Zucchini Bites

Zucchini Bites

Last night Chili was on the menu, so I decided to try these little  Zucchini bites to go along side. They were pretty tasty. It made quite a bit, more than 12 mini muffins tins - so if you try these and have leftover batter just use a regular muffin tin. It works just fine.

Zucchini Bites

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 3 slices bacon, finely chopped

• 1 large carrot, grated

• 1 large zucchini, grated

• 3 eggs

• 1/4 cup half and half

• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1/2 cup self-rising flour

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 muffin miniature muffin pan.

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and bacon. Cook until onion is translucent and bacon is browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrot and zucchini; cook until they begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl to cool.

1. Beat the eggs, cream, and Parmesan cheese together in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Stir egg mixture into cooled zucchini mixture; stir in flour. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.

1. Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.

Organic Eggplant Bruschetta

If you are looking for an appetizer that will impress your family or friends, I recommend you try this. I combined two of my favorite recipes and it was delicious. My mom has already requested I make this for her when I visit later this month.

Easy Baked Eggplant

Topped with Bruschetta = Yummy

Organic Eggplant Bruschetta

Preheat oven to 350º

1 organic eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds

4 Tbsp. mayonaise

1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

4 organic plum tomatoes, chopped

1/3 cup organic fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves chopped

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1. Peel and slice eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds.
2. Spread Mayonaise on both sides of eggplant
3. Pat eggplant slices in seasoned breadcrumbs on both sides
4. Bake for 20 minutes, then flip and bake for 20 more
5. Mix tomatoes, basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and allow to sit about an hour or two.
6. Top browned eggplant with bruschetta topping and enjoy!

Warm Swiss Chard and Mushroom Salad

My produce for the week of 9/5

Warm Swiss Chard and Mushroom Salad

Tonight my older girls had church and so again, they weren't home for dinner. My husband had a Volleyball game and so it was just the little ones and myself. I made a simple dinner of pasta and freshly sliced cucumbers for the two little ones. At 8:30, when the hubby came home, I prepared this wonderful salad which we shared along with leftover mini-meatloaves from last night. It was well worth the wait.

Warm Swiss Chard and Mushroom Salad

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 bunch Swiss chard, cut into thin strips

• 10 cremini mushrooms, sliced

• 1/4 cup chopped onion

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• 12 grape tomatoes, quartered

• 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

• 1 pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the garlic in the oil until just fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the Swiss chard to the garlic and cook until wilted, 3 to 5 minutes; transfer the chard and garlic to a bowl, reserving any liquid in the skillet and returning it to the heat.
2. Cook the mushrooms and onion to the reserved liquid in the skillet until warmed, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the balsamic vinegar over the mushroom and onion mixture; cook and stir another 2 to 3 minutes; add to the bowl with the chard mixture along with the tomatoes. Gently mix to incorporate. Toss with the blue cheese. Season with salt and pepper to serve.

Turkey Veggie Meatloaf Cups

Turkey Veggie Meatloaf Cups

I've recently become a fan of making meatloaf in my muffin tins. It cuts the cooking time to less than half of a regular meatloaf and it helps create the perfect serving size. Although, I must admit, I had three of these yummy bites tonight. Once again it was a table set for four because my oldest had a volleyball game and Dad is the coach so they were gone. We all would have gone, but it was an away game and it was 3 hours of travel time on a school night. No worries though, I saved them a plate.

Turkey Veggie Meatloaf Cups

1 pound of lean ground turkey

2 cups zucchini roughly chopped

1 red bell pepper chopped

1 cup onion chopped

1/2 c uncooked couscous

1 egg

1 Tbsp. dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce

bbq sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400º and prepare 20 muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, pulse vegetables until finely minced but not liquid. 
3. In a bowl, mix the veggie mixture with the turkey, couscous, egg, mustard and worcestershire sauce. 
4. Fill cups 3/4 full and add a 1/2 tsp. of bbq sauce to top of each cup. 
5. Bake for 25 min.

Organic Grilled Corn Salsa

Grilled Cheese Quesadilla with Organic Grilled Corn Salsa

Last night none of us were very hungry because we went out to lunch after church and stuffed our bellies. Feeling uncomfortable, we then rolled to the beach and enjoyed the sun and surf. (It was an absolutely gorgeous day here on the gulf coast) Feeling pretty tired and still full at 7:30, I decided I had better prepare something for the family. This is what I came up with.

