Italian stuffed zucchini

Oh, man, you guys. It's been a rough one, I tell ya! The long weekend was great, but I may have celebrated ISU's first win of the season a little too heartily. I also seem to be having a nasty bout with my allergies this week. I'm talking ice pick to the ear, throat swelling up type of shizz. It's super fun. But not to worry, I decided to come back to you all...I could never leave you :)

 

This recipe was made for us at the lake a few weeks ago by Dani, the neighbor...remember, she's the one who makes the WIDZ? Yeah, well it turns out she's also a pro at zucchini. And then Mallory brought me two of the biggest honkers you've ever seen from her garden, and I was all whispering in the veggie's ears "I know exactly what's happening to you two" and then laughing an evil witch cackle. I have fun.

 

Anywho...get zee ingredients and get started!

 

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats (adapted from skinnytaste.com)

Servings: 8 • Size: 1 boat • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts
Calories: 153 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 12.8 g • Carb: 9 g • Fiber: 2 g • Sugar: 2 g
Sodium: 372 mg

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups marinara sauce
• 4 (31 oz total) medium zucchini
• 1/2 small onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1 lb ground turkey  
• 1/2 cup part skim shredded mozzarella (Polly-O)
• 8 tsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 T italian seasoning
• 1/2 can mushrooms

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out flesh, leaving 1/4" thick.

Brown your turkey and add mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, italian seasoning to the skillet to cook. When done, add marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. Scoop mixture into zucchini shells and cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle fressh mozzarella on top for 10 minutes more cook time. Slice and serve!

 

 

I mean...even the boys were raving about these.  And you know that's like getting a 2 year old to like their veggies. Oh, did I just say that? I didn't mean it, fellas! Honest...

 

7 layer dip

Labor Day. Labor Day. Labor Day. No matter how much I say it, I can't believe we're already here. Where did the Summer go? I told you earlier in the year that Memorial Day is pretty much the kickoff to Summer in my mind, and that makes Labor Day the "See you later" party for Summer. Obviously, I have many reasons to look forward to Fall...besides the usual hoodie weather and comfort food recipes, Main Man and I will be tying the knot in under 2 months. For realz. This year went by at lightning speed. I'm told that it continues to speed up each year you get older and as you have kids of your own, but I'm not sure how time could fly any faster!

 

Labor day weekend is our last planned weekend at the lake, with all the wedding stuff coming up, and Main Man's work taking up a lot of his time.  I'm sad Summer is coming to an end but am really looking forward to the first ISU football game this weekend, so I guess it's an even trade!  If you're looking for some recipes to bring to a potluck or bbq this weekend, check out the suggestions I made for Memorial Day tummy fillers, they will be great contributions to a Labor Day shindig too! 

 

I'm going pretty simple for our last lake weekend, and went with a few easy items to lug down there so we don't have to bring much back with us when closing up shop. I made:

 

huge garden salad from fresh veggies (cleaning out the garden)

turkey rollups

bangin' grilled shrimp skewers

marinated pork loin for the smoker (recipe to come)

italian stuffed zucchini (recipe to come)

7 layer dip

 

Seven layer dip is the most simple appetizer I make, and I always have all the ingredients around to throw it together, since you pretty much use what you want. I've even made it with more or less than seven layers before...that's how crazy I am. Keep your distance, folks...I'm not sure you want this insanity to rub off on you.

 

I started with a layer of fat free spicy refried beans for the base. Layered on a diced jalapeno, and half a can of diced black olives I had leftover from another recipe.

 

Cover those layers with a layer of greek yogurt (rather than sour cream). Top that with a layer of taco sauce, a layer of 2% mexican cheese, and a layer of fresh picked cherry tomatoes from the garden. I would normally do onions, but I know there is one particular onion hater that will be amongst us this weekend (don't worry, I won't name names, Christina!) so I omitted that part. Use tortillas chips to schoop up that goodness and see if that dish isn't licked clean by the end of the day.

You can add a layer of quac, a layer of salsa, a layer of lettuce, a layer of onion. You can also omit any layers you're not too fond of...it's really up to you. Don't you love recipes like that?? Superbly easy, built to please personal tastes, and didn't even require a run to the store. I'll go ahead and wish myself a happy Labor Day for you, since you'll be wanting to thank me for this go-to dish sometime this weekend.

Alright, folks...I'm out to take the dogs on a walk, get packed up, and maybe get a little reading in this afternoon. Enjoy the long weekend, and we will see you back here on Tuesday!!

Bangin' Grilled Shrimp Skewers

Sit down. Take off your socks. Because the knowledge I am about to impart upon you is going to knock you off your feet AND knock your socks off. It happened to me when I put my first little bangin' shrimpy in my mouth. True story. Mama told these shrimpies to knock you out. Mama said knock you out.

P.S. They're not bad for you. I knowwwwwww! Where have these been all my life?? I found them hiding over at Gina's Skinny Taste, you know, my fave WW blog evah evah. I've told you about her before. The spinach and cheese lasagna rolls came from her. Yeah, she's pretty much a god. Plus, check out her food photos...but not before lunch unless you enjoy torture. I've had these shrimp skewers in my pile to try for longer than I care to admit now that I know how easy they are. What, you don't have a pile 2 foot high of printed recipes you want to try in the corner of your kitchen? Me either. I was kidding. Don't leave me...

