Two Dinners in One: Tex-Mex Stuffed Zucchini and "Hamburger Helper"

I love it when you get two meals out of little effort. This stuffed zucchini recipe leaves you with extra filling to eat in whatever manner your taste buds desire. We mixed it with brown rice pasta and called it "Hamburger Helper," but you could also eat it over rice, put it in a quesadilla, or use it as a crepe filling.

The stuffed zucchini was just enough for our family of one hungry dad, one nursing mom, and one almost three year old with a good appetite. Double it for a larger family or for company. The leftover filling was enough to feed us dinner the next day with about 2/3 pound pasta.

Bonus: This is a great way to use up overgrown zucchini!

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home, Part 3: Basil & Pine-Nut Ice Cream with Blackberry Swirl

This is Part 3 of my series on Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home. In Part 1 I told you what I love about the book. In Part 2 I told you what I don't like, where I'll compromise, and how I tweak the recipes. And now, what you've been waiting for: a recipe!

This is a perfect early fall ice cream, when basil and blackberries can still be found at the farmer's market.

I know, I know. It sounds weird. Basil and pine nuts in my ice cream? Isn't that what pesto is made of?

Sometimes the best things in life are unexpected. I never would have thought this up on my own; I've got Jeni to thank for the creativity behind this ice cream. Except...the blackberry sauce was my idea. And it was a really good idea.

Recipes by the Soup Goddess: Minestrone

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

This is the second soup in this series, Recipes by the Soup Goddess. The Soup Goddess is my mom, and she's not really a goddess, but she is a pretty gifted woman. And one of her gifts is making soup.

When I think about this soup, I remember a time during the first year I was off of meal plan at college and cooking for myself. My mom came for a visit and brought with her a gallon sized freezer bag full of this soup, complete with a little baggie of grated Parmesan. I don't remember much of what I ate that year, but I had virtually no cooking experience and that soup was a bright spot in a dark culinary period.

This is a great soup to make in late summer or early fall, when vegetables like green beans and zucchini can still be found in your garden or at your farmer's market. 

Basil-Lime Avocado Salad Dressing

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Check out those pastured egg yolks. They are almost orange!

I love my standard Balsamic Vinaigrette, but sometimes it's nice to have something different atop my plate of greens. This unique and nutritious dressing was delicious with a salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onion, radishes, bacon, and hard boiled eggs.

Why make your own dressing? 

 

Homemade salad dressing is easier than you think! With just a few basic ingredients you can whip up something much tastier and healthier than anything that comes in a bottle. Trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup and polyunsaturated oils? Make this easy change to improve your family's health, and you might just end up enjoying salads more, too!

French Onion Quesadillas

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

French Onion Quesadilla on a Sourdough Tortilla

 

I'm sometimes skeptical when I come across a dish that is posing as something else. You know what I'm talking about: "Taco Pizza." "BLT Salad." "Baked Potato Soup." "Pot Pie Chicken Salad." I usually say that I'd rather just eat the food that it's trying to be. But these quesadillas are a blessed exception to that rule. Clearly, they are not authentic in any way. But man are they good. And they make a stinkin' easy lunch.

7 Unexpected Uses for the Humble Ice Cube Tray

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Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice for a Strawberry Orange Julius

These babies are not just for ice anymore, folks. 

I love when a simple, inexpensive tool has so many uses.  Take the humble ice cube tray: it can help you preserve the harvest, prevent food waste, save you time, boost your family's nutrition, and make your tastebuds do a little happy dance!

Here are 7 unexpected ways you can put those ice cube trays to work in your real food kitchen:

Recipes by the Soup Goddess: Tomato Soup

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This is the first recipe in my new series, Recipes by the Soup Goddess! This tomato soup is like nothing you've ever tasted, especially if you grew up on Campbell's. Seasoned with loads of fresh basil and chock full of nutrients, it's totally worth the effort of peeling and seeding fresh tomatoes from your garden. 

We like to serve it with pesto grilled cheese sandwiches, made with homemade pesto that we froze last summer in ice cube trays.

The makings of a great grilled cheese: sprouted bread, fancy cheese, and a cube of pesto from the freezer.

It makes a big Dutch oven full: enough to eat, share, and have leftovers! (We like to freeze the leftovers for a summery treat in the dead of winter.)

