom, onions and tomatoes.

First I sliced one onion, one green pepper and about 6 mushrooms and threw them in a hot skillet with a tad bit of oil and let them brown. Then I removed them from the pan and cranked up the heat so I could brown the meat and get it all carmely. I mixed it all together and topped with diced avocado, tomatoes and cheese.

I was thinking it was kind of like a fajita/Philly cheese steak/taco. It was pretty awesome though.

Asian Basket

I was really happy with the Asian Pack we got this weekend. It had bok choy, which everyone likes. And napa cabbage. Although, that's not a totally foreign veggie to us, I don't know that I've ever bought it. Usually, I just get regular cabbage to throw in stir fries. So I chopped up all the bok choy and all the cabbage. I was hoping to have enough leftovers for lunch for hubby and myself. That was a lot of veggies. I had to cook it in batches. Luckily, just as I thought, it cooked down pretty well. I kind of steam, stir fried it. Added some ginger paste, garlic, green onions and jalapenoes. Oh and the snow peas too. Served it with some grilled chicken and miso soup. Tweety bird loves miso soup.

I tossed the veggies with a tiny bit of Soy Vey.

Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Marinade, 21-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 6)

Figs

This weeks basket was pretty darn good. I ordered the Asian Pack, which included napa cabbage, bok choy, green onions, snow peas, garlic, ginger and basil. That was just the Asian Pack, not the regeular basket. The regualr basket had, among other things, a box of figs. I had gone fig shopping a few months ago, because I came across a recipe for fig, procioutto and gorgonzola pizza, topped with arugla. When I went fig shopping, I came up empty handed. Even the fru fru place around here, Market Street didn't have them. Well, maybe they were out of season, I'm not really sure. So, I was really excited to find not one, but two packs of figs in my basket. My friend gave me a pack from her basket. Not sure if it was a birthday present, or that she just doesn't like figs.

So, even though I wasn't really in the cooking mood last night, we've been eating out too much lately and I knew I had to cook. I grilled the pizza, which is how we usually make pizza. I think that's where I went wrong. When we grill the pizza, I don't think it gets very much induction (is that the word I'm thinking of?). The toppings don't get as hot. It's usually fine for pepperoni or something, but I think these ingredients really needed a chance to marry. And they didn't. They hardly got cooked. Which is fine, everything could have been eaten raw. I could see how it could work, but I don't think it was a keeper. The arugula was a nice touch, because everything else would have tasted pretty heavy if it wasn't for the peppery arugula.

So, anyway, I just ate the rest of the figs. Because come to find out, the rest of the household isn't too big on figs.

Happy Birthday to Me

My basket pick up this week happened to fall right smack dab on top of my birthday. I really didn't mind that much, except as previously discussed I'm not terribly partial to mornings. And my pick up is at 7:15. Well, my dear sweet husband offered to make the pick up for me. Which was awesome. I sort of got to sleep in. Not nearly as much as I would have liked, but enough anyway.

Now, not only did he pick up my basket (well, it's technically ours), he also made me breakfast. Well, I made the bacon with plans to make everyone breakfast, and he finished it off by creating a delicious BLT.

Kinda looks like a face that's going to eat me!

The BLT was fantasic, as it's pretty much my favorite sandwiches (okay just one of them). What would have maade it better would have been if it was served on some toasty sourdough. But alas, all we had in the house was this uber healthy bread. Which I like. But it's not sourdough.

Meringue Fail

So, last week, when we had a basket overflowing with mangoes, I thought the idea of mango meringue sounded spectacular. So, Tweety Bird and I started making this delicious concoction, only to find that first of all it had a lot of steps. And we started way to late in the day. First you have to put the pie crust into the pan. Well, first most of the recipes actually called for you to make the crust. But I wasn't about to do that. I wanted to create a homemade masterpiece. But I didn't really want to create pie dough. Then you freeze the pie dough. Then you cook the pie dough. Then you make the custard. Then it has to cool then set in the fridge. Then you can actually make the meringue portion. I didn't get to the meringue portion though, because the custard never set. It remained a soupy mess until a few days later I tossed it. But since I had the equivilant of 14 mangoes, frozen in ice cube trays, I thought I would give it a shot. Not the most patriotic of desserts, but I was determined. So, I tried again today. And I actually remembered the all important step of making sure that after I put the dough in the pan, to top it with aluminum foil and covered with dried beans. I didn't do this last time and the pie bubbled up in the middle. So, this time I was off to a good start. And I made the custard and put twice the amount of cornstarch that it called for. Then I poured it in the pie and hoped for the best.







Here's the result.

I have to say, this picture is totally misleading. The pie still never set. It was like mango soup. i served it with spoons. I should have served it in a bowl. My wonderful family all said it tasted great. I think it tasted like mango soup. And I'm sticking to lemon meringue from now on. I've made those before and they didn't turn out like soup.

4th of July

Saturday's basket was less than spectacular. I got a head of iceberg lettuce (yawn), broccoli (meh) and...a bunch of fruit. Mainly plums. I was less than excited. I actually had to go to the store and buy veggies this week. But, nevertheless, it's our nations birthday and I decided to make something delicious. While hubby made a beer can chicken with the snazzy gadget I got him for Christmas, I made a quinoa salad. I tossed with kalamata olives, grilled grape tomatoes (from last weeks basket) and feta. I tossed the tomatoes with some olive oil before I put them on the grill and I thought I was going to cause a house fire. So, when they started exploding, I removed them from the grill. I tossed a little olive oil and salt into the mix as well.

On a side note, I think it's important to remember that it may in fact be too hot to grill if a. the grill temp is almost hot enough before you add coals. And b. when the grilling tools are too hot to touch simply from sitting in the sun.

Happy 4th!