It just so happened the stars aligned and I had everything I need to make these ready to go and on hand. We haven't made dinner this fast in....well, ever. Main man manned the grill after I skewered the shrimpies, while I made the sauce lickety split. Sauce them up after you take them off the grill and whammo-blammo-cadabra (or whatever it is magicians say)...dinna is served, my lords. You're welcome. I finally stopped curtsying earlier this week.

Ingredients:

2 T light mayo (I used olive oil based)
2 T scallions, chopped fine (I didn't have any so skipped this part)
2 T Thai sweet chili sauce
1 t Sriracha (or to taste, I used more like 1 T)

40 large raw shrimp, shelled and deveined, sprinkled with fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

Combine the first group of ingredients. Set aside. Soak wooden skewers in water so they don't burn on the grill. Heat a clean, lightly oiled grill to medium heat, when the grill is hot add the shrimp, careful not to burn the skewers. Grill on both sides for about 6-8 total cooking time, or until shrimp is pink and opaque. Set shrimp on a platter and quickly brush with sauce. Serve immediately, it gets cold quickly.

We made Main Man's favorite side lately...the baked parmesan tomatoes...to round out the meal.

 

Best part? The fat stats.

 

Bangin' Grilled Shrimp SkewersSkinnytaste.com

Servings: 2 • Serving Size: 2 skewers(10 shrimp each skewer) • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 6 pts
Calories: 280 • Fat: 9.5 g • Protein: 37 g • Carb: 8.4 g • Fiber: 0.1 g • Sugar: 5 g
Sodium: 330.9 mg

Hot onion burgers

Piggyback time!!!! Who doesn't love a good piggyback ride...we used to have races in our neighborhood, and even though I was a girl, I was super good at being on the bottom and running my little legs off to win. I'm tough like that. It's because I eat beeeeeef :) 

 

This carving board style roast beef was only half gone after making the scrumdiddlyumptious (piggy backs and Willy Wonka words...it's turning into a great hump day) philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers I made that week so I was really just trying to find ways to use it up when these burgers were born of love. I was pre-making burgers for the lake that weekend and thought "hmmmm...meat within the meat? I'm sure Main Man will luuuurve me for this one!" So I did the damn thang. And he did love me. Everyone loves a happy ending :)

 

1 lb lean hamburger

1 onion soup packet

1 diced jalapeno

1 can mushrooms

half package carving board roast beef 

 

Mix it all up. I realize it's pretty messy, but your hands are your best tool in this situation. It's sort of fun too...squishing it all between your fingers and watching it goo out as it all mixes together. Patty that out into 4 burgers (1/4 each) and layer with waxed paper in a container to store. Unless grilling immediately...by all means, grill away!!

 

I did not get a photo of these babies after they were cooked that weekend. I actually didn't even have one. Main Man had one with pepperjack cheese and raved about it though...the kid loves onions. His buddy Jones also thought they were extra special and told me 3 times how good they were. Aunt Vicki and Uncle Mike gobbled theirs up so I'm assuming they enjoyed them too! All in all, the lesson here is, you can't go wrong with meat inside meat. Class dismissed.

 

Philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers

I've found a new website that I just adorrrrrrre! I'm not doing the no carb thing like the blogger is, but it's always good to cut where you can...right? I just pinned another 84 bajillion (that's equivelent to about 10, fyi) recipes off her site, due to how well this one turned out in the Stensland test kitchen. She has such great substitutions!! Rutabaga for potatoes?? Gonna have to try that one before I stamp my approval on it...but if it's anything like the potato-cauliflower switcharoo in the twice baked cauliflower then I'm willing to give up my first born for a sub like that. Maybe not...depends on how much I like the kid I guess. It would have to be a lot in order to trump low cal potatoes that taste like fat kid food though. My children will have alot to live up to...

Anywho...this was quick and easy (which was good because I was staaaaaahhhhving) as well as very satisfying. Read: I wasn't in the kitchen looking for crackers or chips a couple hours later to keep the carb monster inside me at bay like I have to do sometimes. Give it a shot!

Ingredients:

8 oz thinly sliced roast beef (I used carving board roast beef for bigger pieces)
8 slices provolone cheese (I used 2% swiss)
2 large green bell peppers
1 medium sweet onion
6 oz baby bella mushrooms
2 T olive oil
1 T garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Slice peppers in half lengthwise, remove ribs and seeds. Slice onions and saute them with mushrooms in olive oil with minced garlic, salt and pepper. Saute while stirring until onions and mushrooms are nice and caramelized (25-30 minutes...I thought about pulling them sooner because they smelled so good but pleeeeaaase way for them to caramelize and you will not be sorry).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice roast beef into thin strips and add to the onion/mushroom mixture. Allow to cook for 5-10 more minutes. Line the inside of each pepper with a slice of provolone, and fill each pepper with meat mixture until they are nearly overflowing. Top each pepper with another slice of provolone.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.

