let's make this a meme
seeinglife and I were talking food recently, and she posted a list for me (which you can find in her journal) of the main meals she and her bf make. I thought it'd be neat if I did the same, and encouraged y'all to do the same, b/c it'd make for some great inspiration (the same old meals that we always make and sometimes seem boring to us might be new and
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Basically: Get enough zucchini for how many ppl you want to feed. One and a half to two per person is good if it's all you'll eat or the zukes are smaller; you can get away with one per person if you're serving salad on the side. The recipe that follows is for about 3-4 whole zukes.
Preheat oven to 400. Slice zukes in half lengthwise, and use a spoon to hollow them out a bit. You can either throw away/find some other use for the inside bits or actually incorporate them back into the stuffing, depending on yr tastes (both ways are good). Squeeze some lemon juice onto the zukes, brush them with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper (and red pepper flakes if you like some heat) and put in to roast for about 20-25 minutes, until browned and soft.
In the meantime, finely mince a large shallot or 1/4-1/2 small onion and a few cloves of garlic. Add salt, pepper, and thyme, and saute in olive oil until softened and add zucchini insides if using. Add in about a cup or so of rice (I usually use leftover rice or else that 90 second microwave brown rice) and about...I dunno, 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs. Cook until warmed through, and then add 1/4-1/2 cup of crumbled feta. When zuke halves are done, fill them up with stuffing and put them back into the oven for a few more minutes for cheese to melt a bit.
These are a big hit with most ppl I've made them for, tho I admit I want to play with the recipe a bit, b/c it is admittedly kind of a pain in the ass. Mostly what I'm wondering is what it'd taste like if I just mixed up the raw stuffing ingredients and put it into the zukes BEFORE roasting for the 20 minutes. That would save getting a skillet dirty.
The original recipe that I modified this from actually didn't use rice at all, but used roasted red peppers, which I omitted b/c I hate bell peppers. I've also seen versions of this using veg ground "beef" instead of rice and different kinds of cheeses. But I'm not a huge fan of veg crumbles and I really love the feta in this.
Whenever you've got time, I'd love the recipe for the cauli casserole and the cheesy soup! Also, what are yr dietary restrictions? (Being nosy but also thinking if I might have some good recipes to send yr way.)
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here's the cheesy soup recipe. i usually HATE Velveeta cheese, but for some reason, it's really, really good in this soup.
Southwest Cheesy Soup:
1 PKG frozen sweet corn, thawed, drained
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 pound (12 oz) Velvetta Cheese, cut up
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
1 small can chicken broth
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1. Cook and stir corn and garlic in butter in large saucepan on medium-high heat until tender. Reduce heat to medium.
2. Stir remaining ingredients; cook until Velvetta is melted and soup is thoroughly heated. Top each serving with crushed tortilla chips, if desired.
And the cauliflower casserole:
1 c brown rice
2 tbsp margarine
1/2 lb chopped carrots
1/2 lb mushrooms
1/2 onion
1 head cauliflower
2 cloves garlic
2 c grated cheddar
salt & pepper to taste
1. Cook rice.
2. Melt margarine in a frying pan over medium heat.
3. Add carrots, mushrooms, onions, cook until tender. Stir often.
4. Add cauliflower pieces, garlic, salt & pepper. Turn heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes.
5. Combine veggies, rice and cheese in large casserole dish. Mix well.
6. Cover and bake at 350 for 30 min.
(You can also substitute diced potatoes for the rice, as my husband prefers.)
As far as my dietary restrictions, they're pretty severe:
No fruit except bananas, blueberries, pears and apples.
No alcohol, coffee, or soft drinks.
No tomatoes.
No chocolate.
No vinegar or anything spicy except garlic.
No soy.
Basically, I have to eat ridiculously blandly. But if you did happen to have any recipes that apply, I'd love to have them!
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Oh, wow. Those ARE some severe restrictions. No CHOCOLATE? Or SOY? (I eat a lot of tofu and do a lot of Asian-based cooking with soy sauce.) Poor thing. Now I am determined to think up recipes for you. Hmmmm. Do you ever do pasta aglio e olio? Just saute some garlic in olive oil, toss with pasta and either roasted or sauteed zucchini/broccoli/artichokes/whatever veg you like and then sprinkle with parm? You can also take the leftovers and fry in a pan, add some beaten eggs, milk, and black pepper, and make a pasta pancake/fritata. (I make a lot of pasta.) I've never tried an Asian stir-fry without soy sauce, but I'm wondering if just making a sauce with honey, water, garlic, ginger, and some sesame oil for depth would be good. I bet it would be. I like to toss sweet sauces like that with veggies and serve over rice. Other things I make that might work: spanakopita, caramelized onion tart, fake chicken (dunno if you use Quorn, but it's soy-free, I believe) and herbed cream cheese in puff pastry. Lemme know if you'd want any of those recipes.
For dessert I can give you this: my tweaked version of my grandma's apple cake recipe. It's reallllllly yummy, and not too sweet -- there's no frosting -- so it's kinda like coffee cake (but better for you) in that you can totally eat it for breakfast. I mean, even if you're not a person who, like me, eats cake for breakfast anyway. My grandma also uses the same recipe for blueberry cake.
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Also love the herbed cream cheese in puff pastry idea...yum. Tho every time I use puff pastry I tend to mess it up somehow. Any tips for making it easier to work with?
Y'know what's funny? My grandma passed down the exact same apple cake recipe!! It's like my favorite dessert ever. I thought it was like a family secret. Apparently it's a grandma thing? We frost ours, tho, with cream cheese frosting, but I bet it would be really good without too, especially as a breakfast dish.
I wish you lived here so we could have a dinner party!
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Sadly, I have no puff pastry tips for you. I am notoriously sucky when it comes to dough of any kind. I just buy the frozen stuff and let it thaw out. I don't roll it thinner, like it says to on the box. Then I put stuff in it and sort of roll it up and smush it together or whatever. Usually comes out ugly but tastes good.
A dinner party would be so awesome! I love cooking for ppl! I wish we lived closer together, too. We could be introverted frenz.
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