voila!

looking for an easy way to use up a lot of Zucchini you might be overloaded with? i found the answer while flipping thru the latest copy of 'Better Home & Gardens' -- i just love that magazine! it was an advertisement for butter but looked good and called for a lot of Zucchini, which i have a ton of these days. turns out it tastes pretty darn good too!

you should try it...

Stuffed Zucchini

5 med Zucchini, halved lengthwise

3 tbs butter

1 med onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves, crushed

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

preheat oven to 375 degrees. scoop out pulp from 8 zucchini halves; set aside. arrange zucchini halves on baking sheet. meanwhile, coarsely chop remaining zucchini and pulp.

melt butter in skillet over med-high heat and cook chopped zucchini and onion, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

add red pepper, garlic and oregano. cook, stirring frequently. 1 minute; cool slightly. evenly spoon vegetable mixture into zucchini halves.

bake 30 minutes or until tender.

top with cheese.

a summer food rut

what do you do when your kid only eats 4 things??

i've been feeling like with Mayden i'm just rotating between Hot Dogs, Spaghetti, Mac & Cheese and Chicken nuggets.... a preschoolers dream diet!

any creative ideas out there??

kill ya early banana bread

i randomly found this recipe sweetly called "Nana's Banana Bread" i however have since renamed it "Kill ya early banana bread" because i'm pretty sure it will. this banana bread is amazing and more like banana cake then bread. the batter is better then any cookie dough i've ever tasted. seriously.




ingredients

5 tbs butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 chopped walnuts


preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray bottom of 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

beat butter in large bowl with an electric mixer set at medium speed until light and fluffy. add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat well. add egg, egg whites and vanilla; beat until well blended. add mashed bananas, and beat on high speed 30 seconds.

combine flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in medium bowl. add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with cream, ending with flour mixture. add walnuts to batter; mix well.

pour evenly into prepared load pan. bake until browned and toothpick inserted bear center comes out clean. about 1 hour 15 minutes.

cool bread in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. remove bread from pan; cool completely on wire rack. slice and serve with butter and jam.

i'm convinced...

that God himherself created Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk ice cream to ease the pain of raising small children (add your own pain here)

it is so much better then Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. SO much better.

coloring eggs, naturally

this year i decided we'd dye our Easter eggs with food instead of those little mystery tablets. mostly because we want to consume them after Easter but also because i was curious to see how it worked. unfortunately the results weren't that great, but i think i can do better next year. there are a few different ways to go about doing this.

we chose to do it the "cold way", thinking Mayden could help out more this way. so all you do is take your food and add about a cup of water and boil it essentially making your own dye water. add a tad bit of vinegar then proceed like you would with those tablets only you need to let them sit overnight. it's not quiet as dramatic as only waiting 30 seconds to see the change.

so this morning May woke up eager to see our newly colored eggs. i was pretty sure the orange and green would be lame (i was right) but i was really surprised at how great the blue was... really vivid! red/pink didn't turn out as great as i thought it would. i'll look into how to make them better looking and we'll see what happens next year.

L to R:

orange (2): made with Carrots, chili powder & cheyenne pepper

blue (2): made with red cabbage

pink (2): made with strawberries & beets

green (1): made with spinach

brown (1): made with coffee

grey (1): made with blueberry pie filling

good eats

this year (actually i guess it was technically last year?) one of my favorite Christmas gifts came from my mother-in-law who gave me a crock-pot. i've been testing it out on a few different recipes but none have been note worthy...until now! for any one who uses a crock-pot, i found a great (easy, tastes good & cheap) recipe that we love!

Potato & Double Corn Chowder

1 bag (16oz) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed (4 cups)
1 can (15 1/4 oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (14 3/4 oz) cream-style corn
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
8 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. mix all ingredients in 3 1/2 -to- 6 quart slow cooker
2. Cover & cook on low hat setting 6-8 hours (or high setting 3-4 hours) to develop flavors

Adia Notes:
- so easy to double & freeze
- to make this dish vegetarian, like we do, use Bacon Bits instead of real bacon
- the recipe says to cook for 6-8 hours but i found i liked the consistency after only 4-5 hours rather then the full 6-8 hours.
- if you don't have a crock-pot you could probably do the same thing in a stew-pot on low heat

veggie-licious

this is how we eat Mac & Cheese:

yes it's from a box, but i load it with (previously frozen) chopped spinach... so in my mind that makes up for it. this is how we always eat it so May doesn't think twice about it. she is so adamant about not eating veggies (which really bugs me) but this is one way i get her!!!!!

and this is May drinking her 'Milkshake' which consists of about 1/4 cup of prune juice, 1 cup of organic 1% cow milk and 1 cup of soy milk....yum!