Pizza with Zucchini, Slow-Roasted Tomatoes and Pesto

If you have these things, you must make pizza. It is the law of the land...

Slow oven roasted tomatoes (I used Campari tomatoes that I seeded first, with just olive oil and sea salt roasted for hours and hours at 200 degrees...must have been 6+ hrs?...just keep going til they are utterly delicious)

A monster basil plant threatening to take over your backyard and hence, Basil-Almond Pesto
I only used 1-2 cloves of garlic though, for Pete's sake.

This recipe for Pizza Dough

It won't hurt your pie any if you broil 1/4" slices of zucchini and have slices of a big hunk of fresh mozzarella to pile on there too!

Cocoa Cream Cheese and Whipped Cream Frosting

This is just the most awesome frosting! I've made it several times without the cocoa as the original recipe was printed, but this time I had one gnarlsbad deep-sea angler fish to frost so I tossed 3 Tbs. of unsweetened Valrhona cocoa powder into the mix. I spose I should have taken step by step shots, but all my efforts went into creating the crazy cake that would be receiving the frosting.
You can pipe this quite nicely as I've done in the past, and it's nice and light due to the incorporated whipped cream. Yum, yum, yum! That said, when it came to eating the above cake, I'd already eaten waaaaaay too much frosting to even consider a slice without turning green. ;-)

Cocoa Cream Cheese and Whipped Cream Frosting:

1 1/2 cups well-chilled heavy whipping cream
1 8oz package of softened cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat Philly)
1 cup granulated sugar (I used evap. cane juice crystals)
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs dark unsweetened cocoa powder

Chill the bowl and the beater of your mixer in the freezer till it's good and cold.
Whip the cream to firm peaks and set aside in the fridge.

In the bowl of your mixer, add softened cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Mix on high until smooth and no longer grainy from the sugar.
Retrieve your whipped cream from the fridge and now carefully fold it into the cream cheese mix until blended.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and return to the fridge until you're ready to use it...trust me and don't even TRY it, or you'll have a lot less for your cake!

Alternately, you can just make this a white frosting by leaving out the cocoa.

I'm pretty sure Daniel (the 6 year old recipient of the cake) is gonna NEED this t-shirt!

Feta Stuffed Zucchini

I hadn't made these guys in a long while even though they are a particular favorite of the Monster. Mostly because they are a bit fussier than I like (I feel the same about stuffed tomatoes...what a pain). I mean, with the scooping of the zuke innards, the chopping and sauteeing of said innards, the cooling of the innards, then the stuffing of the zuke shells. C'mon, can't we just have sauteed zucchini and call it a day??
But, he does like them. And, I'd mistakenly bought a second container of feta when we already had a new one in the fridge....so.
They really are lovely though. :-)

Feta Stuffed Zucchini:

2 large zucchini (you might want to make more if you're going to the trouble and all...)
1 Tbs butter
1 large shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1 1/2 Tbs flour (I used brown rice flour and I think I'll reduce this amt. next time since the stuffing kind of pulled away from the shell)
2 oz. crumbled feta
dash of salt and pepper to taste
paprika

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease an ovenproof dish.
Cut the zukes lengthwise, then scoop out the insides, leaving about 1/4" shell.
Save the zuke scoopings and chop them.
Melt the butter in a skillet, add the chopped zucchini scoopings, shallot, garlic and salt and saute until soft.
Let the mixture cool a bit, so you don't cook the egg in the next step.
In a small bowl, beat the egg lightly.
Stir in flour, feta, and cooked zuke/shallot mixture and little black pepper.
I like to sprinkle a little salt inside the zuke shells then fill them with your mixture.
Sprinkle tops of filled zucchini with paprika.
Bake for about 40-45 minutes, then pop them under the broiler for a few minutes.

Spinach and Rice Casserole

Lovely comfort food that's not too unhealthy...I'll definitely be making this casserole as a Turkey Day side dish. Great, quick-to-put-together weeknight dish that can be a vegetarian meal in and of itself, or as we served it, with chicken sausages and some sliced tomatoes. This is another casserole that hails from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook...a book I've been happily rediscovering of late.
We had brown rice already cooked and in the freezer which made putting this together a snap, but because of that I don't have a firm amount on the rice I used. I think using the recipe as written might end up using a higher ratio of rice to spinach? But heck, it IS a casserole. Just use what looks good to you! :-)
I halved the recipe the recipe as printed in the book because we were eating it as a side dish last night. Had plenty for a nice lunch the next day too. I'm writing up the halved version, so just double and use a 9x13 in. pan if you want more.

