Zucchini Eggplant Lasagna
The cool air is finally sweeping across Colorado. Friends in the mountains said it was even snowing at the tops of the mountains! It is kind of a relief after the hot summer we had. Even with the cool weather, my garden is still overflowing with zucchinis. Other gardens are overflowing with eggplants, so of course I am continuing to add to my long list of zucchini recipes; and some eggplant ones as well.
Zucchini Spinach-Artichoke Tart
After my last post I got a message from my mom asking if I really ate spinach artichoke dip for dinner. The answer is yes, sorry Mom I know it’s not healthy but sometimes you just need to indulge your cravings. So apparently spinach artichoke dip is not OK for dinner… unless you turn it into a savory vegetable tart! So here it is, dip for dinner plus another zucchini recipe for all of you drowning in zucchini at the moment; for all of you, there are quite a few zucchini recipes coming up this next week, so grab all those overgrown zucchinis from you garden and get ready.
Zucchini Wrapped Mahi Mahi w/ Tomato Aioli
Have you ever had your freezer melt and lose all of your food? Well, this almost just happened to me. I had all of my proteins in the basement freezer, including a bag of salmon, a bag of shrimp, a bag of mahi mahi, a 3 lb tri-tip, 2 strip steaks, 1 pack of bacon and 6 chicken breasts. While cooking dinner last week, my roommate came upstairs with a bag of dripping, melted, rotten bananas in her hand saying, “You might not want to eat anything in that freezer down there….” Of course, I immediately panicked. Luckily, the door hadn’t been open long enough to melt all of the proteins; I only lost the pack of bacon and two strip steaks. Now all of my proteins have a new home in my mini fridge freezer.
Zucchini & Tomato Gratin
Isn’t it kind of funny how every time a season changes, a year ends, a month ends, school ends or school starts everybody always says “Wow I can’t believe it’s already ____”? It’s not a rare thing for it to seem as though time just flew right past us, yet we always are surprised by it. Instead of being surprised, realize how fast time passes and focus on this moment, these people and these things that you have in your life right now; they will come and go quicker than you may think. I think watching time fly past is a sign that we need to slow down and live today instead of always working for tomorrow.
Beer Batter Tempura Vegetables
Along with the chips and salsa for my Foodbuzz 24×24, I made beer battered veggies tempura as an appetizer. Beer batters are great because the carbonation in the beer makes the batter puff up more when frying, which gives the veggies a fuller crunch. For these, I chose to use Modelo beer to keep the Mexican-type theme for the party. I fried asparagus, green beans, poblano peppers and zucchini (one of the first from our garden!). These are great served with guacamole or ranch dressing to dip.
Zucchini & Yellow Tomato Fritters
Fritters had been on my list of things to make for a while before this, but I just never seemed to be able to find the time to make them. When I was invited to my first stage at SALT, the restaurant I now work at!, I was freaking out about it. I had never done a stage before; for those of you who do not know what that is, it is a working interview in a kitchen. The day before my stage, I looked over the SALT lunch menu and decided I would make anything that I hadn’t made before or thought I could use work on. I ended up making fritters and risotto and decided I could cook the rest of the things on the menu without practice. The funny part about this was that my stage did not involve hardly any cooking! I just made salads, made po’ boys and prepped food. I was so nervous for nothing!
Throwback Thursday: Chicken & Zucchini Baked Ziti
I moved out of my apartment in Breckenridge today to move back to Boulder. Only one more semester of school in Boulder until I get to start culinary school! I am going to miss living in the mountains, the beautiful views from my front porch, the pace of life, and the cool weather. The one thing that I won’t miss about that apartment is the tiny piece-of-junk kitchen. When we first moved in, our stove would spark and pop every time we tried to turn it on- no it was not gas! This week’s Throwback Thursday recipe was made during this time, when I was afraid to cook anything on the stove. Instead I boiled the water for the pasta in the microwave to cook it!
Sun-Dried Tomato, Flank Steak & White Bean Stew
I feel the need to start this post by saying that this was supposed to be a recipe for Mexican Posole. Of course, I had a bit of trouble with the one ingredient needed to make an actual posole- the hominy. I have heard many people say that they usually used canned hominy, but I decided to use dry hominy since that was what was in the pantry. Recalling my artichoke disaster, I am noticing a trend that apparently canned food works better for a lot of things. Luckily, I had a feeling the dry hominy would take a long time to cook and decided to cook it separately, rather than cooking it in the stew. I must have refilled the pot with water at least four times, but the hominy still wasn’t getting soft. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I had to improvise from there. I decided that white kidney beans would be a good substitute for the hominy, since they kind of have a similar texture.
Throwback Thursday: Butternut Squash Gnocchi w/ Moroccan Lamb Sauce
I am laughing while writing about this week’s Throwback Thursday recipe. Don’t get me wrong, the dish was delicious, I just had a few mishaps while trying to prepare it. This meal was my first time eating butternut squash. I spent ages trying to find a recipe that I thought would be a good intro for the new veggie. Finally, I decided to make gnocchi, something else that I had never made before. I ended up making the gnocchi way too wet and struggled to make well-shaped pasta. At the time I had no idea that the pasta was too wet and was dumbfounded on how people made their gnocchi have the cute little fork marks in them. To this day I have still not made gnocchi again. It is something I should probably think about doing in the near future.
Mahi Mahi & Vegetable Medley w/ Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
After hearing about my plan to eat healthier, many of you voiced your desires for me to continue posting my comfort food posts. As much as I would love to be able to eat like that every day and not gain a hundred pounds, I can’t; but there is no need to worry! I stand before you with a recipe to prove that healthy can be just as delicious as all of my comfort food recipes.
This recipe is filled with nutritious vegetables and healthy fish, no cheese or empty carbs here, but I can guarantee that it has more flavor than most meals. I chose not to eat a starch with this meal, but it would go very well with a jasmine rice or white rice. The vinaigrette adds a delicious citrusy bang to the vegetables and fish.
Also!— I am happy to announced that there is finally a print button for my posts. Sorry it took me so long to figure out how to do that! You can find a button at the bottom right of each post, hope this helps you try my recipes more easily. =)
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