Chicken Divan

My family makes a super simple, super yummy version of chicken divan. Its pretty much a staple in all of our menus. I make it quite often, though I realize I've never posted the recipe. This is one of the first chicken dishes that my then-vegetarian roommate in college tried and liked... and eventually led to her becoming a meat eater. :) I often put it all together and freeze it to bake later. It also freezes and thaws very well if you want to freeze after cooking, too. You can make this to suit your tastes, its very versatile. I generally use broccoli and cauliflower as my veggies, but I've made it with green beans, corn, and carrots, at different times, too. Broccoli and cauliflower are my favorites, but I also like it with green beans and then I use a cream of mushroom soup and it tastes like a green bean casserole on the bottom.

Chicken Divan

frozen veggies (broccoli and cauliflower are my favorites to use, but you can use anything you like)
cream of whatever soup (use your favorite... cream of celery is my favorite to use with this)
shredded cheese
boneless skinless chicken breasts
bread or cracker crumbs (optional)

Adjust the quantities depending on the size of your pan. If I don't want many leftovers, I generally use a 9x9 square glass baking dish. For that, I use the equivalent to one of the 16 oz bags of frozen veggies, 1 can of soup, maybe 1/2-1 cup of cheese, and three or four chicken breasts, depending on their size.

Pour your frozen veggies into the bottom of your pan. Open up your soup and spread it over top of the veggies. Sprinkle cheese on top of the soup. Place chicken breasts on top of the cheese. You can sprinkle with bread or cracker crumbs if you want... I don't generally do that, though. Cover with aluminum foil. Then just bake it in a 350 degree oven. You can bake it all frozen (even the chicken), but that takes about an hour and a half, probably. If the chicken is thawed, then I think I probably bake it for about 40-45 minutes, maybe. I just keep an eye on it till it looks done. You'll want to remove the foil during the last 15-20 minutes or so.

Meal plans and the week ahead

Last week went much better than the week before, thankfully. It was my first week of doing Plan A, and even though I ended up working 38 hours (instead of the 32 I had planned), which included a 3.5 hour conference call from home on my Plan A day... I really felt so much more relaxed and at ease. So that was a good thing. On Wednesday, I started coming down with that bad cold that is going around. I made a quick trip to the store to pick up some Emergen-C and Echinacea to try to kick up my immune system and beat the cold. It worked!! Emergen-C is the best thing ever. I thought I'd be sick all weekend, especially after how I was feeling on Thursday. But by Friday afternoon, I was feeling back to normal. For once, I kicked the cold's butt instead of the other way around!! Woohoo!!!

This week will be a busy one with Halloween activities. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, even though I haven't gotten into it like I used to these last couple of years. Its just such a fun time, dressing up in costumes, awesome decorations, fun food, and everyone just enjoys themselves. I'm really looking forward to Halloweens to come as Carson gets a little older and really gets into it, too. We're hoping our property will be ready next year to begin a new tradition - an annual fall/Halloween party!

Today, we'll be going to church and then just hanging out at home and working in the yard sweeping up leaves (Kevin & Carson), burning some stuff (Kevin), doing oil changes on the cars (Kevin), cutting back the perennials (me), digging more carrots from the garden (me & Carson), freezing more brussels sprouts (me), making and canning applesauce (me & Carson - he likes to turn the handle on the peeler/corer), and cleaning (all 3 of us). Monday and Tuesday will be pretty normal days and Carson and I will be working on some more fun Halloween crafts in the evening. Wednesday we have swim class. Thursday I might take Carson up to one of the malls for trick-or-treating, but we'll just see how the night goes. Friday we have our first tumbling class in the morning, then some friends may be coming over in the early afternoon, and in the late afternoon we'll be heading to Impression 5 in Lansing for a Halloween party. And Saturday is Halloween! We'll be going over to my SIL's for dinner, trick-or-treating in their subdivision, and then over to my in-laws' house to hang out. Should be a fun week!

Here's a look at the meals...

Sunday - arabic baked chicken with potatoes and carrots; homemade applesauce

Meatless Monday - peas and cheese tortellini with peas, broccoli, and carrots; home-canned pearsauce

Tuesday - spinach and mushroom lasagna from the freezer; steamed green beans; home-canned peaches

Wednesday - swim class tonight, so its a portable meal... PB&J sandwiches; yogurt; apple slices

Thursday - we'll be eating at my parents' house since my mom is watching Carson

Friday - tumbling, playdate, and Impression 5 Halloween Caper. We'll be having pizza at the Halloween party.

Saturday - Happy Halloween!! I'll be making goulash to take over to my SIL's; she'll have a veggie and some bread; and I think I want to make a fun dessert, though I'm not sure what yet.

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

I tried another tasty recipe from 365 Days of Slow Cooking tonight for dinner - beef stroganoff. I've never made beef stroganoff, but Kevin and I both like it and Kevin wanted a home-cooked meal with beef (I thought I'd never hear the day when he wanted a home-cooked meal over eating out!!), so I thought, why not try it? This was super easy to throw together and it tastes soooo good!! All three of us loved it. I served it over egg noodles, instead of rice. Its very filling and this make a good amount. I'm going to try freezing some of the leftovers since this is too heavy for me to eat at lunch and Kevin's away during the week. Hopefully it freezes and thaws well.

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 lb boneless beef round steak, trimmed of fat and cut into bite size strips
2 tbsp onion soup mix (I just used the whole packet)
1 jar (14.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained (home-canned)
1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup (home-canned)
1/2 cup sour cream
4 oz. cream cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives (left these off)
rice or noodles

In 2-3 quart slow cooker (I used my big one since it was out and its a 6-quart and it did fine), mix beef strips and dry soup mix until evenly coated. Top with mushrooms and soup. Cover; cook on low heat setting 7-8 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, cook rice (or noodles). Just before serving, stir sour cream and cream cheese into beef mixture. Serve over rice or noodles. Sprinkle with chives.

Meal plans and the week ahead

A new week. Hopefully this week is better than my week last week. I hit a wall on Tuesday - and was seriously just plain mentally exhausted for the rest of the week. It sucked. The good news is that I am starting Plan A this week! Its a program that is available to all state employees here. You basically are still a full-time employee on paper - accruing 40 hours/week towards retirement, you don't pay more for benefits, etc. - but you only work 32 hours a week... and only get paid for 32 hours/week. Its kind of like taking voluntary furlough days. The 20% pay cut isn't too appealing, but my mental sanity and the extra time with my Little Man is totally worth it... ten-fold! :)

After my week last week, I haven't really given much thought to the week ahead yet. So I'm sure things will change as the week goes on. Tuesday will be a long day in Detroit for me... and I'm really hoping that things at work start to simmer down a bit after our workshop on Tuesday... keep your fingers crossed for me! Of course, we have swimming on Wednesday. On Friday, my friends Jenny and Melissa are coming over with their kids for a playdate. So that will be fun! And on Saturday, we'll go to a local orchard in the morning if the weather is nice. And in the late afternoon, we'll be going to a fall-themed party at a local gymnastics place that Carson will be starting a tumbling class at near the end of the month.

My goals this week are pretty basic. I've fallen behind on cleaning this last week and a half, so I want to do some thorough, deep cleaning, especially in the kitchen and in the bathroom. I'll be working on getting a bunch of tulip bulbs in the ground this afternoon, as well as some black eyed susans that a friend shared with me. I also want to hose down Carson's slide/climber and playhouse this afternoon. The slide/climber will be brought into the family room for the winter and the playhouse will go into the barn. Tomorrow night, I'll hook up the lawn sweeper and Carson and I will drive around on one of the tractors, sweeping up the fallen leaves in the yard. I won't really have a lot of time on Tuesday or Wednesday... and what little I have will be spent on picking up the house. Thursday night, I'm not planning anything but fun stuff with Carson. We'll be making some more fall and Halloween crafts and we'll just do what the little man wants to do. The weekend will be filled with fun stuff, as well.

So, on to the meals...

Sunday ~ baked potato soup; beer bread; organic store-bought applesauce

Meatless Monday ~ goat cheese, black bean, and corn quesadillas; home-canned pearsauce

Tuesday ~ I'll be in Detroit all day for a workshop. We'll eat at my parents' house since my mom is watching Carson.

