Day 60 - Asparagus Pepper Pasta Revisited

Sunday was another one of those days. We were all lazing around the house, and we discovered kinda late that the Awards Ceremony we were attending was refreshments only, not dinner like I thought. I was being lazy and I didn't want to go to the store, which leads me to that platitude "necessity is the mother of invention". The Asparagus Pepper Pasta was a hit earlier in the week and I still had asparagus and peppers left, so I revisited the recipe (with a few changes--again, that seems to be how I cook).

Asparagus Pepper Pasta Revisited

• 1 lb asparagues spears
• 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 large mushrooms, chopped
• 1 largish medium zucchini, cut in quarters
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb penne pasta

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces.
2. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until transparent. Add asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini, and bell pepper and saute until asparagus is crisp-tender and mushrooms have released their juices. Add salt and pepper.
3. Serve over penne pasta. 

Sorry! No pics--I had to get ready for the awards ceremony and time was tight around dinner time. 

Day 44 - Zucchini Pizza

Did I ever tell you I used to be a professional baker? Yep, I did. I've always loved to bake and when times got tough I was hired at the local grocery store in the bakery. I worked my way up (very quickly, I might add) from being a "packager" to actually becoming a baker and eventually assistant bakery manager.

I love to bake.

My kids didn't really like it when I worked at the bakery though because I never baked at home. Now I'm a full time/part time writer and I have a lot more time on my hands. Developing recipes and such. :) For Christmas I purchased a book by Jim Lahey called My Bread. It's a book that gives you the basics of no knead bread. Lahey's hypothesis is that bread has been around forever, so it couldn't have been as hard to make as it is today. One of the many things I learned when I was a professional baker is that bread that has a longer time to develop (in the refrigerator--it slows the rising) tastes better, and Lahey's bread tastes awesome. Lahey includes a no knead pizza dough recipe as well, and some great veggie versions (and some vegan as well) of different pizzas.

Here's what happened: I mixed up the dough (about 5 minutes between classes). Set it in a bowl on the stove for about 2 hours. At around 5:30 I put the boys to work. They shredded zucchini, salted it, and drained it. And they stretched the dough into the pizza pans. And put on the toppings. And baked the pizza. I supervised. And the pizza was AWESOME! I don't think we'll be buying pizza anymore for our Friday pizza nights...

Jim Lahey's No-Knead Pizza Dough

• 3 3/4 cups bread flour
• 2 1/2 tsp active yeast
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp sugar
• 1 1/3 cups water

1. In a bowl stir together the dry ingredients. Add the water and mix until blended. This dough is stiff, not wet and sticky (just in case you are used to Lahey's other recipes). Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature for around 2 hours.
2. Oil two 11x13 jelly roll pans. Use half the dough for each pan. Gently pull and stretch the dough to fit the pan, using your hands to press it evenly out. Pinch any holes together.

Stretching the dough may take some time. Here is an example for you:

The topping:

• 3 large zucchini
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz grated swiss cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Grate the zucchini. In a medium bowl mix together the salt and the zucchini. Let stand for 15 or so minutes, until the zucchini has released its water.
2. Drain the zucchini in a colander, and squeeze the zucchini to get out as much water as you can.
3. Spread the zucchini mixture over the dough. Top with the shredded swiss cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or so, until the topping starts to turn golden brown and the crust is pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Can I just say...YUM!!!

*Disclaimer--the boys pretty much did all the work (and all the eating). Even taking pictures. I took the video and (kind of) supervised, but this was really pretty much all them. They even decided on the topping!

Day 12 - Five Layer Vegetable Stew

This isn't really a stew, but it is too soupy to be a casserole. It has a really good flavor, though, so I suspect with some tweaking, it can be perfect!

Five Layer Vegetable Stew

• 2 cans white beans
• 4 oz pesto
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 6 small russet potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 red bell peppers, sliced
• 2 large zucchini, sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
• salt and pepper 

1. In a food processor or blender, process the beans, pesto, and 3 tbsp olive oil until well blended and creamy.
2. Heat the remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potato slices and cook until golden brown on both sides. Set aside. Add the onion slices to the same pan, and cook until browned on both sides.
3. Spray the inside of a large crockpot insert with non-stick cooking spray. Lay 1/2 the potato slices in the bottom. Spoon a small amount of bean mixture on top of potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with onion and red pepper slices, bean mixture, salt and pepper. Layer zucchini slices, bean mixture, and salt and pepper, tomatoes. Repeat the layers. If there is any bean mixture left, pour it on top of the final layer of tomatoes. Cover and cook on low 6 hours.

Day 8 - Minestrone Casserole

I didn't actually cook this last night. We ate leftovers and I went to Book Club. But I did make this last January for my Dinner Club swap. Sadly, we are no longer swapping dinners...but that is probably ok since I have sworn off meat this year.

I wonder if I can get anyone to swap vegetarian frozen meals with me?

This is a really good recipe. And one I've been thinking I need to make again. I love having meals in the freezer for those nights when I forget to take my vitamins am tired and not in the mood.


