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Author: Mary | Just Take A Bite

Peachy Avocado Salsa

Last night I made corn and goat cheese quesadillas for dinner. I added some diced zucchini and summer squash to them (cooked them with the corn). Another hit! This is the 3rd meal in a row with zucchini that Justin has really liked 🙂 I love that zucchini can be used in so many ways. Normally I make my white bean avocado dip when I make anything Mexican. But I decided to try a new salsa recipe that uses peaches!! I found it on All Recipes. The recipe says to use canned peaches, but I used fresh. It was really good. The peaches add just a hint of sweet and brightness, but not a strong flavor. I added diced green pepper and left out the jalapeno…we’re not spicey people. And I added a little corn that I didn’t need for the quesadillas. Depending on how large or small you dice the veggies this could be a salsa or a salad. It would probably even be really good over rice with some black beans mixed in for a complete meal. I prepped this in the morning and then just added the avocado about a half hour before dinner. That seemed to work well.

Peachy Avocado Salsa

 

1 (15 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained and diced (or fresh, peeled and diced)
1 medium ripe avocado, diced
1 Tbsp. lime juice
2 cups diced, seeded tomato
1/4 cup diced onion
2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro or parsley
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. seeded chopped jalapeno pepper (I used half of a green pepper, diced)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
*black beans, corn can be added

 

In a bowl, combine the peaches, avocado and lime juice. Add the remaining ingredients; lightly toss just until combined. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, fish or chicken.

Zucchini Pesto Risotto

I came up with my own risotto recipe for yesterday to use up some zucchini. It turned out really well! I used fresh basil, pine nuts and paremsan cheese…that’s why I call it pesto risotto. I didn’t actually make/add pesto, but I added the main pesto ingredients. I didn’t measure anything, but I’ll try to write down what I did. Justin and I both LOVED this. That’s one more meal where Justin said he actually liked zucchini 🙂 I didn’t make a huge batch…enough for our meal and a lunch. It could easily be doubled or tripled.Zucchini Pesto Risotto

1/2 cup arborio rice
3 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, diced
1 medium green zucchini, chopped
1 medium yellow squash, chopped
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 cup grated paremsan cheese
6-8 fresh basil leaves, ripped or chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 Tbsp. butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. EVOO

Warm broth in a saucepan. In large pan saute onion, zucchini and squash in oil, about 5 min. Remove most of the zucchini and squash. Place in a bowl and add frozen peas. Set aside. Add rice to pan. Cook about 3 min. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth, stir. When broth has been absorbed gradually add warm broth one ladle at a time, stirring, until absorbed for about 18 min. total. After 10 min. add veggies back to pan. Continue the broth/stir step. During the last 3 minutes add the cheese, basil, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Serve with extra cheese and pine nuts to sprinkle on top.

Zucchini Bread

I made a batch of zucchini bread this morning. Yum!! I used my mom’s recipe. It’s almost identical to my MIL’s recipe except a few spices. I decided to do a little variation. I did 2:1 white flour to whole wheat flour. I used 1/2 canola oil and 1/2 coconut oil. And I made 3 loves…1/2 the batter as is, 1/4 with mini chocolate chips and 1/4 with chopped walnuts. I can’t wait to try some 🙂 Zucchini bread is always good. I also grated some zucchini to freeze so I can make zucchini bread in the winter 🙂

Edited 1/19/13 – Updated ingredients.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs (or 4 egg yolks + 3 Tbsp. water or milk)
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
2 cups organic cane sugar
3 cups flour (organic all purpose or whole wheat)
3 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. cinnamon

 

*can add chopped nuts, raisins, blueberries and/or chocolate chips

 

In a large bowl beat eggs. Stir in zucchini and oil. Add dry ingredients and stir. Fold in any add-ins. Pour in 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min.