Wednesday ~ Swimming tonight... so portable... sliced beef sausage; sliced co-jack cheese; crackers; peanuts; apple slices

Thursday ~ greek chicken pasta from the freezer; steamed green beans from the freezer; home-canned peaches

Friday ~ Friends are coming over in the morning; Carson and I will have breakfast for dinner... whole grain pancakes; home-canned blueberry syrup; home-canned pearsauce

Saturday ~ Orchard in the morning; Gymnastics in the late afternoon; dinner is TBD... but probably eating out in Grand Blanc some place since we'll be at the gym till 6pm. crockpot beef stroganoff; steamed green beans; home-canned peaches

Meal plans and the week ahead

Another week ahead of being a single working mom... and you know, its actually not as bad as it used to be... I think I'm getting used to it. We're just trying to make the best of it. Kevin flies back to Virginia early Monday morning and returns late Friday night again this week.

I've been trying to channel Carson's creative side more and more lately. We've been trying to do something creative every night after we eat dinner and before bath time and our bedtime routine. Whether its just coloring, play-doh, or a special project, Carson loves it! We went out one night last week and looked for pretty, brightly colored leaves on the property. We brought them in and pressed them between wax paper and the pages of the phone book. We'll use them for some fun crafts this week. We'll make a crown for Carson to wear, a placemat and coasters with clear contact paper, and we'll do some coloring over top of them. We might attempt a spider hat this week, too... but I think we might save that one for next week.

This Friday is my Flex Friday. I really hope the weather is nice! I'd like to take Carson to a local orchard in the morning. And in the late afternoon, we're planning to meet up with my cousin, Michelle, and head to East Lansing to eat a quick dinner downtown and then watch the MSU Homecoming parade. So hopefully the weather is ok... as long as its not raining or snowing, we'll go. If the weather is bad, maybe we'll take a trip to Safari Playground - its this really cool indoor playground near where we live. Then on Saturday, we're planning to take Carson to his first Spartan tailgate(s) for Homecoming. Hopefully the weather is good for that, too.

I won't do much in terms of extras this week. I plan to pick up a bushel of apples at the orchard on Friday, so I would like to do a couple batches of applesauce on Saturday after the tailgates. I also want to bake some apple muffins on Saturday. And that's probably it for the week.

I'm still taking the easy route on our dinners. Easy and fast is essential right now. Having Carson's favorites is also a bonus since he'll eat them best and we get through dinner more quickly. So here's the plan...

Sunday - baked ziti; roasted brussels sprouts and carrots from the garden; organic store-bought applesauce

Meatless Monday - We'll be eating at my parents' house since my mom is watching Carson.

Tuesday - chicken divan from the freezer; home-canned peaches

Wednesday - Swim class tonight, so a portable meal... PB&J sandwiches with organic PB and homemade raspberry jam; sliced co-jack cheese; zucchini bread muffins from the freezer

Thursday - hot dogs; organic mac & cheese from a box; apple slices

Friday - Its my flex day! Orchard in the morning, MSU Homecoming parade in the afternoon. Dinner in East Lansing.

Saturday - Go Green! Going to the Spartan tailgates in the morning. We'll eat lunch in East Lansing. I'll probably throw something in the crockpot for dinner... likely to be chicken tortilla soup. I'll pull some zucchini yeast rolls out of the freezer to have with the soup.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Carson and I made some pumpkin pie muffins this morning. The recipe comes from my Ellie Krieger: The Food You Crave cookbook. I've made these before and had frozen most of them for breakfasts on the run and snacks, but realized I never posted the recipe. These are very tasty muffins - they do taste a lot like pumpkin pie, so if you like pumpkin pie, you'll love these! We made mini-muffins this morning and got 48 of them from this recipe. Plenty for us to share and still have lots to freeze! We're taking some over to my SIL's house tonight when we take them dinner. I made regular sized muffins last time and I think I got 20 from this recipe. My muffin tins must be smaller than Ellie's regular muffin tins since the recipe says you only get 12 muffins.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphered molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds (I left these off)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Beer Bread

This recipe comes from our cousin, Melissa, on Kevin's side of the family. This has to seriously be the easiest bread to make... ever. Only three ingredients, just mix, throw it into a loaf pan, and bake. And not only is it easy - it is absolutely delicious! I love recipes like this! I made this on Sunday to go with our broccoli cheese soup while our friends were over for lunch. Everyone loved it. I used a Sam Adams Octoberfest beer for this loaf. You can switch up the beers for slightly different flavors. Just use whatever type of beer you have in the fridge. I've made it with Oberon before and it was very tasty then, too. Melissa mentions on her blog that its great with a hard cider, so I think I might try that next time.

Beer Bread

3 cups self-rising flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 bottle/can any flavor beer

Mix all ingredients until dough forms. Add dough to a medium loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown and baked through.

Meal plans and the week ahead

I had thought this week would be a somewhat normal week, with Kevin home from Germany. He got home Thursday evening. When he went in to work on Friday, though, he was given the option to go to Rogersville, Tennessee (near the TN-Virginia border) for at least the next four weeks. In the automotive world, when you are given choices like this, you basically have to take them if you want to ensure job security. They're basically testing your loyalty to the company. If Kevin says no, he'll either never get a promotion, or he'll risk being cut during one of the next rounds of lay-offs. And in the automotive world, you're not given all of these opportunities to travel unless you're thought of highly... they won't waste their money sending someone around the nation/globe if they don't see potential in that person. So being asked to do all this traveling is a good thing... but it sure makes life at home different. My job just got insanely busy with our budget boilerplate language for a project I work on, so from now till May 1st, we're going to be absolutely slammed at work. So its definitely not ideal timing, but that is out of our control. We'll manage through it, we always do. :)

So anyway, Kevin leaves Wednesday for Tennessee for at least the next four weeks... and it could be longer. After the Tennessee thing, it sounds like he'll be in Mexico again for a week or two, and then in Lafayette, Indiana for a week or two. So it doesn't sound like Carson and I will be seeing much of Kevin through the end of the calendar year.

With Kevin gone so much, you won't see as many new recipes here and the menus will probably all be super easy and maybe even somewhat boring. I'll have to refer back to lots of prep-ahead techniques that I haven't been using much of lately. Otherwise, Carson and I will never have a good dinner on the table in a decent amount of time.

Last week, my friend, Lina, and I signed up for a scrapbooking class that starts this week... and runs four weeks... so basically this is the only week it looks like I'll be going. Its on Monday night. Tuesday, I had planned to go hang out with some moms in our town, but I've canceled that since it'll be our last night of normalcy during the week for a while. Wednesday, Kevin leaves in the morning and I'll be taking Carson to his swim class in the evening. Saturday is my cousin Megan's baby shower, so that will take up a good part of my day. Hopefully Kevin can fly home Friday night and not Saturday morning so he has some time with Carson.

I was able to make and can a few batches of pearsauce last week. This was my first time canning with bosc pears and it was much easier than using bartletts. I think bosc pears should be labeled the perfect canning pear. They're crisp enough when ripe to use an apple peeler/corer with ease and they don't turn to mush when you cook them down. Even though there are still lots of bosc pears on the trees in our orchard still, I'm going to have to call it quits on the pears this year, I think. I can't take Carson out to pick them with me since he follows me up the ladder, and with Kevin gone and with it getting dark earlier now, I won't be able to get out to pick anymore this year. So I guess I'll have a short canning break before I make a trip to a local orchard for seconds on apples to make lots of applesauce. I think I'll take Carson to an orchard on my next flex Friday so I can get that started.

This week, I won't have a lot of time for extras. But I do hope to squeeze in just a couple easy ones. I want to prep a bag of whole grain pancake mix and I'd also like to bake pumpkin pie muffins so I can re-stock my muffin stash in the freezer. I also want to swap out some pictures in our frames in the hallway since I haven't updated them in awhile.

So, anyway, here's the plan for meals this week...

Sunday - Lina, Sean, and Vayla are coming over today since the weather looks good (instead of yesterday with the rain). We'll be having lunch together. We're having crockpot broccoli cheese soup (with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots all from our garden); beer bread; fresh cut up apples and pears; apple pie. For dinner, I'll make lamb chops; mashed red potatoes with spinach and onions in them; and organic store-bought applesauce.

