Stuffed Eight Ball Zucchini

I had a teaser about tonight's dinner in Sunday's blog. These were the cutest veggies I had seen in a while. As I was getting ready to type the recipe I realized I did not measure as I added the ingredients. It was a little of this and a little of that. It sound like how my mom would give me a recipe.
I cut the top and bottom off the zucchini so it would have a level base then cut each zucchini in half. The insides were scooped out and diced. I placed the zucchini in a pan of boiling water and blanched until almost tender. Remove from pan and drain.
Heat olive oil in saute pan. Add onion and saute until until tender. Add ground beef and cook. Next add the diced zucchini and cook until soft. Season with thyme, parsley oregano, salt and pepper.
Place beef mixture in a bowl. Add about a 1/4 ricotta cheese, some Parmesan, Panko bread crumbs and chopped fresh parsley. Mix all ingredients. Fill zucchini shells with mixture. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
I made a Marinara sauce with San Marzano tomatoes, a little expensive but worth it.

Very green bean salad

This week at the Farmer's Market I picked up wax green beans, regular green beans and purple green beans. Oh they were so pretty but I think I may have over cooked them a minute or two too long because the purple turned green. But they made up a lovely green bean salad.
We had burgers tonight, Turkey for me and Beef for husband.

The Return of the Big Salad

Lets start with last night's dinner. Grilled steak, grilled Corn on the Cob and Rice.


There was meat leftover so I added it to "the Big Salad." Red Leaf Lettuce, grape tomatoes, English Cucumber, Bacon, Feta Cheese and olives. Much tastier on the second night.

I was a busy bee today. Getting ready for some very important guests at the end of the week.


I got the new Bon Appetit on Friday and made this fantastic cake today. Chocolate-Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Mocha Icing. Yeah it is a good as it sounds. The icing alone oh my God. The only thing that could make it better would be ice cream... vanilla I think...


And coming up later this week - 8 Ball Zucchini!

Ravioli with Bacon, Zucchini and Red Peppers

The pressure was on tonight. My husband has been making some really outstanding meals (last night's for instance) so tonight I had to turn it up. So I turned to a recipe I have been using for years.

The original recipe did not call for zucchini but it is that time of year.

Ingredients
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 bacon slices, choppped (I used the pre-cooked bacon)
1 cup sliced zucchini
7 oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained and diced
1/4 cup canned chicken broth
1 bag forzen cheese ravioli, cooked
Freshly grated Parmesan

Method-
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and bacon, if you are using uncooked bacon, and cook until onion is tender and bacon is cooked, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add zucchini and cook for 4 minutes or until zucchini is tender
Stir in the pepper, and broth and simmer one minute. If you are using pre cooked bacon add it at this point.
Transfer to large bowl. Add ravioli and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini

My husband made a wonderful dinner. He marinated Chicken Tenders in olive oil, lemon juice, fresh rosemary and parsley. The zucchini was marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley. They were then grilled to perfection. It was moist and flavorful and I did not have to cook!

Eggplant Rollatini

A request was made that the next time I make this use 2 eggplants. It was delicious.

I breaded the eggplant with mixture of Panko breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley after dipping them in beaten eggs. Baked the slices at 350 degrees for 10 minutes than turned the slices and baked for an additional 10 minutes.

Ricotta filling: Ricotta and parsley.

I placed slices of prosciutto onto the eggplant and then put a heaping tablespoon of the ricotta mixture. Rolled them up and placed them in a greased pan. Top with marinara sauce and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

The Perfect Frittata...

This was really good frittata. I read a frittata recipe made with potatoes and it said to boil the potatoes and then slice the them once they are cool. This something I have never done.

So I boiled the potatoes and then sliced them. The other ingredients were zucchini, onions and prosciutto. Eggs and Fontina, Parmesan and Ricotta cheeses.

We grilled the bread and it was good. The bread was crispy and the potatoes were crispy on the outside and cooked perfectly throughout. Even the zucchini was perfect, if I do say so myself.

Summer Corn Soup

So I still have a few ears of corn here. So I found this recipe for a Summer Corn Soup. It was easy to make and nice and light. It was suppose to be blended but honesty I did not want to wash the blender and I like my soup with stuff in it. My husband made a lovely salad and I picked up some italian bread.
As I posted the picture of dinner I just realized what an awful table I set. Placemats and napkins do not match and do we eat off of paper plates every night?

Grilled Pizza

Sunday August 2, 2009
Had a busy day so I pulled out some whole wheat pizza dough that was in the freezer and finally made grilled pizza. I have been wanting to do this since I read Carol Egbert's blog on the subject.
Of course my husband handled the grilling. We made two small pies. They looked really good. Did I take a photo before we tore into them, of course not. He topped them with some marinara sauce and parmesan cheese.
I made a Caprese Salad to go with it. The tomatoes were from our plant. They were very small but very tasty.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Really Good Corn

My husband made a Grilled Pork Tenderlion from a recipe by Paula Dean. Quite flavorful. I stopped at a road side stand today and picked up sweet corn that was so delicious. Also found a recipe for Cucumber Salad. Nice taste of the cucumber and salt and pepper.