Tips for Success from the Soup Goddess

1. Fresh basil is key. Don't be shy!

2. Blend to the thickness you like. She likes hers a bit chunky.

3. Freshly grated Parmesan sprinkled on top is The Upgrade. (She always has an Upgrade.) She likes to grate hers on a microplane.

4. As always, remember this Soup Goddess secret: "Taste, sprinkle, taste, sprinkle, taste."

The cheese oozing out the bottom is Dill Havarti.

Best-Ever Tomato Soup  

Original Recipe by Sara Moulton, amended and upgraded by Linda Leeman

Ingredients:

• 4 T. butter
• a splash of olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion (medium or large), diced
• 3 carrots, finely diced
• ¼ c. flour (I've used all-purpose, but I bet sprouted would work well)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 6 lbs fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (details below)
• 2 (28 oz.) cans pureed tomatoes, or more fresh tomatoes
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 4 c. homemade chicken broth
• 4 t. fresh thyme leaves (or 1-2 t. dry)
• 2 T. fresh basil, chopped
• 2 c. light cream or whole milk
• freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish

Directions:

1. To peel and seed the tomatoes, fill a large pot halfway full with water. Bring it to a boil, and carefully place the tomatoes in the pot. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon after less than a minute, or when you see some of the skins starting to break or wrinkle. Drain in a colander, and let cool. Slip the skins off, cut off the stem end with a serrated knife. Slice in half and remove the seeds, either by squeezing or scoping them out with your finger. Chop coarsely.

2. Melt the butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven or other large pot. Add the onion and carrot and cook over medium heat until almost tender. Add the garlic and continue cooking a few more minutes.   
3. Add the flour and cook, stirring, 1-2 minutes. Do not allow to brown. 

4. Add seeded and peeled tomatoes, canned tomatoes (if using), tomato paste, chicken broth, and salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Simmer, stirring every few minutes, for 30 minutes or longer (the longer it simmers the better it tastes). Halfway through simmering, add the fresh thyme. Toward the end of simmering, add the fresh basil. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

6.  Puree the soup (preferably with an immersion blender to avoid extra dishes and potentially squirting soup all over the kitchen!). The Soup Goddess prefers hers a little bit chunky.

7. Add the cream or milk and heat on low for a few minutes, tasting to adjust the seasonings one last time.
8. Serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan and a grilled cheese sandwich.

A Few Notes

The last time I made this,  I used tomatoes I had frozen whole last summer. Did you know you could do that? When they thaw, the skins slip right off and you can cut and seed them as normal. It actually saves a step - you don't have to boil them first.

(My next contribution to Modern Alternative Kitchen is a post on Lazy Freezing Techniques like this one! Be sure to subscribe over there so you don't miss out!)

Tomatoes frozen whole with skins. Who knew!?

I also made use of my crock pot last time I made this. We were having some friends over for lunch after church on Sunday, so I went as far as step 4 above the night before, on the stovetop. Then I plopped the contents of the pot into my crock pot insert and stuck it in the fridge. In the morning before church, I turned it on high and it simmered for about three hours. When we got home I added the fresh basil and cream, pureed it, and seasoned to taste. It may have been my best batch ever!

Does it get any better than this?

This is part of Fight Back Friday, Monday Mania, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up for Tomatoes at GNOWFGLINS

 

Salmon Patties with Probiotic Lemon-Dill Sauce

Salmon Patties with Wild Rice Pilaf

Crispy on the outside, studded with sauteed onion, and seasoned with dill and mustard, these salmon patties are one of our favorite meals. The simple sauce takes only a few seconds to mix together, which is easy to do while the salmon is frying. We like to eat these with either oven roasted potatoes or a wild rice pilaf.

The last time I made these, I tried something new: doubling the recipe and freezing half. I formed it all into patties, cooked what we were going to eat, and froze the rest without cooking. I put them in a container separated by parchment. I'm planning to thaw them and cook them up when we need a quick and easy meal...which is pretty often, with a newborn and a 2 year old in the house!

To make this even more economical, I used one can of the pricier but more delicious red salmon, and one can of the cheaper but less tasty pink salmon. I've made them with all pink salmon before, but we gave that a thumbs down. Half and half was perfect, though! If you're only making a single recipe, I recommend just using the red salmon.