Meatless Monday - I am going to my scrapbook class tonight, so Kevin and Carson will be on their own. I'm going to bake a crustless quiche (with broccoli, spinach, carrots, onions, cheddar, and swiss) on Sunday so they can just warm it up tonight. They can open up a jar of home-canned peaches to go with it.

Tuesday - mexican lasagna; watermelon

Wednesday - I will be in Detroit for meetings during the day and we have swim class tonight, so we need something portable to eat in the car. Sliced co-jack cheese; sliced summer sausage; crackers; raw carrot matchsticks from the garden; peanuts; apple slices.

Thursday - I'll be in Windsor, Ontario all day for meetings. We'll have leftover mexican lasagna; organic store-bought applesauce

Friday - We'll probably eat at my parents' house since my mom is watching Carson.

Saturday - I'll throw something in the crockpot before I leave for the shower in the morning so dinner will be ready. TBD at this point. I'm debating between chilupe, or just a pork roast with potatoes and carrots from the garden.

Meal plans and the week ahead

It'll be another crazy week this week. Kevin is leaving for Germany this afternoon. He's going for work, so it'll be a quick trip and he'll be home on Thursday. We'll miss him while he's gone! It's hard being a single working mama while he's away, so I'll be taking it easy on meals. We're also starting a swim class this week on Wednesday - gotta keep our little man loving the water! :) So that will be a lot of fun. Friday is my flex day, but I haven't decided what Carson and I will do yet. We'll probably go visit Apple and Poppy (what Carson has decided to call one set of his great-grandparents) in the morning and then probably just hang out at home in the afternoon to try to get the house in order for Saturday. My friend, Lina, her husband, Sean, and daughter, Vayla, are coming over on Saturday to hang out. Kevin is going to teach Sean how to change the brakes on their G6, while Lina and I have playtime with Vayla and Carson. The kids are almost exactly a month apart (Vayla is one month older than Carson) and have played together a couple of times now and play together very well, so we're looking forward to it.

Our garden is still producing lots of yummy veggies - zucchini, green beans, brussels sprouts, potatoes, carrots, buttercup squash. So I am still doing lots of freezing of veggies and trying to eat as much fresh as possible. I realized this past week that out bosc pear trees are producing good fruit this year, so I've been picking lots of pears. I've got them in cold storage right now, but I'm really hoping to make a couple batches of pearsauce this week and get it canned. I'd like to do sliced pears, too, but the pearsauce is much easier to prep when I'm on my own since you don't have to peel the fruit for that. So that will be my focus.

Like I said, its a pretty simple, easy week of meals, for the most part.... and pretty much involve many of Carson's favorites.

Sunday - baked chicken breasts, smashed baked potatoes, steamed green beans, sliced apples and pears

Meatless Monday - herbed baked eggs, steamed broccoli, whole wheat toast with home-canned raspberry jam

Tuesday - hot dogs, baked zucchini fries, watermelon and grapes

Wednesday - swim class tonight, so we need something portable since we'll probably eat in the car... PB&J sandwiches, sliced co-jack cheese, apple slices

Thursday - Kevin comes home! We'll do his favorite and grill steaks to welcome him home. If I have time to prep it the night before, I'll do a veggie gratin to go with the steaks... Otherwise we'll just do grilled baked potatoes. Also, brussels sprouts sauteed with EVOO and balsamic; grapes, apples, and pears.

Friday - its my flex Friday! I think I'll do a crockpot rotisserie chicken, vegetable tian, sliced pears and apples

Saturday - first off, GO GREEN!!!! (They're playing UofM today). Lina, Sean, and Vayla are coming over. The menu is TBD at this point... something easy is a must... its been decided... crockpot broccoli cheese soup; beer bread; fruit salad with apples, pears, grapes; some type of dessert

Mac anc Cheese with Tomato and Squash

Over the weekend, I saw one of Paula Deen's shows featuring a tomato mac and cheese recipe. I've been wanting to try adding pureed fall squash to macaroni and cheese for awhile now, so I figured I'd give it a try on Monday. I don't generally make many of Paula's recipes, even though they're always delicious, but they're also so full of fat/butter. But I figured we could splurge and try out her recipe for tomato mac and cheese. I pretty much used her recipe as written and just mixed in about a cup and a half of pureed buttercup squash from my garden. You could use frozen, too. This was very good and I felt a little better about eating it with some veggies incorporated. You really could not taste the squash at all - Kevin actually ate squash and didn't have a clue!! :) And I only had one tomato left, so there's not a lot of tomato on top - I wish I had had another one to use. Its definitely a keeper, but not something I'll make often just for the fat issue. :)

Tomato Mac and Cheese with Squash

4 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dish
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (I used organic whole wheat cavatappi)
2 tablespoons minced onion
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
3/4 tablespoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 cups milk
(I added 1 1/2 cups pureed fall squash)
3 cups shredded Cheddar, divided (I only used about 2 cups)
2 ripe tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (I only had 1)
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish.

Bring 6 cups of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the macaroni and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring constantly, until tender. Add the flour, salt, dry mustard, and paprika; mix well. Stir in the milk and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. (Add pureed squash here.) Add 2 cups of the shredded cheese and stir until melted. Toss in the macaroni and pour into the prepared dish. Cover the macaroni with tomato slices and season salt and pepper, to taste. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The last few minutes, top with the remaining cheese and return to the oven until the cheese melts. (I didn't think this step was necessary, so I skipped it.) Serve hot.

Meal plans and the week ahead

I hit up a few farmers' markets again this week. I haven't really had the time to get to many these last couple of weeks, really... just one a week lately. I hadn't been to the local Allen Street neighborhood market in Lansing in a month, I think. I had a chance to make a trip over there this past Wednesday, though. It was good to visit with the vendors again and pick up some organic produce. I picked up some beautifully colored heirloom tomatoes, 8 of them, yellow, orange, pink, and green (even when they're ripe) ones... and wow, they're absolutely delicious! I've never understood how people could eat a tomato like an apple, but I could understand it with these tomatoes, they're so very tasty. I also picked up some spinach - which I turned into spinach pesto and have frozen in cubes; some pattypan squash - which we ate sauteed with some EVOO and garlic as a side dish with dinner; a super sweet watermelon - which we've snacked on all week; some leeks - which I'll be using in meals this week; and a quart of local nectarines - which we've been snacking on all week.

On Thursday, I visited another of the enormous annual farmers' markets held on the Capitol lawn. The fall one is always the best - such tasty treats and beautiful flowers. I picked up one bunch of beets, a honeyrock melon, a peck of gala apples, two kinds of local/organic goat cheese, a dip mix for veggies, some blueberry coffee (yum!), and some dog treats for Jet.

I accomplished quite a bit of work in the garden this past week. The harvest of zucchini and green/yellow beans still continues to be going strong, though I'm really expecting it to phase out here very soon with these cool temperatures. I harvested our first potatoes, buttercup squash, and brussels sprouts! I also picked and shelled the rest of my cannellini beans and have them lying out on a screen on the counter to continue drying. I harvested another round of basil and made another huge batch of pesto. I think I'll probably do one more batch to freeze and call it good for the season in terms of pesto. I also just chopped up some of the basil and froze it into cubes with a little water to add to dishes this winter.

Anyway, on to the meals...

Sunday ~ a meatless meal... whole wheat penne pasta with fresh roasted red pepper goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, basil, garlic, and EVOO; roasted beets; honeyrock melon and raspberries

Meatless Monday ~ macaroni and cheese with veggies; spinach salad with dried cherries, chopped fresh local pears, and mozzarella; honeyrock melon and raspberries

Tuesday ~ grilled chicken; spinach salad with dried cherries, chopped fresh local pears, and mozzarella; creamy brussels sprouts; sliced apples

Wednesday ~ meatloaf with grated zucchini and carrots mixed into it; roasted potatoes, carrots, and zucchini from our garden; fresh, local peaches and nectarines

Thursday ~ It'll be a late night for me, as I have to be in Windsor until 5pm... so I think we'll just eat leftovers from the week.

Friday ~ TBD... we might be going to another parade in the early evening. It just depends on how we've been using up our leftovers from the week - if we have enough, we'll just have leftovers for dinner. If not, then I'll do a TBD crockpot meal.