Spaghetti w/ Meatballs and Zucchini Ribbons

This isn’t so much a recipe. It’s just what I threw together today. And it was so good!!! Justin loved it…although he loves anything remotely close to spaghetti with meat sauce 😛 I made meatballs this morning using 1 lb. of Voogt ground beef, some grated zucchini, some whole wheat bread crumbs, some grated parmesan cheese and seasoning (not a lot of any particular add-in…Justin likes to taste the meat :). I got 21 meatballs out of it. I browned them first. Then I put them in the crockpot with 1 pt. of my homemade sauce and let it cook on high for a bit to get going and then on low while we were at church…about 6 hours of cooking total. The meatballs were so flavorful and moist! Then I made whole wheat spaghetti noodles (organic). I peeled a small zucchini (from our garden) into ribbons and added it to the cooking pasta during the last few minutes. I didn’t use much zucchini since this was an experiment and Justin isn’t a huge zucchini fan. But he said he couldn’t even taste it…in the pasta or the meatballs. So I think I’ll be trying it again…with a little more zucchini and/or squash. Sneak a few more veggies into the meal 🙂 Maybe sometime I’ll trying serving the sauce over just zucchini…replace the pasta. But we’ll take baby steps 😛 This was a great meal, and now we have leftovers for Justin’s lunch, leftovers for another dinner (serving the meatballs on their own…not over pasta) and leftovers for Rebecca. She LOVES ground beef. A definite keeper for a yummy summer meal…and no oven 🙂

Blueberry Buckle

It’s blueberry season. Time to post some blueberry recipes. My SIL asked for this recipe a few weeks ago. I got it from my mom. We’ve had it many times. And it’s always great.

Blueberry Buckle

3/4 cups sugar (rapadura/cane sugar)
1/4 cup palm shortening shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat is fine)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups blueberries

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup soft butter

Mix sugar, shortening and egg. Stir in milk. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle in blueberries. Put in 8×10 pan and top with crumb mixture.

Topping:
Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter.

Bake at 375 for 25-35 min.

Cashew Avocado Chicken Salad

I tried another chicken salad recipe last night. I came across it a bit ago on All Recipes and it sounded really good…chicken, avocado, cashews…what’s not to like? 🙂 It was super easy and so yummy!!! (Plus it was filling and full of healthy fat for me:) All 3 of us loved it. In Rebecca’s words, “mmm…mun dee.” I didn’t actually measure anything when I made it. I just eyeballed everything and tasted as I went. I’m not a huge ranch dressing fan, so I did half dressing and half mayonnaise. This recipe is for a sandwich. I just served mine over a bed of spinach and tomatoes. Justin had his on a bun (homemade). Maybe sometime I’ll try it with the bacon and swiss. I didn’t make a full recipe. What I made was enough for our dinner and Justin’s lunch tomorrow.

**Recipe update 6/17/11

Cashew Avocado Chicken Salad

4 cooked, boneless chicken breast halves, shredded (I used 1 large breast, roasted w/ EVOO, salt and pepper, then cubed)
1/3 cup homemade mayo or combo of mayo and sour cream
1 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp. dill weed
1 cup cashews
1 avocado – peeled, pitted and diced
salt and pepper to taste
12 slices bacon
6 slices Swiss cheese
12 slices bread, toasted (serve it on spinach or GF bread to make it GF)

In a large bowl, mix the cooked chicken, mayo, dill, cashews, and avocado. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes. (This is where I stopped. I chilled it for 1 hour and served it.)

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown; drain.
Spread even amounts of the chicken mixture on 6 slices of toasted bread. Top each with 2 slices bacon and 1 slice Swiss cheese. Top with remaining bread slices to make sandwiches.

**Edited 3/4/10
We made the full sandwich version last night on homemade whole wheat bread with bacon and muenster cheese. This is soooooo good!

Cherry Crisp

I wanted to use up my last few cherries, so I made a cherry crisp yesterday. I got the recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod. She used ranier cherries. I just had sweet cherries. It was really good! But not something I’d want to eat all the time. It was very cherry 😛 I bet it would be good with some tart cherries added. I made 2 small crisps. Justin ate half of one. I ate the other one…the whole thing :)…after a soccer game…I needed to make up for lost calories. Fresh cherry crisp with french vanilla Hudsonville ice cream…mmm:)

crisp with ranier cherries

*Edited 6/27/10 – I made this again last week. But I used sliced ranier cherries this time and  a few black cherries. So good! It’s better with the ranier cherries added. I also used whole wheat flour instead of AP flour. Worked fine. I also made this a larger crisp in an 8×8 pan. I modified the recipe accordingly to use about 2 1/2 cups cherries.

Cherry Crisp

Makes 3 individual crisps in small ramekins or 2 crisps in small casserole dishes. You can double or triple it for one large crisp or more individual ones.

1 1/2 cups Rainer cherries, pitted and halved
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 Tbsp. flour (whole wheat works fine)
1/2 cup brown sugar (organic brown evaporated cane sugar)
2 Tbsp. cold butter-cut in small pieces
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray ramekins with cooking spray. In a small bowl sprinkle the cherries with the 2 Tbsp. of sugar and flour. Mix well. Let sit while you make the oat topping. In a small bowl add the oats, cinnamon, salt, flour, and brown sugar. Stir. Add the butter to the oat mix. Mix with your hands until you have a crumbly mixture. Pour sugared cherries into the sprayed ramekins. Make sure each one is even. Add the oat topping. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes (or 30-40 for an 8×8 crisp), until they are bubbling. Cool for a minute and serve. (We used french vanilla ice cream on top).

