Stuffed Acorn Squash

Friends, I apologize for my absence here. My camera is broken! A disaster for a food blogger!

Searching through old photos, I found this (not-so-great) one of my favorite autumn dinner: stuffed acorn squash. Today a brisk wind is blowing the leaves from the trees, the sun is shining, the air is crisp: this dish is a perfect match.

The recipe fills a baked acorn squash bowl with sausage, apples, pecans, onions and cranberries and drizzles it all with maple syrup. Need I say more? It can be served as a main dish (one-half squash per person) or sliced up further as a side dish. It's prettier in person than it looks in the photo--definitely

Enjoy this autumn meal while I figure out this camera mess!

Receipe below; printable version here.

Zucchini-Crusted Pizza

I'd been holding on to this recipe for months, waiting for zucchini season to roll around. Zucchini-crusted pizza? So intriguing! I imagined the traditional bready crust with bits of zucchini poking through.

It turned out to be much different--which I would have realized if I had actually, you know, read the recipe before I started. What a concept!

It was more akin to a quiche. A quiche with pizza toppings. I know, right? The ingredients were simple:

Grated zucchini +	beaten eggs +
flour +	grated mozzarella + parmesan

We also added some fresh basil. I spread the batter into a tart pan, but a pie pan would work equally well.


We baked it around half an hour until golden brown. Then squinted a bit at the finished product, decided, "Sure, why not use it as a pizza crust," covered with our favorite toppings and returned to the oven until cheese was melted and the toppings were heated through.

It may not have been what I was expecting, but it was tasty. Much richer than our usual pizzas, to be sure. But it definitely worked a lot of zucchini into our meal and even earned The Boy's seal of approval!

Recipe below; printable version here.

Ridiculously Easy Peach Crisp

This dessert comes together crazy fast, satisfies the urge for a warm sweet treat, and dirties just the baking dish and a paring knife.

Fill a baking dish with sliced, peeled peaches

Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice

Cover with crumbled gingersnaps

Bake and you're done!

Recipe below or printable version here.

Herbed Potato Salad with Green Beans and Tomatoes

You'll have to use your imagination a bit for the photo above. Instead of the slightly overcooked potato lumps, picture firm red potatoes tossed with tomatoes, beans and basil. Now, doesn't that look tasty?

Despite the smushy potatoes it was still delicious. Our produce box had potatoes, beans, basil and tomatoes the other week and this was a wonderful way to combine them: the fresh veggie flavors overlaid with basil and the slightest bit of vinegar tang. A great salad to squeeze in to those final sunny September barbeques.

Recipe below; printable version here.

Zucchini Cookies

I probably shouldn't admit this but when I see a bowl of freshly grated zucchini...

...I don't think, "What a tasty, healthy vegetable!" I think, "Oh, tasty, sugary baked goods!" Like zuchhini bread. And zucchini cake. And these awesome zucchini cookies.

The recipe include chocolate chips and walnuts and coconut. (It calls for raisins, too, but I would never sully such yumminess with horrid raisins.) They freeze well and can be eaten nearly straight from freezer. (Not that I would ever do that. Ahem.)

Recipe below; printable version here.

Bulgur, Mint, and Parlsey Salad

When I saw the large bunch of flat leaf parsley in the produce box I knew tabbouleh was in our future. Nutty bulgur, tart lemon, cool cucumbers and tomatoes--love it!

The Husband made this dish, so no prep photos today.

The flavor blends and intensifies the longer it sits, so make it a few hours ahead of time if you can. It was near divine when I scarfed down the leftovers the next day.

Recipe below; printable version here.

Chili in Grilled Zucchini Boats

Yesterday was too dreadfully hot to think about cooking, so we fired up the grill and tried something new. These are officially chili-stuffed zucchini, but we thought it was much more interesting to dub them zucchini boats.

Halve zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the centers

Salt and pepper, then brush with garlic and olive oil

The recipe has you make up a very basic mix of beans, cheese, cilantro and salsa, but you could substitute leftover chili for an even faster prep. I'll add a pinch of cumin or chili pepper the next time around.

The Boy declared that it was the only recipe I've ever made that he liked. I decided to accept the compliment without comment!

Recipe below; printable version here.

Pacific Northwest Chili

We've dubbed this dish Pacific Northwest chili because it includes an item held in great esteem by many in these parts: beer. Also because all the veggies in it are grown around here (and are in season right now). But mostly the beer.

We tried this out when we were looking for vegetarian recipes to add to our repertoire, but it's become our favorite chili recipe.  It is simply amazing in the summer when the ingredients are all fresh.

Recipe below; printable version here.

Dairy-Free Zucchini Bread

I've been experimenting with coconut oil in my baking lately as a substitute for butter and shortening. It's naturally dairy-free and avoids the trans-fats in margarine. And--I was happy to discover--doesn't seem to make everything taste like coconut.

On a side note, we always have unrefined coconut oil in the house because I regularly use it to moisturize my daughter's super curly hair. I'm not sure what seems odder to me: that I use a food item on her hair, or that I cook with a hair product.

This is a basic zucchini bread using coconut oil, with a little whole wheat pastry flour slipped in for that whole grain goodness. Best enjoyed on the deck in the morning sun with a cup of good coffee.

Recipe below; printable version here.

Dairy-Free Pesto

I think pesto is pretty close to perfection. So I embraced this dairy-free pesto recipe pretty much the minute I tasted it, since it meant we wouldn't have to kick pesto out of our meals for The Girl's sake. Not quite as rich as regular pesto, it still has that sublime flavor mix of basil, garlic and pinenuts. With no olive oil and no cheese involved, the recipe triples as a low-fat pesto recipe and vegan pesto recipe.