Saturday ~ We'll be going to my nephew's football game in the morning and then heading over to my in-laws' house in the afternoon for a family party and dinner. I believe we're having chips and salsa, bruschetta, pizza, salad?, jello, cake, and ice cream

As for extras this week... my focus is pears... buying them today at the farmers' market... letting them ripen up a bit before processing them into home-canned pearsauce and sliced pears. Can't wait! I'll also be making up a batch of the ABin5 dough so that I can make my own baguettes for the bruschetta on Saturday. And, of course, still working in the garden - harvesting and pulling plants getting ready to prep the garden for spring. That should keep me plenty busy in the evenings.

Crockpot Thai Peanut Noodles

Tonight we had a crockpot meal that I found on 365 Days of Slow Cooking, which is a blog by Karen, a SAHM that has set a goal of using the crockpot everyday for a year... this goal seems to be a theme these days, doesn't it? It seems like there are so many blogs devoted to this same task. I love it because I find lots of tasty new recipes! And who doesn't like to use their crockpot? It really can't get any easier to prepare a healthy, great-tasting meal that is waiting for you when you get home! Anyway, back to the meal... this was very good - we all ate it and enjoyed it. It has a wonderful flavor. Kevin and I both added a few squirts of Sriracha chili sauce for a little kick, but its definitely not necessary. Very easy prep and I loved that there was grated zucchini in the sauce and its totally hidden. Its a great way to sneak in even more veggies with kids (and picky husbands!). :)

Thai Peanut Noodles

12 oz. linguine or spaghetti, cooked (I used buckwheat noodles)
2 garlic cloves
2/3 c. chunky peanut butter
1 cube chicken bouillon (I used Organic Better than Bouillon)
1 cup water
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 c. shredded zucchini (I used more than this... probably about 1 2/3 cups or so... a medium zucchini)
1/3 c. soy sauce
1-2 tsp sugar
(Sriracha chili sauce, optional and to taste)

Dissolve the bouillon into water.

Add garlic, peanut butter, bouillon, chicken, zucchini, soy sauce, and sugar to a 3 quart crockpot (I used a 4-quart). Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 hours. Stir until smooth.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta to al dente. Serve chicken and sauce over pasta.

Garnish with peanuts, if desired (I did not).

Serves 4.

(Adding some grated carrots would be great in this, too... I'd eliminate the sugar then, I think, since carrots are so sweet.)

Meal plans and the week ahead

September sure is flying on by us, isn't it? It's already mid-September and it seems like the month just began a couple days ago! At least we're not quite as busy this week as we were last week... maybe it'll slow it down a little... haha, fat chance, right? :)

I didn't get a whole lot done in terms of preservation this past week, just too busy. I picked up some huge heads of cauliflower at the farmers' market and roasted all four of them. I then pureed about 80% of it and froze the purees to add into things later on. I froze some more zucchini dices and fries; as well as some more beans and some carrots. I think that's about it for this past week...

We're trying to use the grill for some meals this week since we may not have many more weeks that we can use it. And I'm trying to work in some side salads with some of our dinners this week. Kevin and I both love salad and we definitely don't eat enough of it. I have some issues that prevent me from eating it at lunch very often, so I can usually only have it at dinnertime. We ate a lot of salad when our lettuce/spinach was coming in, but haven't really eaten many since then and I totally didn't realize it till now. Lettuce and spinach are readily available at the farmers' markets again, so I figured its a good time to add them back into our meals. I also realized that Carson has never tried lettuce or raw spinach, so we'll see how that goes over this week. He loves to dip things, so I think I'll give him a small dribble of salad dressing to dip some small pieces of lettuce in and see what he thinks. Let's hope he loves it! Though, my guess is that it will take a few times before he enjoys it.

Sunday ~ crockpot salsa chicken; steamed organic brown rice; chopped avocado for topping; home-canned peaches

Meatless Monday ~ huevos rancheros; fresh honeyrock melon

Tuesday ~ It'll be a late night for me with legislative hearings in the afternoon, so something easy is key... tacos using the leftover shredded crockpot salsa chicken from Sunday; organic refried beans (doctored up a bit); mandarin oranges

Wednesday ~ grilled rib steak; romaine salad with cukes and cherry tomatoes from the garden, cheese; sauteed green beans, zucchini, carrots (all from garden), and cauliflower (from farmers' market) in garlic and EVOO; fresh grapes and honeyrock melon

Thursday ~ grilled chicken breasts; romaine salad with mandarin oranges, home-dried cherries, mozzarella, pecans (for me, not Kevin since he's allergic); grilled corn on the cob; grilled zucchini from the garden; fresh grapes, pears, and mango

Friday ~ Its my flex day! I'll be taking Carson to the Swartz Creek Homecoming Parade, so I think we'll need a crockpot meal since the parade doesn't even start till 5:00. I think I'll do thai peanut noodles; romaine salad with cukes, cherry tomatoes, cheese; fresh grapes and pears

Saturday ~ If the weather holds up, we'll be going out to Tivoli Gardens in the morning for the MSU RipFest ski tournament. Then we'll be dropping Carson off for an overnight stay with Nana and Papa and heading to Lansing for a wedding and reception for some friends of ours in the late afternoon/evening.

There is another huge farmers' market at the State Capitol on Thursday this week. The fall one is always the best and I'm looking forward to it! Hopefully I'll find lots of great things again this time! I'm hoping to pick up some pears so I can do up some sliced pears and pearsauce soon. We definitely will need quite a bit of both since we all love pears and pearsauce, so I'll probably pick up a half-bushel to start with. I'm thinking I'll end up getting another half-bushel in another week or so... one of the half-bushels for pearsauce and one for sliced pears probably. I really need to get our pear trees trimmed down and under control so that I can finally use my own home-grown pears next year, hopefully! All of the fruit trees are absolutely loaded with fruit this year, which stinks because I can't use it! I'll do the winter dormant pruning like you're supposed to so that I hopefully don't put the tree into too much shock with the amount of pruning I plan to do. And then keep my fingers crossed for a good production next year!

Other than that, I doubt I'll do much else extra since I'm trying to catch up from last week still. I'll be working on getting all my fall and Halloween decorations up still. I was able to get some of them up last week, but not all of them, so I want to finish it up. I think that's about it for this week. Hopefully I'll have a little more time next week... though it's looking doubtful...

Kourkouto with Zucchini

I found this recipe on Kalofagas a while back and thought it sounded tasty. (If you haven't seen Peter's blog, you really should check it out. He has some awesome recipes on there! I've tried several and have posted them on this blog, but there are so many more that I want to try!) This dish sounded kind of similar to the zucchini casserole I make regularly, but with a greek twist from the greek cheeses and different spices. Having such a bumper crop of zucchini, I also figured that now was the perfect time to try it! This was delicious! Its sort of like a thicker quiche, if that makes sense. We all loved it - the taste, the texture, everything! This is a definite keeper. We ate it as a main dish, but it could make a great side dish, too. I did cut the recipe back a little since I didn't think we needed a 15x10 pan for the three of us. Even with leftovers, that seemed like a lot. I used an 8x10 pan and it was plenty for dinner and some lunches for all three of us. I will update later with a picture.

Kourkouto With Zucchini

5 large eggs (organic, free-range, local)
1 cup of strained Greek yogurt
1 cup of self-rising flour (I just used regular organic flour and added a little extra baking powder)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup olive oil (organic)
3 bunches of scallions, finely chopped (organic)
3 zucchinis, diced (from the garden)
(I added a diced green pepper from the garden since it was in the fridge)
1 cup Feta cheese, crumbled (organic)
1 cup Kasseri, grated (I actually found Kasseri at my local market, but if you can't you can use a mild cheddar instead)
1 cup of chopped fresh dill (I used dried)
ground pepper to taste
sweet paprika to taste (and for garnish)
slices of zucchini rounds (for finishing... I left them off b/c I forgot to keep a few out for this)
a 15″ X 10″ baking tray, greased with vegetable oil (I used a smaller pan - I think its 8x10)

Pre-heated 350F oven

Into a large skillet, add your olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add your chopped onions and diced zucchini (with some salt) and saute over medium heat for about 20 minutes to soften and have most of the water content evaporate (should reduce to about half). Take off the heat and reserve.

