Zucchini Casserole

I got this recipe (and the zucchini!) from my mother-in-law. It is full of processed, packaged food and is quite fattening, but oh-so-good. I use reduced-fat soup and sour cream. Also, the original recipe called for 1 cube of butter to be melted and mixed with the stuffing mix. I found that completely unecessary and substituted water for half the butter. It turned out great and next time I will try using 1 c. water instead of any butter.

1/4 c. chopped onion (optional)
6 c. sliced zucchini
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. shredded cheese
1 c. sour cream
1 package stuffing mix
4 T. melted butter
1/2 c. water

Boil onion and zucchini in water for 5 minutes. Drain. Combine cheese, soup, sour cream and add the drained zucchini and onion. Melt butter, combine with stuffing. Divide stuffing in half.

Put half of the stuffing on bottom of casserole dish. Put zicchini mixture on top. Put the other half of stuffing on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Richardson Peach Cobbler

I regret to inform you that these beautiful cobblers were not made with Richardson peaches. The peaches they were made from did have one thing in common with Richardson peaches though - they were free.

My neighbor gave me a big bowl of peaches (and some grapes!), so I decided to make a cobbler tonight. No sooner had I finished peeling and slicing them, but she knocked on my door. When I told her I was making cobbler, she insisted I didn't have enough peaches and had me take another giant bowl full. So even though I tripled my recipe (and took the bigger pan next door), I still have a bowl full of peaches.

This recipes makes one 9x9 pan of cobbler, or double it for 9x13.

Biscuit topper: Sift together
1 c. flour
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt.

Cut in 1/4 c. butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine 1/4 c. milk and 1 slightly beaten egg. Add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring just to moisten. Set aside. Prepare filling. Pour filling into baking dish. Immediately spoon on biscuit topper in 6 mounds. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with cream or ice cream. Make 6 servings.

Peach Filling: Combine in saucepan:
1 1/2 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. ground mace
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. water

Cook and stir till thickened. Add:
4 cups sliced peaches
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. butter

Cook till peaches are hot, about 5 minutes.

Tortilla Cigars

I originally got this recipe from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I don't have a problem getting my family to eat healthy food, but I was curious about the book and it had some yummy looking recipes that just happened to have some extra vitamins.

I altered this quite a bit to fit what I had on hand - very typical of me. I change recipes to make them easier, cheaper, and faster to make with what I have. The original recipe called for cubed chicken or turkey, yellow squash and carrot puree and bigger tortillas. I used leftover pot roast and leftover homemade butternut squash puree (ie. baby food). I also tried using whole wheat tortillas and corn tortillas, and both were equally delicious.

1 c. shredded beef
1/2 c. shredded cheese
1/2 c. squash puree
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 t. garlic salt
whole wheat or corn tortillas

Stir together ingredients. If using corn tortillas, roll with 2 Tablespoons of filling inside. If using flour tortillas, cut in half and place one half on work surface with straight edge facing you. Spread two tablespoons of the filling along the straight edge. Starting at the edge, roll the tortilla into a cigar shape, completely enclosing the filling. Place seam-side down on baking sheet and bake at 340 until tortillas begin to brown.

Indian Butter Chicken (Chickan Makhani)

Sauce

1 T. oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1/2 c. yellow onion, chopped

2 T. butter

2 t. lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 t. chili powder

1 t. cumin

1 t. garam masala

1 t. grated ginger

1/4 c. plain yogurt

1 c. whole milk

1 small can tomato sauce
1/4 t. cayenne pepper (optional)

black pepper
salt

Saute shallot and onion in oil. Stir in butter, lemon juice, garlic, and spices, cook 1 minute. Add tomato sauce and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in milk and yogurt. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

1 T. oil

1 lb boneless chicken, bite-sized pieces

3 potatoes, diced

1 t. garam masala
dash cayenne pepper

1 T. cornstarch

1/4 c. water

Heat oil in skillet. Cook potatoes in oil, evenly browning. Remove potatoes and add to sauce. Add chicken to oil and cook about 10 minutes. Reduce heat, season chicken. Stir in a few spoonfuls of sauce and simmer until liquid is reduced and chicken is no longer pink. Stir cooked chicken into sauce.

Mix together cornstarch and water, then stir into sauce. Cook or 5-10 minutes until thickened. Serve over rice.

Hummus

At John's request, I made hummus for the Pampered Chef party I had last night. I used this recipe (from Allrecipes) because I couldn't find tahini at my grocery store. I will admit that I haven't tried a lot of different hummus, but I thought this was pretty yummy. If you have a food processor, this sure is an easy appetizer to make. I served it with carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and two kinds of crackers.

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
2 ounces fresh jalapeno pepper, sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced

In a blender or food processor, combine garbanzo beans, jalapeno, cumin, lemon juice, garlic and 1 tablespoon of the reserved bean liquid. Blend until smooth.

BBQ Chicken Pizza/Pizza Dough

Deliciousness in a pan: if you love BBQ chicken pizza and have a working oven, then nothing should be stopping you from making this at home. It is so easy and so good. I'm even including my no-fail pizza dough recipe in case you go all out on the from-scratch-ness.

2 T. olive oil
1/2 pound chicken
2/3 c. barbecue sauce
1 recipe pizza dough (or frozen, or premade)
3/4 c. shredded Gouda (I left this out and used 2 c. mozzarella instead)
1 c. shredded mozzarella
3/4 c. shredded parmesan
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 400. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. When chicken is cool enough to handle, dice chicken to yield a little over 1 cup. In a small bowl, toss chicken with 2 T. barbecue sauce. Set aside.

On a floured surface roll out dough and place on a greased sheet pan. Shape to fill the sheet pan. Spread remaining barbecue sauce evenly over pizza dough. Sprinkle Gouda, mozzarella, Parmesan, onions and chicken over top. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese bubbles. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and cut into pieces.

I call this no-fail pizza dough because I've messed it up in countless ways and it still remains delicious. I've overcooked it, undercooked it, used bad yeast, you name it. Delicious. I think it's the garlic. Another great thing about this recipe is that you don't have to rise the dough if you are in a hurry. Just roll it on the pan and bake.

1 c. warm water
1 T. yeast
1 T. sugar
2 T. oil
3 c. flour
2 t. crushed garlic
1 t. basil (I omit this for the BBQ chicken pizza)
1 t. salt

Dissolve yeast in a bowl with warm water. Add sugar, salt and oil and spices as desired. Mix well. Gradually add flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth.

Rising (optional): Place in greased bowl. Turn dough over to grease top; cover and let rise until double.

Divide dough in half for two medium pizzas, or roll out entire dough for 9x13 pan 1/4-1/2 in. thick. Cover with pizza sauce. Ad your choice of cheese and toppings. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Golden Graham S'mores

One of John's cousins made this for our Independence Day party and we all gave it lavish attention (before devouring it, of course). We have a Malt-o-Meal bag of this cereal, so I tried it out for our Sunday dessert. Yum.

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1 Tbsp butter or margarine

1 (5.75 oz.) pkg milk chocolate chips

½ tsp. vanilla

4 cups Golden Grahams cereal

1 ½ cups miniature marshmallows

Butter 9” X 9” X 2” pan. Heat corn syrup & butter to boiling in 3 quart saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips & vanilla. Stir until chocolate is melted. Fold in cereal gradually until covered. Fold in marshmallows. Turn cereal mixture into pan & press with buttered back of spoon. Let stand at room temperature at least 1 hour. Cut into bars.