Mmmm Zucchini and fresh garlic! Sauted until it starts to caramelize.....

This is a repost but this is the side dish I've decided to make with dinner tonight so while I was bringing up the recipe (I use my website as my own personal collection of files and recipes) I decided to repost it so anyone popping in might be nudged to  give it a try.  I KNOW there is a plethora of zucchini  out there right now...  and everyone is wondering what more they can do with it.  Ha.





Caramelized Zucchini

yellow zucchini
green zucchini
olive oil
butter
garlic
salt and pepper

Slice and quarter your zucchini while you heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a fry pan along with about 2 tablespoons of butter.  This is an approximate amount.  Judge accordingly to how much zucchini you use.  When the pan is medium/high hot, add the zucchini, salt and pepper to taste and cook, letting the vegetables cook without stirring too much so they have sufficient time to come into contact with the heat, and the butter will start to caramelize.  Stir and flip the vegetables over so they brown evenly without burning.  During the last 3 minutes of cooking, add about 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic to the zucchini.  Stir and flip to mingle the garlic with the vegetables but don't cook the garlic too long as it gets bitter when burnt.  Turn out to a serving platter.

Zucchini cooking in the pan before it starts to caramelize

Homemade Blueberry Pie

My youngest daughter asks me to make blueberry pie year round, but I personally often start to crave pie in the Fall.  Now that is August, I suppose that is why this came to mind this morning.  I've posted it before - back in December of 2006 as a matter of fact!  But I've been making this particular simple recipe since the 90's.  It's so easy, so quick and yet tastes so good that I've never strayed far when trying 'new' blueberry pie versions.  This is the one I go back to.  If you have extra pie crust dough left over, you can roll a bit out and use a cute little cookie cutter to add a little pastry shape to the top of the crust too.



BLUEBERRY PIE


3 pints blueberries - cleaned and stems removed or frozen
2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 c all purpose flour
1/2 c sugar (I use a mixture of brown and white)
1/4 t cinnamon
2 T butter, cut up
A double pie crust

Toss the blueberries, lemon juice, flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and then place in the bottom pie crust. Top with the cut up butter and then carefully place the top crust over and crimp or use a fork to seal the edges. Slash or poke the top with a knife or fork to let steam escape. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350 for another 30-40 minutes. Let cool and serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.





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Chop Chop Salad from Paul - a great quick, 'throw together' salad to serve

This  is a guest post of sorts.  A dear, dear friend and reader sometimes sends me yummy recipes he has made.  He sent me this one right in the middle of our last relocation across the country, when I was in the process of selling our house, living 1000 miles away from my husband and our youngest daughter (who had already relocated), getting our oldest 2 kids enrolled and moved to college, house hunting in the new state and still working full time at the office.   Needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed at the time, but it looked so fresh, easy and delicious that I tucked it away in my files.

Well, it's time to bring it out!  What a great 'throw together' salad for these hot summer evenings!  Thanks Paul!

Chop Chop Salad from Paul

1 cup, Broccoli crowns, pared way down to bite size.

1 cup, Red Bell pepper

1 cup, Green bell pepper

1 package from grocery store snap-peas. (about a cup)

1 cup Edemame (Yum!)

1 can corn kernels, not cooked*

1 can beets, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed*

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed well*

1 cup celery

1 cup white onion (red onion is more colorful and more flavorful) finely diced

1 cup fresh carrot, shredded

1 cup cucumber (I leave the skin on)

1 cup yellow squash (scoop out seeds cuz they get mushy)

Some minced garlic

4 boiled egg whites

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (watch it!)

Kosher Salt and pepper to taste.

2 parts Mayo and 1 part lite sour cream for binding. Go carefully here, so as not to overwhelm all the other flavors. Don’t need much of either.

* “Fresh” outta the can

I always do most of the cutting and dicing the day before, because a lot of water seeps out of the veggies. Hold in the refrigerator o/nite. About 2 to 3 hours before delivery I drain out all the juice/water and add last minute dicing of bell peppers, celery, eggs, carrots, and cucumbers. Finally, the binding, then let it cool in the refrigerator. I like to serve it in a 9 x 13 ceramic dish that we have. It’s more appealing than a deep plastic bowl. And leave the beets out if you don’t want it to turn pink on you.







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Layered Taco Dip

Here is a dish that is ever-so-popular at almost any get together... and there is a good reason for that. It tastes good. People like it.

I have made this numerous times and of course - use what you have on hand and improvise if you know your family or friends don't like something. Believe it or not, about 8 years ago I read on a recipe message board, an entry on a mexican layer dip where the poster (in all seriousness) said the recipe sounded great until she got to the end and saw it had black olives in it. She couldn't believe that someone would ruin a perfectly good recipe with black olives and then continued to rant and rave about how 'gross' they were and she insisted because it had black olives on it she REFUSED to make it and was so angry because it sounded so good up until that part.

I can only wonder - did the poor girl not even think to simply leave off the black olives?

For goodness sake... leave out anything you don't like. (I'm sure I didn't have to tell you that though!).

Layered Taco Dip

1 can refried beans
1 can black beans
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 c chopped lettuce
1/3 c chopped onions - your choice
1/2 to 1 jar of salsa
1 package of three cheese blend
chopped tomato
black and green olives

Spread the beans on a serving platter or covered pizza round and top with rinsed and drained black beans. You can bake at 325 degrees for about 10-15 minutes now - and top with the rest as a cold topping OR finish layering the ingredients (sour cream, onions, lettuce, salsa, cheese, tomato and olives) and heat it all.  Personally I like it cold myself!  Serve with sturdy tortilla chips.

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower (not potatoes!)

Mashed cauliflower

This is a recipe I originally posted back in...  2008.  Wow!  Has it been that long!?  I have been making cauliflower this way since 2002.  It's a nice alternative to starchy potatoes and if you are low carbing, this is a great mashed potato imitation.  I tend to make this when we have a bbq pork loin as I think the bbq sauce and the mashed cauliflower pair well together.

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon granulated sugar or substitute (option)
salt and pepper to taste

1/8 t garlic powder
1/8 t onion powder

Divide a head of cauliflower into florets and steam or boil until tender - about 25 minutes. Drain the cauliflower. Put the cauliflower in a food processor along with about 1/2 cup of cream so it purees smoothly, add a bit more if you need to. Puree the cauliflower on high speed until smooth, but with some very small pieces of cauliflower remaining in the mix for just a bit of texture.

Pour all of the pureed cauliflower into a medium sauce pan. Add the rest of the cream (as needed to get the consistency of mashed potatoes - don't use all of it if you don't need to), salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and stir. Cook over medium-low, stirring often, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until thick.