Saturday, June 14, 2008

The Recipes

Stuffed Zucchini

1 large zucchini or a few small zucchini

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ - 1/3 cup salsa (any commercial salsa will work)

½ onion chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic minced

½ to 1 tablespoon of spike

1 to 1 ½ cups cooked rice

10 oz ground turkey

1 cup cheddar cheese (½ for mixture, ½ for top)

Cut zucchini lengthwise and scoop out middle with a spoon or melon baller. Take care not to scoop out too much, the zucchini must have walls to hold in the filing. Leave walls on all sides so the filling stays in. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the ground turkey and cook. Add the rice, spike, salsa and half of the cheddar cheese. Mix everything together until warm and the cheese has melted. Place mixture equally into zucchini boats. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350 until zucchini are a bit soft, but not too soft. The zucchini should still be quite firm but cooked. Add cheese to top once cooked and melt cheese on top.

Salsa

1 can Organic Muir Glen Fire Roasted Salsa

¼ cup cilantro

¼ Vidalia onion chopped or other mild flavor onion

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 serrano chili

1 jalapeno pepper

juice of ½ lime

In a dry frying pan, place the whole Serrano chili and whole jalapeno for approximately 5-10 minutes tuning every minute so the chili’s are browned/blackened and steamy on the inside. Let them sit on the counter for a few minutes to cool. Cut off the tops and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and veins (do this if you don’t want the salsa too spicy. If you want more spice in the salsa, leave the veins and seeds in). Chop into small pieces. Add all other ingredients into a food processor and blend well – until desired consistency. TIP: Wear gloves if you are working with chili's. The heat of the chili's will make your hands burn for a day or two if you don't - and that's not comfortable. :)

Monday, June 9, 2008

Zucchini



Last year our zucchini was cross pollinated so it didn't produce anything but two funny looking zucchini that were as hard as a rock. This year however, we are bursting at the seams with zucchini. I have picked 5 so far, and there are still about 20-30 on the plants we are growing. I must say, fresh from the garden zucchini is amazing. They taste a bit sweeter than what is sold at the stores, but the store version is still quite acceptable (not like the difference between home grown tomatoes and store bought ones). I am looking for zucchini recipes so we don't have to give too many of them away. The night before last I made zucchini sauteed in a little bit of olive oil. Last night I made zucchini spears baked in the oven so they would be like the zucchini sticks that are deep fried at every restaurant in America. I made two different types, one with Shake n Bake believe it or not which came out really good. The other ones I made were a mixture of flour, corn meal, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, Italian spices and salt (can't remember if I added anything else). Both came out great. Tonight, well, I have no idea what I am going to do. Maybe I will make zucchini chips or something so we can dip in marinara sauce. It's essentially the same thing as the spears, but the breading is a bit different. If I find any overwhelmingly great recipes I will be sure to post them here.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Cheddar Dill Scones

I spent the morning making these......





Oh yes, these are AS good as they look. They are flaky, buttery, dilly, cheddary and all around awesome. If you like dill and cheddar cheese, you are ABSOLUTELY going to love these. This recipe is by the Barefoot Contessa a.k.a., Ina Garten. Shawn's grandparents gave me her cookbook for my birthday this year, and I decided to make these for them. :) I did make one simple change to the recipe, I made 36 small scones instead of 16 LARGE ones. Large scones don't appeal to me because it's too much bread, and simply has too many calories - approximately 400-500 per scone according to the recipe if you make only 16. Without further ado, here's the recipe.

Cheddar-Dill Scones
4 c. (plus 1 T.) all-purpose flour
2 T. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
3/4 lb. cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. cold heavy cream
1/2 lb. extra sharp cheddar, small-diced
1 c. minced fresh dill
1 egg, beaten with 1 T. water or milk, for egg wash

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine 4 c. of flour, baking powder & salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add butter and mix on low, until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Mix the eggs & heavy cream together & quickly add them to the flour & butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss together the cheese, dill & 1 T. of flour - then add to the dough & mix until they are almost incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead for 1 minute, until the cheddar and dill are well distributed. Roll the dough 3/4 inch thick, cut into 4 inch squares, and then in half diagonally to make triangles. Brush the tops with the egg wash. Bake on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet for 20-25 minutes, until the outside is crusty and the inside is fully baked.