Organic Grilled Corn Salsa

You may be thinking that I already shared this recipe a few days ago, but actually this is different. I still had two ears of corn and two perfectly ripe avocados from my box. The flavor of this salsa is so delicious I just had to share it.

Organic Grilled Corn Salsa

2 ears corn on the cob, husks and silk removed
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 avocados - peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, stems cut off and leaves chopped
1 white onion, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
kosher salt to taste

1. Preheat grill to medium heat and lightly oil the grate.
2. Cook corn on the preheated grill until the kernels are lightly charred but still firm, 3 to 5 minutes per side, turning often. Cut kernels off the cobs, transfer to a large salad bowl, and let cool.
3. Mix in tomatoes, avocados, cilantro, white onion, garlic, olive oil, and red wine vinegar; season with kosher salt and enjoy!

White Button Mushrooms

Tonight we had a delicious and nutritious easy dinner. Friday nights are always busy at our house as we have kids coming and going with their friends all night long. Tonight we had a little visitor over for dinner and three of the kids were out with friends. So it ended up being a dinner for four. Here's what I made and let me tell you they cleaned their plates! (As you can see I had leftover roasted potatoes from the other night, so they ended up being the side instead of the grilled squash as I originally planned. 

Pork Chops in a White Wine Mushroom Sauce

Tossed Organic Garden Salad

Plated up

Pork Chops in White Wine Mushroom Sauce

5 bone in pork chops

salt 

pepper

1 can of golden mushroom soup

8 ounces white wine

1 pound organic white button mushrooms

Preheat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add a small amount of oil to pan and salt and pepper your chops. Brown chops on both sides. Mix together soup, white wine and mushrooms in a bowl and pour over chops once they are browned. Cover and cook for about an hour until tender. This makes a wonderful gravy which would be good served over rice.

To your health

I've been wanting to start a blog for a very long time and I just couldn't decide what my theme would be. So with much thought and many idol conversations with friends/family. I finally decided....My purpose in creating this blog is to share my love of organic vegetables and how I manage to cook with them on a daily basis for a busy household of 6. Why organic you say? I have many reasons for buying and eating this way; but the main reason is that is is much healthier for you because it is picked when ripe and when a fruit or vegetable is allowed to ripen on the vine as opposed to in a store room it is much higher in vitamins etc. I also like the fact that most of it is local and therefore we save on transportation charges and pollution. Another reason is that I love supporting our local farmers and finally it just tastes better!

Beautiful organic produce for this week 8/29-9/5

After I get my box on Wednesdays, I bring it home and prepare everything for the week. I create our family, weekly menu based on what is in the box and then I get cooking!

Roasted Organic Red potatoes

Organic Kale Salad

 This past Wednesday we had a wonderful London Broil that I marinated for 5 hours and my husband grilled. Along side I made these yummy roasted organic red potatoes and our family's favorite organic kale salad. My daughter actually did the happy dance when she saw this sitting on the table. Seriously.

Organic Grilled Corn Salad

Thursday night we had Tacos with this delicious organic grilled corn salad served up on top.  Tonight we are having Pork Chops in a white wine organic mushroom sauce served with grilled squash with a piquant sauce and a tossed garden salad (organic - of course) I will let you know how it is (with pictures)

Roasted Organic Red Potatoes

2 pounds organic red potatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt free lemon pepper seasoning

Place quartered potatoes in a large ziplock bag and pour in olive oil and seasoning. Shake the bag and pour out onto baking pan. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until done.

Organic Kale Salad

1 bunch local organic kale, washed, stems removed, ribbon cut

1 organic carrot, washed, peeled and julienned

1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage

For dressing:

3 T Bragg Liquid Aminos or soy sauce

4 T olive oil

1 tsp chopped garlic

3 T lemon juice

Combine kale, carrot and cabbage in a bowl. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over vegetables. Toss lightly and enjoy!

Grilled Corn Salad

4 ears freshly shucked corn

1 green pepper, diced

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

2 tsp olive oil 

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat grill for medium heat, lightly oil the grate

2. Cook the corn on the preheated grill, turning occasionally, until the corn is tender and specks of black appear, about 10 minutes or so. After cooling, slice kernals off of the cob and place into a bowl.

3. Combine the warm corn kernels with the green pepper, diced tomato, onion, cilantro and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper; toss until evenly mixed. Set aside for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend before serving.