Minestrone Casserole

• 2 cups uncooked mini lasagna noodles (4 oz) -I used something called Wacky Mac from the local grocery
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 2 medium stalks celery, sliced (1 cup)
• 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini or summer squash, quartered lengthwise and slice-1 used a small one of each
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped (I pressed)
• 2 cans (15 oz each) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
• 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon salt (oops! forgot this)
• 1/4 tsp pepper (forgot this too)
• 1/4 cup refrigerated basil pesto

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package using minimum cooking time.
2. Meanwhile, in large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, and bell pepper; cover and cook 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until carrots are just tender. Uncover; stir in squash and garlic. Cook and stir 1 minute more.
3. Place pasta in uncreased 3-qt casserole. Stir in carrot mixture, beans, tomatoes, 1/4 cup of the cheese, salt, pepper, and pesto. Cover casserole. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until hot in center.Top each serving with remaining cheese.

How I freezerized it: Place 2 cups uncooked pasta in a quart sized ziploc bag. Place 1/4 parmesan cheese in a snack sized ziploc bag. Cook vegetables as directed. Remove from heat. Stir in undrained tomatoes, beans, salt, pepper, and pesto. Place in a gallon sized freezer ziploc bag. Place all 3 bags in another gallon sized ziploc bag. Freeze.

This recipe is from one of those little Pillsbury cookbooks you can pick up each month at the grocery store. Not sure which one, but I am pretty sure that's where I got it.

Day 7 - Zucchini Parmesan

I'm up to my eyeballs in zucchini. Well, not really, but all the same, I do have a lot. And I thought I would get rid of it all with this great Zucchini Parmesan recipe I can up with (inspiration from here), but, alas...it's not to be.

But I did use two of them up. Which is nice. Of course, I still have leftovers of both the Zucchini Parmesan and the zucchini. But that's ok, because I have book club tonight and very little time to be creative. So it's leftovers for dinner.

Zucchini Parmesan

• 2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced longwise
  
• 12 oz spaghetti
• 1 cup Italian-seasoned Bread Crumbs
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or egg replacer)
  
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup six cheese Italian Cheese mix
• 16 oz jar marinara sauce (**or you can punt, like I did)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Cook spaghetti al dente according to package directions.
2. Place 1/4 marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Place cooked and drained spaghetti in baking pan. Top with an additional 1/4 of the sauce.
3. Place almond milk in a shallow bowl. Place bread crumbs in another shallow bowl. Mix Parmesan cheese with bread crumbs.
4. Dip zucchini slices in almond milk and then dredge both sides in Parmesan bread crumb mixture. Place on top of spaghetti in baking pan. You will probably have to overlap the zucchini pieces. Continue until you run out of room (or you use all the slices *Ü*).
5. Spread remaining marinara sauce over zucchini. Sprinkle Italian cheeses over the top. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through.

*Based on eggplant parmesan experience, I believe this will freeze well. I did not make enough to freeze here because I didn't have enough ingredients to make two.

Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the final product. But trust me
when I say...it looked GOOD.

**In a pinch Punt Marinara: Here's what I did: I had no sauce in the pantry (I used the last of it on the gnocchi), but I did have a 15 oz can of Italian diced tomatoes, a 6 oz can of tomato paste, and a pkg of Laurie's Kitchen Puttanesca Sauce Mix that I bought from my Boy Scout son during one of his fundraisers. The directions on the sauce call for mixing the sauce mix with a 28 oz can of tomatoes. Instead I mixed together the sauce mix, the tomatoes, the can of tomato paste and two tomato paste cans of water. I am pretty sure the "very expensive but I bought it because my son was selling it" sauce mix is really just a good italian seasoning mix with some kind of thickener (like cornstarch), so if you don't have the sauce mix (and if you don't, call me and I'll send my son over to sell you some) you should be able to use italian seasoning and cornstarch.

Day 6 - Zucchini Corn Enchiladas

For whatever reason, in the middle of winter, zucchini is abundant (and cheap) at the Mexican market close to my husband's work. And since we love zucchini, he has been bringing it home for me to cook. We've already had stuffed zucchini, zucchini parmesan is on the horizon, and last night I created a zucchini enchilada dish.

Which is muy sabrosa.

Zucchini Corn Enchiladas

• 2 medium to largish zucchini
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
  
• 1/2 of a 16 oz bag frozen corn
  
• 1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
• 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
  
• 1 (10 oz) green chile enchilada sauce
• 1/4 cup mexican cheese mixture (optional)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Shred both zucchini.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onions until translucent. Add garlic, corn, and shredded zucchini. Cook until zucchini has released water and water has mostly evaporated. Stir in diced green chiles.
3. Place tortillas on a microwave safe plate and cover with a paper towel. Microwave on high for 1 minute to soften.
4. Place a scant 1/4 cup of filling in each tortilla, rolling up. Place seam side down in 13x9 casserole pan. Sprinkle any remaining filling over the top of the rolled tortillas.
5. Pour enchilada sauce over the top of tortillas, making sure that the sauce covers all the enchiladas. If using cheese, sprinkle over the top of the enchiladas.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until enchiladas are heated through.

The cheese is really an unnecessary addition to these enchiladas. I don't even really like cheese, but my family does. This plays lip service to that want from them...but it really is an unnecessary addition. :)

And while I haven't frozen this particular recipe (I only made one), I am pretty sure that this would freeze just fine. I would have made two, but I wanted to have zucchini left for the zucchini parmesan that I am making tonight...