In a large bowl, whisk your eggs for a couple of minutes until mixed well and then add your flour and baking powder and mix in. Add your yogurt and stir in to mix.

Now add your grated cheeses and sauteed vegetables and mix to incorporate. Add some ground black pepper and sweet paprika. Have a taste and adjust seasoning (probably will not need any salt).

Stir in the the chopped fresh dill and pour the mixture into your greased baking dish. Top with round slices of zucchini and sprinkle some sweet paprika over the entire mixture.

Place on the middle rack of your pre-heated oven and baked for approx. 1 hour. Allow to rest for about 15 minutes and then cut up into slices. Serve warm or room temperature with a side salad.

Kraut Bierock

This is a long-time favorite family recipe from my maternal grandmother's family. My grandma is 100% german. She is the second-youngest of 12 children, the youngest children were born here in the U.S., but the rest of the bunch were all born in Germany before my great-grandparents moved the family to America. This is a dish that my grandma grew up eating and she and her sisters have all kept the recipe alive in their families to date. When my grandma pronounces the name of this dish, it sounds more like grau-be-duk... at least that's how it sounds to me. I never knew how to spell it until this past week! :)

We planted a bunch of cabbage in our garden this year just so we could make up some large batches of some family-favorite recipes. I had some of my family over last Friday to make up some traditional dishes - enough for everyone to take home and have fresh and for leftovers and enough to fill my freezer with some great meals for the winter! We just made the kraut bierock filling to freeze - I'll make the dough when it comes time to eat them. And I didn't take a picture of the filling - I totally forgot. If you don't want to make the dough, you could use the ready-made crescent roll dough from the store. I've done that before, actually, and it was pretty good. Anyway... on to the recipe.

Kraut Bierock

filling:
1 cup oil (I omitted all of this)
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 large sliced onions (I used about 1 1/2 huge onions)
3 pounds sliced cabbage

dough:
6-6 1/2 cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
2 cups warm water
2 packages dry yeast

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Pour yeast liquid into flour mixture (flour, sugar, salt). Knead until bowl is clean. Lastly, need in the butter for about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl. Let rise. Punch down once. Cover and let rise until doubled.

Combine the oil, beef, salt, and pepper in a large pan and cook until meat is done. Add onions and cabbage. Cover, cook about 30 minutes. Stir several times.

Divide dough into 2 parts. Roll out to about 1/4" thick. Cut into squares - 5"x5". Place filling in middle of each square. Draw up corners and seal seams by pinching together. Place on a cookie sheet, seam side down, let rise 20 minutes. Brush top with shortening. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

(You can adjust the amount of cabbage and onions to your liking. I put more cabbage and less onions usually. And don't forget the cabbage cooks down a lot, so keep that in mind when you're adding it raw.)

Peaches

I canned peaches last year and said I'd probably never do it again until we had our own peach tree to make it a little more economical once you factor in all the time it takes to prep and can the peaches. Well, my SIL Mary received some fabulous tips from her in-laws on canning peaches that save sooooo much time and effort, so I decided to give them a try again this year afterall. I canned them about two weeks ago now and did 32 pints! Not bad at all compared to my 5 pints last year! The crazy thing is... I think I did the 32 pints in LESS time than it took me to do the 5 pints! This is definitely the way to do peaches! Mary posted the method on her blog last week, too, so I've just copied and pasted her description below.

The Easy Way to Can Peaches

Prep jars, lids and canner
Make simple syrup (I did a light syrup...2 1/2-3 cups sugar in about 11 cups water)
Prep treatment solution (I just sprinkled with some Fruit Fresh)
Wash peaches
Cut peaches in half
Remove pit
Quarter peaches if necessary
Place peaches in treatment solution
When all peaches are ready drain solution
Place peaches in hot jars, cut side down if possible
Cover with syrup
Secure lid and band
Process in boiling canner 25 min. for pints, 30 min. for quarts

Once you are ready to use the peaches, the peels will just slide right off.

Meal plans and the week ahead

We have a busy week ahead... my cousins Kristin and Joe are in town from Florida, my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bob will be in town from Oklahoma, and Jaime and Jeff will be in town from Arizona, so we'll be seeing them all this week at different points. We're having a baby shower for Kristin on Thursday night. I have to work Friday (which I am totally not looking forward to). And Saturday we'll pretty much be on the go all day. So here's the plan....

Sunday - we'll be at my Aunt Jeri's for our Labor Day family party... grilled hot dogs, brats, and sausages; potato salad; jello salad; fruit; zucchini cake; and who knows what else
Meatless Monday - we're going to Lansing for lunch for Kevin's Grandpa's birthday... we're not sure yet what our plans are for afterwards... maybe doing something fun in Lansing/East Lansing, maybe heading home and heading up to the Mexican restaurant in Grand Blanc with Kristin, Joe, and friends for dinner...
Tuesday - leftover golabki; roasted carrots, zucchini, cauliflower; fresh pears, peaches, and grapes
Wednesday - kind of TBD, maybe a greek meatless dish to use up some zucchini.... or maybe zucchini casserole... sides are also TBD
Thursday - I am helping to throw my cousin, Kristin, a baby shower tonight. Carson and I will eat at the shower, Kevin will have leftovers.
Friday - it'll be my first Friday to work in quite awhile... a crockpot meal sounds like a plan... chicken parmesan in the crockpot; sauteed green beans, zucchini, and carrots (all from garden) in garlic and EVOO; fresh mango and pineapple
Saturday - a busy day... possibly brunch at my BFF Jaime's mom's house; then possibly out to Lake Jepawhit for a slalom tournament (if we don't make it today, we'll go check it out on Sunday); then to my cousins' Josh's and Mandy's for their 10-year wedding vow renewal and cookout reception; then hopefully to Lisa's house for a party for Jaime and Jeff.

I don't think I'll have any time at all for extras this week. If I do anything extra, it will be digging out my fall and Halloween decorations and putting them up, but its not a priority this week. I'm starting to feel like I'm falling behind on some things or running out of time to do them (like canning salsa, doing a couple outdoor craft projects with Carson, things like that..), but I guess if I don't get them done, then oh well. I didn't expect September to be quite so busy... but hopefully we can find the time to finish up some things before the weather turns bad (like finishing the fence, getting Lola, cleaning the gutters, winterizing things, selling one of the cars (Imark), etc.). It'll be tough to fit it all in, but we'll have to manage. I feel like we need a week's vacation to just work on projects at the ranch... Especially when we factor in Kevin being gone a week to Germany for work this month....

Anyway, I know I'll be harvesting more veggies from the garden this week... zucchini, beans, carrots, peppers, cherry tomatoes, and cabbage mostly. The brussels sprouts are growing and are getting close to be ready, I think. And the fall squash is out of control... I won't know what to do with it all! The garden is definitely keeping us well-fed and keeping me busy this year! Its great!

A week in review, meal plans, and the week ahead

I finally canned peaches this past week. The new method (post to come soon) is soooo much easier than the method I used last summer. I also froze more corn kernels, beans, and zucchini. Still didn't have time to do regular salsa, though. Maybe I can find the time for that this week, though it'll be tough. I have a feeling I'll be working long days this week with several all-day meetings scheduled. Even the long holiday weekend is pretty booked up. We'll be going to a wedding reception on Saturday. Then Sunday, we'll be at the lake for a family party, and Monday we're heading to Lansing to celebrate Kevin's Grandpa's birthday. This Friday will be my last Friday off of the summer... I've had almost every Friday off all summer, but that ends this week, sadly. I'll still be off every other Friday, at least, though.

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking for meals this week...

