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Tuna Zucchini Cakes

I created a new recipe last night. I combined fish cakes and zucchini pancakes (I’ve made them both before). I based it on a Robin Miller recipe I made once. I didn’t measure anything, just added and mixed as I went. I prepped these in the morning. Then right before cooking them I coated them in a cheese breadcrumb mixture. They were really good!! Definitely something I’ll make again. We both loved them. I’ll try to write down what I did…so I can remember next time 🙂 This can easily be doubled or tripled if you want to freeze a bunch. They are pretty filling. We each had 1 1/2.

Tuna Zucchini Cakes

 
1 can chunk light tuna in water, drained well (you could use any kind of fish)
1 small yellow zucchini, grated
1 small green zucchini, grated
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 – 1/2 seasoned dry whole wheat bread crumbs
1 Tbsp. dijon or spicy brown mustard
1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

 

1/4 – 1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 – 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

 

Mix first 8 ingredients. Add extra breadcrumbs if too moist. Form into patties. At this point you can place them on wax paper and refrigerate or freeze them. When ready to eat mix last 2 ingredients on a small plate. Coat the cakes in the mixture one at a time. After coating place on a hot non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Cook 7-8 min. per side. Serve plain or with tartar sauce. Makes 5 cakes.

Zucchini Waffles

Last week I made blueberry topping (froze most of it). So I wanted to make waffles for a meal to try it out. And then I thought, I wonder if I could put zucchini in waffles?? So I did a quick search. Sure enough, I found some zucchini waffle recipes. I found one that uses whole wheat flour too. They turned out great!!! And a little healthier than some waffles. Plus they were very easy to make. I made a half batch and got 3 waffles out of it (the large belgian waffle style). I had a little overflow. I probably could have gotten 3 1/2 out of it. So a full batch would make about 7 large waffles. The next time I make them I’ll probably do a full batch and freeze some. Whole wheat zucchini waffles, homemade blueberry topping, walnuts and readi-whip (I don’t like the stuff, but Justin does)…yum!!! And some sliced fresh peaches and homemade blueberry buckle on the side. What a treat.

Zucchini Waffles
2 cups nonfat milk (I used 1%)
3 eggs
1 zucchini, grated
2 cups white whole wheat flour (try King Aurthur’s brand) (I just used regular whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
 
Beat first 3 ingredients together, with a wire whisk or a fork, until well blended. Add dry ingredients and mix gently until well combined (but don’t overmix). Cook according to your waffle-makers instructions.

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.

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 🙂

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 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.

Pesto Pea Salad

I made a Barefoot Contessa recipe last night that I’ve had marked in my cookbook for a while. This salad is meant to be a side dish. But I added a few things to make it a main dish. I’ll post the original recipe (and picture with just those ingredients) and then what I added (and another picture). This was very good!!! And super easy. I never thought of using pesto as a salad dressing. But it works well. I didn’t make her recipe for the pesto. I just used some homemade spinach pesto I had in the freezer.Pesto Pea Salad

2 cups of frozen peas, thawed
2 Tbsp. pignolis (pine nuts), toasted
2 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves (I used a mix of garden spinach and boughten organic baby romaine)
grated parmesan (I used asiago since that’s what I had on hand)
4 Tbsp. pesto, recipe follows

My additional toppings:
cooked chicken chunks
avocado
beans (a mix of garbanzo, pinto and northern)
corn
croutons (gluten free w/o these)
roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower

To assemble, place the spinach leaves in a salad bowl. Sprinkle the peas and pignolis over the spinach. Add the pesto and toss. Top with cheese. (We each assembled our own salad in individual bowls.)

Pesto:
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pignolis
3 Tbsp. diced garlic (9 cloves)
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Serve, or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

White Bean and Sausage Soup

For lunch today I made another Year of Crockpotting recipe. It was very easy to throw together and it tasted great! Even Rebecca gobbled it right up. Definitely a keeper. For veggies I just threw in some frozen veggies. No time to cut veggies this morning (barely had time to get frozen veggies in with a little girl that kept waking up crying :\). I used lean sweet italian turkey sausage. When I tried to slice it the casing came off. So they were more like sausage chunks. Oh well. I wasn’t thrilled about eating pork casing anyway :p And i just threw in a handful of uncooked brown rice…maybe 1/4 cup. This made enough for our lunch today, 2 lunches for Justin this week and a little extra to feed Rebecca. You could easily make a larger or smaller pot of this. My comments are in italics.

Crockpot White Bean and Sausage Soup

1 can white kidney beans
1 can pinto beans (I guess these aren’t really white)
1 can garbanzo beans
1 tsp. thyme (oops forgot this since I had to stop in the middle of prep to deal with Rebecca…didn’t miss it. There was plenty of flavor w/o adding any seasoing besides the better than bouillon)
2-4 spicy chicken or turkey sausage (I used 2 sweet sausages…we aren’t big on spicy food)
1/2 chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup leftover rice pilaf (if you want to use raw rice, you should have enough liquid to add 1/4 to 1/3 cup without losing soupiness)
2 cups chopped fresh vegetables (I had broccoli, carrots, asparagus) (I used organic frozen mixed veggies and some frozen broccoli)
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth (I used organic better than bouillon mixed with water)

Drain your beans and throw them into your crock. Chop up whatever vegetables you are going to use in tiny pieces. I used my Pampered Chef handy dandy chopper. Slice the sausage that you are going to use. I chose to use two spicy turkey sausage—if you would like your soup to have a kick, use more than two. Two just kind of gives flavor without spice. Cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The soup is done when it’s heated through and the vegetables are tender, but it’s not going to hurt anything to cook it longer and give the flavors more time to meld.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn

I tried a new recipe last night. I got it from my SIL. It’s a RR recipe. Super simple and super yummy!!! I finally made one meal with seafood for the month. And was able to use up some frozen Tilapia that had been in the freezer for a while. The roasted corn really makes the dish…really sweet, lots of flavor. All 3 of us liked it. It’s definitely on my keeper list, especially since it’s gluten free. I didn’t serve it with limes.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn

1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tilapia fillets (1 pound total)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Preheat the broiler. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, chili powder and salt. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish with 1 teaspoon of the mayonnaise mixture. Place the tilapia fillets in the baking dish and coat with the remaining mayonnaise mixture. Top with the corn. Broil until the corn is lightly browned and the fish is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve with the lime wedges.

Corn Dogs…Take 3

So, I tried corn dogs again last night in my ongoing quest to make a decent baked corn dog. I think I got it this time. I used the tinfoil “boats” again. I put toothpicks in each end of the hotdog to kind of suspend it in the “boat.” Then I poured the batter over top. So the hot dog was totally covered by cornbread. And I used 1 pkg. corn muffin mix, 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk. That made the cornbread moist enough to stick decently to the hot dogs. A yummy, fun meal 🙂 Next time maybe I’ll use skewers instead of toothpicks. Then they will be “real” corn dogs. And I could use a little less batter per dog. I just divided it for 4 hot dogs. They each had plenty of corn bread 🙂 Not necessary to have that much, but yummy.