Grilled Pizza

We grilled pizza for the first time last night. It was awesome!!! And quite easy…although a little time consuming since we couldn’t fit them all on the grill at once. I got the recipe from A Good Appetite. The dough was super easy to make and so yummy. We made 4 pizzas:

~ pesto, chicken, peppers and mozzarella
~ tomato sauce, pepperoni, peppers and mozzarella

~ 1/2 pesto, chicken, peppers, mozzarella; 1/2 tomato sauce, pepperoni, peppers, mozzarella

~ 1/2 tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella; 1/2 tomato sauce, basil, thinly sliced zucchini, peppers, roasted beets, mozzarella

They were all very good. And there is plenty leftover for another meal. We’ll definitely be making pizza on the grill again. I didn’t end up making a dessert pizza, but I might still try that sometime.
Grilled Pizza

Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water (110 to 115 F)
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. sugar
4 Tbsp. olive oil
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
2 tsp. kosher salt

Combine the water, yeast & sugar in a bowl & stir until mixed. Let sit 5 minutes until it gets foamy. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Mix the flour & salt together in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture & stir until the dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a floured surface & knead until smooth & elastic, about 5 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky, not dry. If more flour is needed, add it in 1 tablespoon at a time.Coat the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl & turn to coat with oil. Cover & let rise until doubled about 1 hour.

Enough for 4 ten-inch pizzas

Making The Pizzas

Prepare your toppings. Heat the grill to about 400 F. Cut four pieces of aluminum foil about 12″ x 12″. Spray the foil with non-spray or olive oil. Divide the pizza dough into four pieces. Stretch each piece of dough out to about a 10″ circle on the prepared pieces of foil.

Coat the grill grate with vegetable oil.Pick up one piece of dough on foil & flip it onto the grill dough side down. Then peel away the foil. Repeat for as many pizzas as you can fit on the grill. Close the lid & let cook 1 – 2 minutes, the top of the dough should be bubbly & the bottom should be grill-marked.Take the dough off the grill & invert so the grilled side is facing up.Add the toppings (its best to go light for this type of pizza) and return the pizza to the grill. Close the grill lid & let the pizza cook until the bottom is browned & the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

Cherry Chicken Salad

Last night I made a cherry chicken salad for dinner. I came up with this after going to the Cherry Festival in Traverse City, MI.

This salad is very forgiving. You can adjust all of the quantities to your taste

Cherry chicken salad is so good!!! It is also a fun way to use cherries. Serve it on bread, on lettuce or with crackers. You really can’t go wrong.

Cherry Chicken Salad
2 chicken breasts, roasted w/ salt and pepper, cut into chunks
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup celery, sliced thinly
1/2 cup sweet cherries, chopped
1/4 cup dried cherries (I used tart), chopped
1/4 cup nuts, roughly chopped (I used pecans and walnuts)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
 
Mix all of the ingredients. Chill until ready to serve.
 
I served it in a bowl with romaine lettuce leaves and sprinkled with a few dried cherries and pecan pieces. We used the lettuce like a wrap and also ate the chicken salad plain.

Strawberry Topping

With my last quart of strawberries I made a batch of strawberry topping this morning. The recipe is from Justin’s mom…just a basic fruit topping recipe…for pancakes, waffles, ice cream, etc. You could use it with any kind of fruit. Maybe I’ll make some blueberry topping to freeze when I get more blueberries. This is very good and very simple. Although it is on the sweet side. I’ll use less sugar next time. And you could probably add a little lemon juice to brighten up the flavor a bit.

Strawberry (fruit) Topping

1/3 cup organic cane sugar, sucanat or coconut sugar (adjust to taste)
2 Tbsp. all purpose flour OR 1 Tbsp. tapioca flour OR 2 Tbsp. arrowroot
1/2 cup water
3 cups strawberries, chopped (or any fresh fruit)

Mix sugar and flour in medium sauce pan. Add water. Mix. Turn on heat. Stir in strawberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.

Serve on pancakes, waffles, shortcake or ice cream. You can also mix it into plain yogurt.

**You can also just mix fresh strawberries and honey (to taste). Let them sit until the strawberries start to soften. Then mash with a fork or potato masher. No cooking required. You can heat the topping before serving if desired.