Sunday - pork loin roast (from the pork that my BFF's brother raised) with local organic potatoes, local organic onions, and local organic carrots in the crockpot; sliced fresh pears and organic grapes; apple pie
Meatless Monday - zucchini (from the garden) black bean (home-canned, organic) burritos; all-natural tortilla chips; home-canned pineapple-peach salsa; sliced fresh local pesticide-free peaches
Tuesday - BBQ pulled pork sandwiches (if there is enough leftover from Sunday's roast, otherwise we'll have burgers); not enough leftover from the roast and Kevin took it for lunch, so burgers it is; baked zucchini fries (from the garden); sliced fresh pesticide-free nectarines and organic grapes; leftover apple pie
Wednesday - organic whole wheat penne pasta with local organic cherry tomatoes, local organic onions, zucchini from the garden, local organic garlic, organic EVOO, and parmesan cheese; sliced fresh local pesticide-free peaches and nectarines
Thursday - taco/nacho bar, fresh mango and organic bananas
Friday - chicken parmesan in the crockpot; sauteed green beans (from the garden), zucchini (from the garden), local organic onions, and local organic kohlrabi in EVOO and local organic garlic; canned mandarin oranges; pigs or kraut bierock; fresh mango and organic grapes
Saturday - We'll be in Greenville for a wedding reception.

As for extras this week, like I said above, it'll be quite busy this week, so not sure how much time I'll have. I know I'll be harvesting and freezing more beans, zucchini, peppers, and carrots from the garden. I think I am going to dry a couple trays of carrot coins, celery, and some more zucchini, too. I planted tons of carrots this year and am just starting to harvest them, so I'll need to come up with some creative uses for them, I think. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

And like I mentioned, if I have the time, I'd like to make up a batch of regular tomato salsa. We'll just have to see what time I have, though. I would also like to make up some polish cabbage rolls and german meat pockets to freeze to use some of the cabbage from the garden. I think my grandparents are going to come over on Friday afternoon to make up some large batches of pigs and kraut bierock and to get some play time in with Carson.

I also have some shopping to do this week. I need to get a few things for Carson... some long-sleeve white onesies if I can find any that fit still, otherwise just some long sleeve white tees to wear under things. A good part of last winter's/spring's clothes still fit him, so that is good, though they won't last long... the sleeves are getting short. We had to put most of his pants up because they're too short - and he's too skinny for the next size up (18-24m), so I need to find another belt. He has one, but I'd like another one, too. I wish they made boys' pants in slims like they do girls' pants so we'd have a chance of finding pants that fit well... And I want to buy his Halloween costume, too. Hopefully I can manage to get all the shopping done during lunch on Thursday since it'll be the only lunch I take all week.. the rest will be working lunches during all-day meetings.

Zucchini Fries

We've had these a couple of times now, just haven't had the time to post them. My SIL Mary posted this recipe/method for baked zucchini fries at the beginning of the month and I knew I wanted to try them right away. I've made zucchini fries in years past and have had them in restaurants many times, but they've always been deep fried. These are so yummy and much better for you! I've been freezing zucchini cut into fries from our garden so we can enjoy these year-round, too!

I'll update later with a picture.

Baked Zucchini Fries

2 medium zucchinis, cut in 3" sticks
1 egg white
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded parmesan (I just used the boughten grated parm)
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Heat oven to 425. Beat egg white and milk in bowl. Mix cheese and bread crumbs in another bowl. Spray baking sheet. Dip zucchini in egg mixture. Then in bread crumb mixture. Place on baking sheet. Bake 25-30 min. Flip them half way through to evenly brown.

Oven Fried Okra

I spent the first 6+ years of life down in Memphis, Tennessee. I had a southern drawl, called all of the carbonated soft drinks 'coke,' and loved one of the traditional southern vegetables - okra. Living in Michigan ever since, I've lost the southern drawl, have learned to call soft drinks 'pop' (though the generic 'coke' reference does surface from time to time by accident), but luckily have never lost my love of okra. I love it and definitely don't cook with it enough up here in the north. I wish it had grown better in my garden this year - I was really looking forward to a good okra crop. But I planted it late (forgot about it) and that coupled with the cool summer we've had, it just hasn't had a chance. From the farmers I talk to at the farmers' markets, they're having very low yields, even planting it on time. Maybe next year I'll get it right and have a nice okra crop of my own. For now, I'm relying on the farmers' markets. Even though I love okra, Kevin could take it or leave it, really. He really likes it fried, but I really hate frying things - both for health and I hate getting burned with drops of oil flying about. So I usually oven-fry my okra - always in seasoned cornmeal and usually with some egg to help adhere the coating to the veggie. But I came across this method on RecipeZaar recently and thought it'd be worth a try. All it does it eliminate the egg step. It actually worked out ok and it tasted great! I'll probably use this as my default method from now on.

I'll update later with a picture.

Oven Fried Okra

1 1/4 cups cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper
(I add garlic powder, too)
4 cups fresh okra
nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet or jellyroll pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine corn meal, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Wash okra; drain. Trim ends and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Dredge in corn meal mixture to coat well. Okra should be moist in order for corn meal to adhere. If necessary, rinse okra again in water before dredging. Spread okra in a single layer in prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally.

Meal plans and the week ahead

Just a quick post of the meals this week...

Sunday ~ We're going down to Rochester Hills to hang out with our good friends, Ben and Kati, and go out to eat at TGI Fridays.
Meatless Monday ~ herbed baked eggs, sauteed green beans, kohlrabi and zucchini, whole wheat toast with home-canned strawberry jam, fresh grapes, cantaloupe, blackberries, and red raspberries
Tuesday ~ grilled steak, zucchini fries, steamed green beans and corn, fresh grapes, cantaloupe, blackberries, and red raspberries
Wednesday ~ another meatless meal... peas and cheese tortellini (with peas, zucchini, corn, and bell pepper), sliced fresh nectarines, pears, and blueberries
Thursday ~ I'll be in Windsor all day, so we'll need something easy... grilled chicken breasts marinated in italian dressing, grilled corn on the cob, green beans and kohlrabi sauteed with garlic and EVOO, sliced fresh nectarines, plums, and pears Carson ate at my parents' house... Kevin ate leftovers... and I couldn't stomach anything at all the entire day...
Friday ~ We'll be meeting up with SIL and her kids in the morning and visiting my grandma in the afternoon, so probably will do chicken corn chowder with chipotle in the crockpot, fresh blueberries, peaches and plums change of plans do to feeling too sad to see people... ran a few errands, but mostly just stayed home... grilled steak, oven fried okra, sliced fresh nectarines and pears
Saturday ~ We'll be going to East Lansing in the late afternoon - first to Impression 5 Science Center, then to dinner at Noodles and Co., then to a party at my old boss' house in East Lansing.

Hopefully I'll be doing some heavy duty weeding in the veggie garden this week... if the mosquitoes settle down a bit at least. I can't even stand being back there to harvest the veggies for more than five minutes at a time right now... they are sooooo terrible! I might also can some peaches if I find some at the farmers' markets this week. We'll just have to see about that. I might try making and canning a peach BBQ sauce, as well... but maybe not. Just depends on how much time I end up having.

Pineapple Peach Salsa

I came across another salsa recipe on RecipeZaar that I knew I wanted to try. It was for peach salsa, but I wanted to make a pineapple-peach salsa. So I substituted half of the peaches for canned pineapple. Just a heads up, you cannot use fresh pineapple and safely boiling water bath this salsa, as the fresh pineapple has a lower pH than does the canned pineapple. So I made this tonight. It's so yummy! I can't wait to have some! We love to eat chips and salsa, so this will be a great salsa to have on hand!

Pineapple Peach Salsa

3 cups chopped peaches
3 cups chopped canned pineapple
3 large fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped red onions
4 medium jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 large sweet red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid honey
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Blanch peaches, cool in cold water, peel, pit and chop to measure 3 cups. Drain and chop canned pineapple to measure 3 cups. Blanch tomatoes and cool with cold water, peel, remove seeds and cut into chunks. In a large stainless or enamel cooking pot, combine peaches, tomatoes, onion, Jalapeno peppers, sweet red pepper, cilantro, vinegar, honey, garlic, cumin and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. If the mixture is too sloppy or soupy, boil for a few minutes longer so that some of the liquid evaporates and the mixture thickens. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add more cayenne pepper if you desire a spicier taste.

Ladle salsa into hot jars to within 1/4 inch of top for headspace. Remove air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between the glass and salsa. Re-adjust the headspace to 1/4 inch. Wipe jar rim to remove any stickiness. Center lid on top of jar; apply screw band just until finger tight. Place jars in a hot bath in a canner and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Remove jars and place on a towel, then cover with another towel to cool slowly.

Makes 8 half-pints.