 

Mediterranean chicken quinoa skillet

I'm not sure what a person's measure of success should be on a blog, this is new territory for me. All I know, is if I look back at my initial posts in early 2011 and compare them to my posts now, I notice a few things.

 

1. My photography (although nowhere near the level I want it to be still) has drastically improved from my original Droid phone pics I used to use. Sidenote: I GOT MY CAMERA LENS BACK!!! Oh, how I've missed it. Getting it back has made me really try to get more into the photography of all this, and try to stage better photos than I have in the past. We'll see how I do...I'll work on it, I promise!!

 

2. I'm more comfortable in my writing and in sharing a lot more of myself (and my main man) in my posts.

 

 3. You can't see this, but I can see how many pageviews I get per day on each post. I am well over a million views at this point, and it blows my mind every time I think about it. I'm averaging 10k views per day. Seriously? This started as a little creative writing project for family and friends so I would stop annoying everyone with pics of our dinner on facebook each night....and it's come to this!? I'm amazed...but really, doesn't everyone have a complete and total infatuation with food and aren't they always looking for the new, blast your socks off, love of your life recipe around each and every corner of the interwebs like I am? Oh, wait...that's just me? Well, at least I hope if any of you have tried any of the recipes I've posted, that you've enjoyed them as much as I have.

 

 4. This project not only allows me a creative outlet, but it's also widened our horizens to a lot of different meals we never would have attempted before (case in point: I am now obsessed with quinoa and will be posting another recipe with it very soon, plus I just KILLED searing scallops at home for the first time this weekend)!

 

 My favorite time of the day is still and probably always will be, dinnertime. When Main Man comes in and makes a comment about how he can smell dinner from the driveway (sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad), takes off his shoes, and we talk about each of our days while I dish up the dinner du jour. He's very honest with me if he likes or dislikes whatever I make, which some would take offense to, but I truly appreciate. That's why I love a recipe like this...that I'm not sure of myself, let alone wondering if he's going to like it....and it turns out wonderous! I mean, this is one of the better meals I've enjoyed in a while, and it's uber healthy! I've only cooked with quinoa once on Valentines Day this year, when I made the toasted quinoa salad with scallops. It was good...but it wasn't good like this!

 

The original recipe was from Iowa Girl Eats and called for pasta, and shrimp, and she made a sauce. So I don't think this is even slightly near the same meal, but it worked and that's all that matters in the food world, right? Main man plowed this...and I mean plowed it. I'm not going to speak of the fact that I annhilated the same amount as he did...I'm a lady, you know. All I'm saying is, if you've never worked with quinoa, this is a great recipe to start out with. The texture is a little something to get over, and I feel like sort of a hippie subbing quinoa for pasta, but both those facts are easy to get over when you taste the juice of the cooked tomatoes, with the pop of the quinoa, and the saltiness of the feta in your mouth all at once. Mouthgasm. I said it. I'm no longer a lady...get over it.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry quinoa (supa, supa, supafood)
4 cups chicken broth
3 grilled chicken (seasoned with Tastefully Simple seasoning salt)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 garlic cloves, minced (it called for less but I'm a garlic freak...gotta keep those vamps away, I've already got me an Edward!)
4 cups chopped fresh spinach (another superfood! this meal is soooo healthy!)
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles (I used reduced fat)
1/4 cup torn fresh basil

Directions:
Add 4 cups chicken broth to a large skillet and bring to a boil. Add 2 cups rinsed (make sure to rinse!) quinoa to the skillet and let cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Add spinach, tomatoes, garlic, feta, basil, and cooked chicken to the skillet. Continually stir while flavors melt together. Flavor with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Serve piping hot! But, if you happen to get accosted with a forkful in your mouth of it cold from the fridge by your own hand before you know what it's doing....it's good cold too...just an FYI.

Sweet potatoes

In this installment of "Dining with the Nobilings", I introduce you to The Laughing Cow cheese. You may have already had Laughing Cow cheese, like I had. But I was not aware that they made Cinnamon Cream Laughing Cow cheese on top of their other, more savory flavors. This wouldn't mean much to me, if it weren't paired with a sweet potato. I'm not big on cinnamon, or sweet cream cheese for that matter. But if I can have a fan-flipping-tastic tasting baked sweet potato with this stuff for 30 calories (yeah, you read that right...THIRTY) rather than slathering it with butter and brown suger per usual, then I'm all  in!

 

I gave you the recipe for the grilled cabbage yesterday. Now get to Fareway to get some smoked ham, and bake yourself a sweet potato (you can use the microwave, crockpot, or oven for this). You're all set for a full, healthy meal now that you've got the Laughing Cow Cheese in your corner...and seriously, Main Man talked about this food the whole way home. And the next day. I wouldn't lie about something so serious.

 

In other news....happy Friday, all!! This week has flown by it seems! Main Man and I have been doing a cleanse this week, so I've got a lot of very healthy dinners to post in the next couple weeks. Healthy, but satisfying to a tired boy after working all day...booyah!! Oh, and I got my camera lens back...fixed...for FREE! It's been that kind of week...a phenomenal one :)