This recipe makes 4 patties. It doubles easily.

Toss it in and mix it up!

Salmon Patties

 ingredients:
1 16 oz. can wild Alaskan salmon (red or pink)
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 T. butter
2/3 c. homemade breadcrumbs, separated
2 pastured eggs
1 t. dried dill
1/2 t. dry mustard
freshly ground pepper
2 T. coconut or olive oil

method:
1. Saute onion in melted butter in a large skillet.
2. Drain salmon, reserving liquid. Remove large bones (you won't even notice the small ones).
3. Mix together all ingredients, except for 1/3 c. breadcrumbs and oil. Add enough reserved liquid to moisten, up to 1/3 cup.
4. Place reserved breadcrumbs on a plate. Form the mixture into patties and gently coat with crumbs.
5. Fry in oil in a hot skillet until brown on both sides. Depending on the thickness, you may have to turn heat to low and cover in order for them to cook all the way through.
6. Serve topped with Lemon-Dill Sauce, below.

Lemon-Dill Sauce

ingredients:
1/4 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. sour cream (I use Daisy Brand)
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 t. lemon zest
1/2 t. dried dill (I'm sure fresh would be great!)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together all ingredients.

 

So yummy.

What's your favorite way to eat fish?

 This is part of Real Food Wednesday and Whole Foods Wednesday.

Simple Meal: Saucy White Beans with Zucchini

*Update: I've entered this into the seasonal recipe round-up at GNOWFGLINS! Check it out for more great recipes to use zucchini and summer squash!*

As you learned in my last post, our family recently returned from a Fine Arts Camp where we taught middle-schoolers, chased our toddler through the woods, slept on two "twin" beds pushed together, and cooked real food without a kitchen (I know I didn't give you all those details in the last post, but I thought you'd enjoy hearing more about our time there).

Here is one of the very simple meals I made while we were there, using our new one-burner Coleman stove. As always with my recipes, amounts are approximate and can and should be altered according to your own tastes. It was a cinch to whip together with the few ingredients I brought (and yes, I brought fresh basil from the garden!). It would be realllllly good with sausage, I’m sure. J

Saucy White Beans with Zucchini

Ingredients:

2 T. butter

1 onion

1-2 zucchini

2-3 cups cooked white beans (great northern or cannelini)

garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

1 c. pasta sauce (or as much as you want)

cheese to taste, shredded (I used Swiss and parmesan because that’s what I had)

fresh basil leaves, snipped into strips

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan.

2. Add the onion and cook until tender.

3. Add the zucchini, beans, and seasonings and cook covered over low heat, stirring every couple minutes, until zucchini is tender.

4. Add the sauce and stir to combine.

5. Add the cheese, stir, and cook a couple minutes to melt and heat through.

5. Stir in the basil.

6. Serve with extra parmesan cheese on top.

I’m sure this would be good over pasta (maybe use a little more sauce) or on toast, but I kept things simple and just ate it out of a bowl. It hit the spot and was super easy, even without a kitchen!

If you have a simple meal you've made lately (with or without a kitchen!), share it in the comments!

This is part of Real Food Wednesday and Pennywise Platter Thursday.

Herbed Potato Salad

The last two weeks we have received the most lovely red-skinned potatoes from our CSA. So I whipped up this favorite of ours. It's a light, refreshing twist on potato salad that I hope you love as much as we do; it's perfect for a summer picnic. And because it doesn't contain mayonnaise, you don't have to worry about it sitting outside in hot weather!

I like to leave the skin on the potatoes, especially when I'm using potatoes that are organic, locally grown, and beautiful! Use whatever herbs you prefer or have on hand; I've sometimes used mint and lemon balm in addition to or instead of the ones listed below.

Herbed Potato Salad

Ingredients:
6 cups potatoes, cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. mini onions (tops and bulbs), minced
¼ c. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
chopped fresh herbs to taste (a few sprigs of each): rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley
sea salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Place cubed potatoes in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain.

Combine the potatoes with the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir thoroughly. Taste for salt and add more if necessary. Chill before serving, if desired.

This is part of the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and Recipe Swap Friday.