The equation begins, of course, with basil.

One cup firmly packed basil leaves +

one cup tomatoes +	one clove minced garlic +
one tablespoon toasted pinenuts +	one-half teaspoon salt

Blend it all together in a food processor or blender, and you're done! I make up several batches when basil and tomatoes abound in the summer and freeze it in one-cup portions.

Recipe below.

Bee-bim Bop

This is Swiss chard.

It is not, as I mistakenly believed last year, rhubarb. Although, in my defense, rhubarb looks suspiciously like Swiss chard. The purple stalks! The broad green leaves!

Thinking it was rhubarb, one year ago I tossed the (perfectly edible!) leaves and used the stalks to make "rhubarb" crisp. Which tasted like it was made from celery. Ugh.

Aside from learning what chard actually looks like, the most useful thing I've learned about it since then is that its leaves can be substituted for spinach in pretty much any recipe. It's not too tough and  has a very mild flavor.

We used some of our first chard of this summer in bee-bim bop. I always enjoy this meal, even with all the pots and pans it dirties.

Believe it or not, this recipe came from a children's book.  One day The Boy picked up Bee-Bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park at the library. It's a bouncy, rhyming tale of a little girl happily helping make her family's dinner of bee-bim bop (which the book translates as "mix-mix bowl"), a Korean mixed dish of marinated beef, vegetables and fried egg.

A recipe follows the story, with instructions divided up for "you" (the child" and the "grown-up". After many, many readings of the book, The Boy was excited to taste bee-bim bop himself. It was a huge success! Love the marinade for the meat.

It is a time-consuming, multi-pan recipe. And I make no claims that I'm doing authentic Korean cooking here. But bee-bim bop has easily slipped its way into our regular stable of meals.

Recipe below; printable version here. Check out the book for a kid-inclusive version!

Photo credit (rhubarb): Sandy Austin

Black Bean, Corn, and Zucchini Enchiladas

I love enchiladas. Mmmmm. This Cooking Light recipe revamps them up for summer, incorporating seasonal veggies and lightening them up without sacrificing their warm, saucy goodness.

The inside is a mixture of zucchini, corn and black beans, sprinkled with shredded cheese and wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla.


Little bundles of tastiness!


The recipe includes instructions for making a homemade sauce. It is veeerrrry tempting to sub in the handy dandy can of enchilada sauce from the grocery store. But resist. The veggie filling is fairly bland--a sort of fresh, healthy base--and it's the sauce that really makes the flavor of the dish. And, other than the half-hour it simmers on the stovetop, the sauce goes together quite quickly--and can be made up to three days ahead.

Recipe below; printable version here.

Italian Zucchini-Tomato Skillet

The zucchini has arrived!

This little combo is one of my go-to basic side dishes in the summer. It's quick and doesn't involve the oven (too hot!). And I've found the tomato-basil-parmesan combo to be pretty palatable for most kids.

Let some garlic get the party started	Add the zucchini for a minute
The green onions get all up in their business	Finish with tomatoes, basil, and parsley

Recipe below; printable version here.

Quinoa Salad with Sugar Snap Peas

Lots of sugar snap peas in the box lately! We eat most of them raw, nibbled as snacks or accompanying meals. But I've been looking for other uses for them.

This quinoa salad seemed like a simple summer side dish, one that would taste good cold. It went together fairly quickly.

Blanch snap peas and cut into one inch segments

Boil up some quinoa and let cool to room temperature

Toss quinoa and peas together with chives,
pumpkin seeds and a vinaigrette

I don't know what I was thinking when I pulled this recipe. I like quinoa, I like snap peas, I like olive oil...but I don't much like vinegar (with the notable exception of sea salt and vinegar Kettle Chips). This recipe uses a healthy chug of white wine vinegar as a major flavor. So why was I surprised not to like the taste of this salad much?

The Husband said it was good. The Girl seemed to like it. You'll have to take their word for it.

Recipe below; printable version here.

Zuppa di Verdure

When you discover last week's Swiss chard languishing in the crisper drawer (ahem), the only thing to do is make soup. Nothing is more forgiving to wilting greens than soup.

I decided to try a Mollie Katzen recipe I'd been hanging on to called zuppa di vedure (an Italian vegetable soup). Like most vegetable soups it has a friendly flexibility. You can swap out similar veggies to take advantage of what you have on hand. This time around I substituted sugar snap peas for green beans and skipped the mushrooms altogether.

It was lovely--much more charming than the picture above captures. It had a lightness fitting to the summer weather, with a flavor similar to minestrone. We served it with a crusty roasted garlic bread to dip into the broth. Yum!

Recipe below; printable version here.

Cooking with Kids: Watermelon-Raspberry Slush

The Boy love love loves finding his monthly Highlights High Five magazine in the mail. Seriously one of the most genius Christmas gifts he's gotten (thank you Great-Grandma!).

It often includes a kid-friendly recipe that preschoolers can make (with a little adult help, of course). The August issue featured raspberry-watermelon slush. Think convenience store icees, only without the high-fructose corn syrup and artificial colors. In fact, this one uses nothing but fruit and a touch of lemon juice.

Blend 1/2 cup raspberries...	...with 2 cups watermelon and a splash of lemon juice.
Freeze in a 2 quart dish...	...stirring with a fork every 30 minutes.

After about 90 minutes it was thick and slushy, ready to be dished up. So tasty on a warm summer evening! And The Boy was so proud that he had made us all dessert.