Lissan Al Kadi

I decided to try an Iraqi dish for dinner last night. It is this month's challenge on the Walima arabic cooking blog. I love, love, love middle-eastern foods, so I was very excited when I came across this blog a month or so ago. I've never had anything that I've known to be Iraqi cuisine, but these sounded simple and tasty enough. We don't like eggplant at all, so I substituted zucchini instead, but otherwise kept everything else the same. So I guess its not truly authentic or anything, but it sure was good! And actually quite easy to make, too! Definitely a keeper for us! (I'll update later with a picture once I upload them off the camera)

Lissan Al Kadi - Eggplant Wrapped Meat

2 large eggplants
1/2 - 1 cup corn oil (if frying eggplant)
2 lbs. Lean ground meat
1 medium onion (1 cup) finely minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

For the sauce:
2 tbsp corn oil
1 large onion diced
1 large tomato sliced (optional)
1 large tomato peeled and chopped
14 oz. tomato sauce
1 cup beef or chicken stock
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp turmeric

Peel eggplant, trim off the top and bottom. Stand eggplant up on cutting board and slice vertically, 1/8" thin. Sprinkle generously with salt, place in a strainer for about 1 hour. Rinse off the salt and strain eggplant to dry.

Heat about 4 tbsp corn oil in a frying pan and fry the eggplant slices in batches, turning once to brown both sides. Be careful not to burn. Add more oil as needed. Drain cooked eggplant slices on paper towels. Low fat alternative: Place eggplant slices on baking sheets lined with foil and brushed with corn oil. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for approximately 20-30 minutes until brown, turning the eggplant halfway. (I baked mine)

Mix together the ground meat, onion, salt and pepper. Divide the meat into sausage shaped portions 1" thick and 2" long. Place a portion of the meat stuffing at one end of an eggplant slice and begin wrapping the eggplant around it. Place the rolls in a baking dish and layer the tomato slices on top (optional).

In a saucepan heat 2 tbsp oil and saute the diced onions. When soft, add the chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and turmeric. Add tomato sauce, beef or chicken stock and lemon juice to taste. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Pour the sauce over the rolls in the baking dish, cover with aluminum paper and bake for 1 hour (or until done) at 450 degrees.

Zucchini Salsa

So we're back from vacation and I haven't wasted much time getting back into the kitchen. As expected, the garden is overgrown with weeds and veggies ready to harvest, so I've been picking and freezing yet more green and yellow beans... I never thought I'd say I regretted doing so many succession plantings... but I'm ready for the beans to be DONE. We had so many zukes ready for picking... 14 of them!! That's a lot of zucchini! I have given half of them away and am trying to use up the rest of them before we have more ready for picking today or tomorrow... I think I'll be giving some more away. :) We also had peppers and tomatoes ready to be picked, as well as our first few ears of sweet corn, and I can start digging up some of the carrots anytime now, I think. Maybe I'll get to that later today... At least the weather is a little cooler these next couple of days... it'll slow things down a bit. :) Anyway... on to my post... and then on to getting ready to meet up with my SIL, BIL, and their two kids for breakfast!

I came across this recipe on RecipeZaar and figured I should try it out. It had great ratings, I've been wanting to try some different kinds of salsa this year, and I have a major bumper crop of zucchini, so I figured this was a perfect recipe to try. It was very easy to make... especially since I cheated an used some organic canned diced tomatoes. :) I only made a half batch since I didn't think I really needed 10-12 pints of one particular salsa. Plus, I only had enough peppers and onions on hand to prep a half batch yesterday morning. It says its a 2-day process, but I just prepped it early yesterday morning and let it sit all day. Then did the second part and canned it in the evening right before going to bed last night. Worked out great! I tasted it as I was filling the jars and its delicious! I'm very excited to have this sitting on my pantry shelves! Next up... pineapple-peach salsa!! :) (I'll update with a picture once I upload them off my camera)

Zucchini Salsa

10 cups zucchini, peeled & shredded
4 onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped (I substituted a medium-heat Hungarian wax pepper)
1/4 cup pickling salt
1 tablespoon pickling salt
2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon pepper
5 cups chopped ripe tomatoes (I used organic canned diced, drained with the juice reserved)
2 tablespoons ClearJel
12 ounces tomato paste

Day one: In a large bowl combine; Zucchini, onions, green pepper, red pepper and the salt Mix together cover and let stand over night.

Day two: Rinse, drain well and put into a large pot then add mustard, garlic, cumin, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper flakes, salt,cornstarch, nutmeg, pepper, tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars and put lids and rings on. Pressure can at 5 pounds of pressure for 15 minutes.

Yield: 10-12 pints

Note: I pressure canned mine b/c of all the low-acid veggies. Some people think it'd be ok boiling water canning it for 15 minutes. I'd rather be safe than sorry, though. So I did the pressure canning. :)

And we're off!

We're off on vacation this week, so no meal plans or any posting while I'm gone. We'll be headed north to Kevin's grandparents' trailer up on Big Star Lake in Baldwin, MI. We're planning to do many different day trips to Ludington, Traverse City, maybe Pentwater, maybe the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We're going to just play it all by ear. And maybe we'll be home earlier than expected if the weather forecast holds true... cross your fingers for no rain!!!!

I hope we don't miss a lot of stuff from the garden while we're gone. Beans and zucchini are still coming in strong. Last night, I went out and picked another seven zucchinis... and tons of beans... and I'd been out there two nights before. I shredded all the zucchini into another ten 2-cup bags of shredded zukes that are now in the freezer. I froze the zucchini I'd picked on Friday night into fries, so we've got a gallon of zuke fries in the freezer now, too. And I blanched and froze all the beans. I also picked up another couple dozen ears of corn this week, which we used some of in our meals. I blanched and froze some on the cob, and then some off the cob again, too. Our freezer is getting full!

Anyway, that's enough for now. Have a great week!

Fresh Corn Saute

I tried another side dish recipe from my Simply in Season cookbook for a fresh corn saute. Its very simple, very quick, and very tasty! A great way to use up some fresh corn while its in season!

Fresh Corn Saute

3 Tablespoons butter
1 cup green pepper, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
4 cups corn
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons red sweet pepper, diced, optional
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I left this off)
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I left this out since I cannot eat bacon)

Melt butter in frypan. Saute green pepper and onion for 2 minutes. Add corn, water, honey, salt, pepper, and red pepper and stir well. Cover and cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle cheese and bacon over top and serve.

Cheddar Corn Fritters

I made cheddar corn fritters from Taste and Tell this week. I've been wanting to try them for ages, but just hadn't gotten around to it. I figured, with all this yummy sweet corn in season right now, this would be the perfect opportunity. These were so, so good! We all loved them. Carson ate a whole one by himself and part of a second one. So I'll definitely have to make these again with the local corn I've been freezing these last few weeks. I've seen fritter recipes using other veggies, too, so I think they'd be good with other veggies in there as substitutes for the corn, too. I'll have to do some experimenting. These made a lot so I froze quite a few... not sure how they'll thaw... but figured I'd try it so they didn't go to waste.

Cheddar Corn Fritters

3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
3 ears corn, plus corn milk (or 2 cups corn kernels)*
3 tablespoons diced red or green bell pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons melted butter
Vegetable oil for pan frying

If using fresh corn, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the shucked and cleaned corn to the water and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from water. *Cut kernels from ears of corn and then scrape the cobs with a table knife to release all the milk. Catch this milk in a bowl and add to the batter. Stir together flour, sugar, chili powder, if using, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Combine corn and corn milk, if available, bell pepper, if using, eggs, water and cheese in a bowl. Add to flour mixture all at once. Stir just until batter is evenly moistened. Stir in melted butter.

Pour oil into large skillet to a depth of 1/4 inch. Heat over medium heat until it registers 350 degrees on a deep-frying thermometer. Using a serving spoon and working in batches to avoid crowding, drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. You will make about 16 fritters in all. Pan fry on the first side until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes. Turn once and fry until golden brown on the second side, 2 minutes more. Drain fritters on absorbent towels and season with salt.

If needed, you can keep the first batches of fritters warm in an oven at 200 degrees while you finish frying the rest. Serve at once.

