Zucchini Soup

This recipe is from my cousin, Laura, who confesses that her family called it slime soup when she was little. Don't let that scare you, it is really delicious, especially with some peasant bread on the side. And it's healthy too! This could also be a cute St. Patrick's day meal, and you could call it Leprechaun soup and tell your kids the leprechauns turned it green. Or add it to your zucchini recipe file for the end of the summer when anonymous neighbors leave zucchini on your porch in the middle of the night.

Zucchini Soup

1 cup chopped onions
2 Tbs butter
3 cups sliced zucchini
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup half -and-half cream
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
4 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, then crumbled

In a large saucepan cook onions in melted butter until tender. Add sliced zucchini and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender (about 15 min.) Add salt and pepper. Cool slightly. 

Pour mixture into blender and puree it. Stir in half-and-half cream. Return to saucepan and reheat, but do not boil. Garnish with grated cheese, sour cream, and bacon. Makes about 6 servings.
 

Tips: You can substitute milk for the half and half, or even leave out the dairy products and it will still taste really good. You can also add yellow squash to this.

Mexican Quiche

I love this dish. Very cheesy texture and good flavor. We eat it for breakfast or dinner.

1 cube butter

10 eggs

½ c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 8 oz. can chopped Ortega chilies

1 pt. cottage cheese

1 lb. Jack cheese, grated (or use the Mexican blend)

½ tsp. salt

Melt butter in 9 X 13 pan to be used in baking quiche. Beat eggs, add flour, baking powder and salt. Blend, then add melted butter, chilies and cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes; reduce to 350° and bake 40 minutes. Cut in squares. Serve hot or cold with salsa on side and chopped cilantro (optional).

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are really good, especially for how easy they are. These are really soft and cakey. I think they taste better after they've had time to cool rather than hot out of the oven.

1 30 oz can pumpkin
2 spice cake mixes
1 12 oz bag chocolate chips

Mix together gently until combined. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

When this batch makes 48 cookies, each cookie is 1 WW point.

Easy Milkshakes

Lately we've been blending up ice cream and milk in the blender to make milkshakes. The chocolate ice cream milkshakes tasted more like Frosty's, but our favorite are the Oreo milkshakes that we make with cookies and cream ice cream. The consistency is better.

ice cream flavor of your choice
milk - amount depends on how much ice cream and the consistency you want.

Directions are simple: Blend.

Homemade Egg McMuffins and Biscuit Sandwiches

Another good breakfast recipe from Laura at Real Mom Kitchen. We've made something similar to these ourselves before, but the thing that really made these great were the precooked frozen sausage patties. We ate them fresh, but Laura freezes hers for a quick breakfast in the morning. Check out her site for the instructions to freeze and reheat them.

The first time I made them with English muffins and they were a hit. The next time I made them, my English muffins were gone, so I used Grands Biscuits I had left over from dinner the night before. They were both really good, but the biscuit sandwiches were even better, 0f course. It's the same thing but with butter and more calories, right?

My husband deemed these better than McDonald's. I found the sausage patties precooked in the frozen section at the grocery store, then warmed them up in the microwave assembling the sandwich. I think it was the sausage patties that made these especially good.

English muffin, toasted (or Grands biscuit)
1 egg per sandwich, scrambled according to your taste
1 slice American cheese
1 sausage patty, precooked

Scramble eggs (1 per sandwich). I scrambled mine like I always do with a little bit of water, salt, and cheese. Split and toast muffins (for the biscuits, I just cut them in half). Assemble sandwich with eggs, sausage, and cheese. If you like, you can warm in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the cheese before serving.

Deluxe French Toast

I tried this recipe thanks to Laura over at Real Mom Kitchen. She got it from Cooking Light (and it is technically called Pain Perdu). I love my plain old French toast that I make for my family and cook up on the griddle, but I thought this was fun for when you want to make something special.

The only drawback is it took too long to cook enough to feed my family hot out of the pan (3 pieces every 7 minutes).