Spinach and Rice Casserole:
(Moosewood Cookbook; Mollie Katzen)

1 cup uncooked brown rice (I used a combo of brown and a little red)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb fresh spinach, finely chopped (I screwed up and cooked it first, then chopped, but I think that was a less messy way to do it in the end)
1/2 tsp Kosher salt, or to taste
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds, divided (I questioned the use of these, but they really added a great texture! They also up the protein content if this is your whole meal)
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne
fresh black pepper to taste
1/2 cup low-fat milk (I used unsweetened soymilk)
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup grated cheese (I used Cave-aged Gruyere, but recipe suggests cheddar)
paprika
Optional: we enjoyed topping our servings with Cholula hot sauce. :-)

Cook brown rice as per package instructions.
Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 1 quart casserole (I think!...I just used what looked like half of a 9x13).
Heat oil in a deep skillet (I used a Dutch oven) on med-high heat.
Saute onion for about 5-8 minutes until soft; add garlic, spinach and salt and cook about 5 minutes more over medium heat, stirring frequently.
Add to the rice, along with nutmeg, cayenne, black pepper and half (2 TBS) of the sunflower seeds.
Beat together egg and milk and add to the spinach-rice mixture.
Add in cheese and transfer to your buttered casserole dish.
Sprinkle with remaining sunflower seeds and dust with sweet paprika.
Bake uncovered for ~35 minutes, or until heated through and lightly brown on top.

Rosemary Fig Confit

I made this once, years ago...but with figs all around me in the store figured it was about time for another batch. I add balsamic to taste (probably ~2+Tbs) and a touch of sea salt as the figs simmer. I find it's awfully flat without those additions, but you can be the judge.
The original recipe is for using in sammies made with brie and prosciutto on ciabatta rolls, but I remember liking a wee sammie made with either melty Manchego cheese or Cave-aged Gruyere and just the confit much, much better. So that's how we'll be using this loverly goo tonight. Think I'll make mini panini with Kaltbach Gruyere and the confit as a nice side to soup for dinner.
Fyi...this is awesome stirred into Greek yogurt for breakie!

Rosemary Fig Confit:
(Gourmet, July 1995)

1 cup dried Calimyrna figs, chopped fine
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water
3 Tbs honey
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
(add balsamic and sea salt to taste as figs simmer)

In a heavy saucepan stir together ingredients and simmer, covered, 20 minutes.
Remove lid and continue to simmer mixture, stirring occasionally, until most liquid is evaporated and mixture is thickened.

In a food processor coursely purée fig mixture.
Confit may be made 5 days ahead and chilled, covered.

Bring confit to room temp before using. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

Chilaquile Casserole

I have to hurry and post this casserole while Hatch chile peppers are still in season!
I made this on Sunday and talk about comfort food. So good, quick and easy, and I just happened to have all the stuff to make it in the fridge! Gotta love that. I'd already made a salsa with a bunch of my roasted chile stash...it was living quite happily in the freezer, just waiting for a yummy recipe like this to go on top of. The best part about this casserole, is that you can really just put anything you think sounds good in it. My tortillas had been purchased to make enchies with and they'd broken in half by the time I'd gotten them home from the store! Those sad tortillas had been sitting in the fridge for at least a week without a purpose, destined for the dustbin. But! They were just perfect for this recipe...they came right back to life. I'll type up the basic recipe then tell you what else got added in.

I guess I'd better type up the salsa recipe too. Even though there's no photo to go with...
You can just buy salsa verde, but homemade is so easy, and always much better.

Chilaquile Casserole:
(Still Life with Menu Cookbook by Mollie Katzen)

12 uncooked corn tortillas
about 1/2-3/4 cup diced roasted Hatch chiles (I used a combo of hot and mild...you could also just use 2 cans of diced green chiles)
2-3 cups grated Jack cheese (I used a combo of sharp cheddar and jalapeno queso fresco)
4 eggs
2 cups lo-fat buttermilk
salsa verde (recipe follows)

Optional additions:
1-2 cups of pinto beans, drained
a touch of cumin
1 cup chopped onion, sauteed until soft
1-2 med. sized cloves garlic, sauteed
1 small diced zucchini, lightly sauteed

I used 1 can of cannellini beans, zucchini and garlic sauteed in a little butter and olive oil with a dash of cumin and a little salt.

Preheat oven to 375.
Butter or oil a 2-quart casserole or a 9x13 inch pan
Tear 6 tortillas into bite-sized pieces and place them evenly into the greased casserole.
Distribute the chiles, then half of the cheese. Now add your beans, zucchini and garlic (or anything extra you chose to put in) evenly over the cheese.
Tear the remaining tortillas and spread them on top.
Follow with remaining cheese.
Beat the buttermilk and eggs together and add salt and pepper to taste.
Slowly pour this custard over the casserole.
Bake uncovered for 35 minutes.
Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Serve with salsa verde.

Hatch Salsa Verde:

5 roasted, skinned and seeded roasted Hatch chiles (I used 2 hot and 3 mild)
6 decent sized tomatillos, cut in quarters
1 clove of garlic
1/4 cup chopped cilanto
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt to taste

Whiz it all up in a blender. Done! :-)

Zydeco Beans

The Monster usually packs a couple pepperoncini in his lunch every day, so I thought I'd try this recipe for pickled haricots verts from Coconut and Lime's blog as a little change up for him. Figure he must get tired of the same ol' same ol' so I try to come of up with little changes to his daily routine lunch so things don't get tooooo boring.

We cracked open a jar (I made 1/2 the recipe...3 jars) yesterday and they've been deemed worthy. The beans remain nice and crunchy and are dilly with a little spice from the red pepper flakes. I think it'd be fun to do a non-dill version with slices of jalapenos instead of the red pepper flakes sometime.

All in all, a fun experiment...that given better canning equipment (read: didn't have a big enough pot for more than 3 jars, and couldn't find my canning tongs), I'd repeat!