Tuna Macaroni Salad

I'll be playing catch up again. I have so many posts that I'm behind on... I doubt I'll get to them all before we leave for vacation, but we'll see. Here's the first and actually the most recent since I just made this early this morning. I decided to take this salad to the going away party for my cousins this afternoon since I had all the ingredients on hand already. I got this recipe years ago from my BFF Jaime's mom, Bev. This is soooo yummy! I love the eggs in it - I'd never had eggs in a tuna salad before this. I add peas and green peppers for some more veggies and some green color since I skip the olives. Definitely a great cold salad to take to potlucks.

Tuna Macaroni Salad

1 lb. elbow macaroni (I used organic whole wheat rotini)
1 can tuna in water
3 boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 small onion, diced very small (I used about 1/2 of a small organic Walla Walla)
sliced green olives (left these out b/c we don't like them)
just less than 1/4 cup milk (organic)
1 teaspoon mustard (organic)
1/4 teaspoon sugar (organic, free-trade certified, raw)
salt to flavor
3/4 cup Miracle Whip Light

Boil pasta, drain. Make sauce without salt. Add noodles, olives, and onion. Cut up eggs, add. Stir to incorporate.

(I added half of a green bell pepper, diced small, and about 1/2 cup frozen peas).

Zucchini Tacos

I tried a recipe from my Recipes from America's Small Farms: Fresh Ideas for the Season's Bounty cookbook for zucchini tacos on Monday night. I continue to harvest more zucchini than I know what to do with (almost... I have frozen a lot of it that I can't use fresh), so I'm looking for all sorts of ways to use it up. These sounded very interesting when I read through the recipe in the cookbook, so I figured we should try them. I'm so glad we did! We all loved them! Even Kevin said he thought they were really, really good... he did say it'd be nice to have some chicken in them for some meat, but thought they were great just as they were, too. He didn't even complain once about taking the leftovers for lunch the next day. They were so good! They were nice and sweet and creamy and so fresh-tasting! This is a definite keeper for us! I'll update with a picture once I get it off my camera.

Mexican-Style Zucchini Tacos

1 1/2 Tablespoons oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped OR 2/3 of a 28oz can of whole tomatoes, drained (I just used a can of organic fire-roasted crushed tomatoes)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large fresh poblano peppers (I just used a bell pepper since that's what I had)
Kernels from 1 large ear of fresh corn
4 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 Tablespoons cilantro
2/3 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream (I used heavy cream)
Salt
1/2 cup mexican queso fresco (I just used shredded cheddar since that's what I had)
fresh, warm tortillas

Preparing the flavoring base: Measure the oil into a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until richly browned, about 8 minutes. While the onion is cooking, coarsely puree the tomatoes in a food processor or blender. Add the garlic to the browned onion, cook for 1 minute, stirring. Then add the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Roasting the peppers: Roast the poblanos directly over a gas flame or on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler, turning regularly until the skin is blistered and blackened on all sides. Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand for 5 minutes. Rub off the blackened skins, then pull out the stems and seed pods. Rinse briefly to remove the stray seeds and bits of skin. Slice into 1/4 inch strips. (I skipped the roasting step and just added my peppers to the skillet when I added the garlic. I'll try the roasting next time, but I just needed to cut some corners to save a little time.)

Finishing the dish: Uncover the skillet and raise the heat to medium-high. Stir in the peppers, corn, zucchini, cilantro, and cream. Cook, stirring frequently, until the zucchini is crisp-tender and the liquid has thickened enough to coat the veggies nicely, about 8 minutes. Taste and season with salt. Serve in a decorative bowl, sprinkle with cheese, and pass the tortillas separately for do-it-yourself tacos.

A week in review, meal plans, and the week ahead

A little later than normal this week, but better late than never! Its been a very busy week. Lots of farmers' markets or farm stands, shopping, garden work and harvest, extra cleaning in the house, etc. We moved Carson into a toddler bed yesterday - its a race car! And he LOVES it! So we re-arranged his room a little and I did some extra deep cleaning in there. I've cleaned about half of his closet, too, and I plan to finish up the other half this week. And we started packing up a bunch of toys - his infant toys. We've been feeling overrun with toys lately, so its nice to regain just a little bit of order on that front again. With all the rain we had yesterday, we couldn't work outside, so we decided to re-arrange our living room and do some extra cleaning in there, too. Its nice to have change - we've had our living room furniture arranged the old way for the last two years now, so it was much-needed!

So on to the farmers' markets and farm stands... Carson, my mom, and I went to the Grand Blanc farmers' market last Sunday. They were having one of their kids' days, so Carson got to sit in a fire truck and check out a police car, a road commission truck, and some old cars. He also got to sit on a pony - though he liked petting it better than riding it. I didn't buy much... but here's the run-down:
~ Fresh, locally made jerky and sausage sticks (Carson LOVES the sausage sticks!)
~ 2 quarts blue crop blueberries
~ 1 fresh, Great Lakes salmon fillet

I also made a quick trip to Eichelbergs' farm down the road from me for 2 dozen ears of corn last Sunday. Their corn is the best corn we've ever had... by far! Even though we're growing our own corn this year (not ready yet, though), we can't resist the Eichelberg corn! We always end up frequenting their farm stand at least once every couple weeks every summer. We ate a dozen of those ears fresh and I removed the corn from the cobs of the other dozen, blanched it, and froze it.

On Thursday, I made another stop at Eichelbergs' to pick up:
~ another 2 dozen ears of corn (all of which was blanched and frozen)
~ 2 small cantaloupes (for fresh eating)
~ 1 quart potatoes

I also stopped in at the Fenton Farmers' Market on Thursday evening. I picked up:
~ 1 quart sugar plums (for fresh eating... soooooo good, juicy, and sweet!!)
~ 2 quarts redhaven peaches (for fresh eating and baking)
~ 1 quart blueberries (for fresh eating and baking)

I also harvested tons more beans, zucchini, and cauliflower from the garden. I've frozen another two 1-gallon bags of beans, three bags of grated zucchini in 2-cup portions, half a 1-gallon bag of cauliflower. And we've eaten the rest fresh.

On to the meals this week...

Sunday ~ We're going to a local county fair for a Moto-X race, so we'll eat fair food... yeah... not really looking forward to the fair food, but oh well. :)
Meatless Monday ~ mexican style zucchini tacos, cheddar corn fritters
Tuesday ~ grilled chicken, zucchini fries, fresh corn saute. We went out to eat (at Olive Garden) with the Odykirks to see my Great-Aunt Sandy who is in town from Oklahoma.
Wednesday ~ kohlrabi with peas and potatoes, bruschetta
Thursday ~ stir fry to use up all the misc. veggies in the fridge before we're gone for a week
Friday ~ slow cooker enchiladas
Saturday ~ We'll be going to my cousins' going away party - they're moving to Williamsburg, VA soon. I'll be making something to share, but haven't decided what that will be yet...

Most of this week will be spent getting ready to be gone next week... we're going up to Kevin's grandparents' trailer on Big Star Lake for a good part of the week. We'll be heading up next Sunday and will stay through Thursday at least, maybe head back on Friday morning. We'll be kind of playing everything by ear. We'll spend some time out on the pontoon on the lake, just playing at the small beach at the trailer, and we'll be doing some day trips - Ludington, Traverse City/Leelanau Peninsula, and possibly to Duck Lake to meet up with my SIL and niece.

So, in preparation for vacation, I'll be making sure we're caught up on laundry, working on packing throughout the week (need to make a packing list first, though! :) , and getting everything caught up in the garden and kitchen. Its prime harvest season, so I'm sure we'll come back to lots of work in the garden (and kitchen) when we return from vacation. I doubt I'll do many farmers' markets this week, unless its to stock up on stuff to take with us to the trailer. Although, we won't be taking a ton of food with us up there since we're planning to do so many day trips, we won't really be at the trailer to cook much... it'll be nice! I do know that I'll be making some zucchini brownies on either Saturday night or Sunday morning next week to take along for something sweet at the trailer. But other than that, I haven't given it much thought as to what we'll eat while we're there... need to get on that soon, too... :)

One extra thing that I really would like to do... but might have to put off till the weekend we get home... is can some pineapple-peach salsa. I found a super yummy sounding canning recipe for it and would really like to make some. We'll just have to see what time allows, though... I'm guessing I'll have to put it off till the following weekend...