That said though, my family raved about this meal. It was rich and buttery and tasted like restaurant French toast. If I were to make it again, I think I'd get two pans going with melted butter or try it on the griddle so I could cook more pieces at a time. Also, when I made this, I made a double batch, but I had to triple the amount of the egg and milk mixture to have enough liquid to coat and saturate the bread. I also made it without the orange rind, purely by accident, and served it with syrup because I was in a hurry and didn't have my strawberries ready to go.

3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon grated whole nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
8 (1-ounce) slices diagonally cut day-old French bread (about 1 inch thick)

2 cups sliced strawberries
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
4 teaspoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1. Combine milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, salt, and eggs in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Place bread slices in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish; pour egg mixture over bread; turn to coat. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until egg is absorbed.

2. Combine strawberries, remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, and rind in a small bowl. Let stand 20 minutes.

3. Melt 2 teaspoons butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 4 bread slices to pan; cook 3 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden. Repeat procedure with remaining butter and bread.

4. Place 2 bread slices on each of 4 plates. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered sugar; top each with 1/2 cup strawberry mixture.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 349
Fat: 10.2g (sat 4.5g,mono 3.4g,poly 1.1g)
Protein: 11.7g
Carbohydrate: 52g
Fiber: 3.4g
Cholesterol: 172mg
Iron: 2.8mg
Sodium: 540mg
Calcium: 136mg

Orange Jello Salad

Why do I love this jello salad so much? I guess because I just tracked down the recipe, so I've never had it very much. I know it's an old standby. I would never think to mix these ingredients together, but it's just so good.

1 container Cool Whip, 8 oz. (I used Cool Whip Light)
1 container small curd cottage cheese, 16 oz.
1 small box orange jello (I used sugar free)
1 large can crushed pineapple, (20 oz.) well drained
1-2 can mandarin oranges, well drained (to taste)

Gently combine cool whip, cottage cheese, drained pineapple, and dry jello powder in a large bowl. Gently stir in mandarin oranges, reserving some for garnishing if desired.

Garnish with mandarin oranges. Chill well before serving.

Broccoli Bow Tie Pasta Salad

I love this summery salad. The lemon and salt and pepper flavor with the broccoli is delicious. It's light and filling, and the pine nuts and parmesan cheese are the perfect finishing touches. This recipe comes from the Food Network--Paula Deen's show I think--but it's not posted on their website anymore.

Salt
8 cups broccoli florets (4 heads)
1/2 pound farfalle (bow tie) pasta
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 lemon, zested
1/2 teaspoon freshy ground black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
1/4 cup toated pignoli (pine) nuts
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

I buy the big bag of fresh broccoli florets from Costco, then chop them up into bite sized pieces. Cook the broccoli for 3 minutes in a large pot of boiling salted water. Remove the broccoli from the water with a slotted spoon or sieve. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

In the same water, cook the bow-tie pasta according to the package directions, about 12 minutes. Drain well and add to the broccoli.

To toast pignolis, place them in a dry saute pan over medium-low heat and cook, tossing often, for about 5 minutes, until light brown. I like to do this first, then use the same pan for the butter and oil.

Heat the butter and oil and cook the garlic and lemon zest over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Off the heat, add 2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, and lemon juice and pour this over the broccoli and pasta. Toss well. Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese, toss once more, and serve.

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Sometimes you just need some cookies without all of the mess and cleanup. Voilà!

1 cube butter
½ c. milk
2 c. sugar
2 Tbl. cocoa
½ tsp. salt

Cook together in pot and bring to a boil. Then add 1 tsp. vanilla and 3 c. oatmeal. Spoon onto wax paper or foil with a spoon and let cool.


Originally posted 2/21/07 without picture

Zucchini Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

I dreamed about these the other night. I guess that's what pregnancy does to you (that, and essentially shut down your recipe blog for extended periods of time). My aunt made these for a party last week and they were heavenly.

3 eggs
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. orange juice
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 1/2 c. shredded zucchini

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Makes exactly 2 dozen cupcakes. You can substitute apple sauce for the oil.

Caramel Frosting:
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

Combine brown sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually beat in powdered sugar.