Light & Spicy Zucchini Sauté

This little recipe is one I threw together one night looking to cut down on carbs for a side dish. I served it with my Honey Garlic Chicken for a light meal that didn’t leave us feeling all bogged down. It was such a hit, and so easy to make, I know we’ll be having it again and again.

After washing your zucchini, cut it into chunks about 1 inch in size.

Mince the garlic and ginger.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet and toss in the zucchini, stirring frequently and sautéing for about 3-4 minutes.

Add the ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Sauté for about 2-3 more minutes, stirring almost constantly.

Remove from the heat and serve. Enjoy! ~TMMF

LIGHT & SPICY ZUCCHINI SAUTE

3 small to mediumish zucchinis

2 Tbl oil

2 cloves garlic

¾ inch ginger root

½ tsp red pepper flakes

Asparagus Quiche with Spaghetti Squash Crust

Here’s another side dish recipe you’ll want to try for the holidays. I’ve been looking for recipes that are off the beaten path, so to speak; something different from the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dishes. This one was so interesting to me because it uses spaghetti squash to make the crust, foregoing the usual flour based pie crust.

Even though I was interested in it because of the unique crust, I have to tell you I didn’t think it would work out. I thought it wasn’t going to hold up, or it would stick to the pie pan or something. Am I ever glad I was wrong! It turned out excellent, and is one of those foods you want to keep eating just to keep enjoying that flavor!

It comes from Tasty Kitchen, by the way, and I did tweak it in my own special way. ;-) I cut down on the onion slightly, and I added in grated carrot and rosemary. It came out so good, I just know you’ll love this.

 So, let’s get cooking!

You’ll need to first bake the spaghetti squash. Cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Grease a sheet pan and lay the squash halves cut side down. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes, until tender inside.

When they’re cool enough to handle, use a fork to scrape out the inside, which comes out looking like angel hair spaghetti. My beautiful assistant chef, my daughter Megan, loves doing this part and she’s very good at it.

While the squash is cooling, grate the carrot, peel and mince the garlic, mince the onion, and cut the asparagus into 1 inch lengths.

In a skillet with a little oil, sauté the minced onion for about two minutes. Add the asparagus and cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Then add the minced garlic and cook a minute more.

While that’s cooking, press the 3 c of spaghetti squash into a greased pie pan with your hand.

Mix the carrots into the asparagus and add to the pie pan. Whisk the eggs and milk together, along with the salt, pepper, rosemary, and Swiss cheese. Pour it on top of the veggies.

Bake in a 375° oven for about 40 minutes. You want a knife stuck in the center to come out clear, and the top to be lightly browned.

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Asparagus Quiche with Spaghetti Squash Crust

1 small spaghetti squash
13 oz asparagus
2 Tbl minced onion
2 cloves garlic
1 small carrot
5 eggs
½ c milk
1 tsp dried rosemary, chopped
½ tsp each salt & pepper
1 c shredded Swiss cheese

Best Green Bean Casserole

A little story about me and green beans. Growing up, my 4 siblings and I would spend the night at our Grammie and Grampie's house in Roslindale, MA, individually, for a special time with them. On one of my turns, Grammie served green beans, and I hated them. I wouldn't eat them, and Grammie said I had to stay at the table until I ate them. After an hour, she finally let me get up. I never did like green beans until I was well into adulthood with children of my own. And then, I would only eat them plain or cooked Chinese style.

Anyhoo, this is a recipe from All Recipes, by Jan, it says. I’ve never been a fan of green bean casserole, never ate more than a taste, probably because with the usual ingredients, it just never sparked much interest. But when I saw this recipe, I was persuaded to try it, especially because it added cheese. But I didn’t stop there, I tweaked it by adding some sour cream, and good gravy Marie, was it ever good. Try this tweaked version of Best Green Bean Casserole at your holiday table this season and see what happens!

So, let’s get cooking!

Assuming you’ve cooked the frozen green beans, shred the cheddar cheese.

In a large mixing bowl, place the cream of mushroom soup, milk, sour cream, salt and pepper, ¾ c of the cheddar cheese, and 4 oz of the French Fried onions.

Mix together and add the beans.

Grease a 9 X 13” baking dish. Pour the whole ball of wax in and level out. Sprinkle the other ½ c of shredded cheddar cheese on top, and then the rest of the French Fried onions. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Best Green Bean Casserole

24 oz frozen cut green beans,
   Cooked
1 10.75 oz can cream of
   Mushroom soup
½ c milk
½ c sour cream
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 ¼ c cheddar cheese, divided
6 oz French Fried onions

Garlic Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

So, we all know that many people don’t like Brussels sprouts. Even I didn’t like them for years. I would have eaten them only with someone holding a gun to my head. Enter Garlic Brussels Sprouts with Bacon. This is *the* recipe that will turn people’s hearts around toward the lonely little cabbage-like veggie. Because….bacon. ‘Nuff said.

This recipe, from Allrecipes, originally had some chicken broth to cook the sprouts in, and some oil. I didn’t want to boil them, so I excluded the broth, and I switched the oil out for the grease left from the bacon. It came out so delicious, we carefully rationed out the leftovers at lunch, wishing there had been more.

So, let’s get cooking!

First, cook the bacon in a skillet. Most people like their bacon crispy, and the recipe did call for it that way, but I like it a little softer, so I made it my way. Set the bacon aside after it’s done cooking, but leave the grease in the pan.

While the bacon is cooking, peel and mince the garlic. Cut the ends off the Brussels sprouts and slice in half.

When the bacon is done, toss the Brussels sprouts into the skillet and sauté over medium heat, stirring several times. I covered the pan and cooked them about 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so. Add a couple teaspoons butter if needed. I did.

Add the garlic and stir, cooking a minute more.

Chop up the bacon and add to the sprouts, stirring thoroughly until heated through. Add the pepper.






And they’re done. A great dish to make for a holiday gathering this season. Enjoy! ~TMMF

Garlic Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

1 lb Brussels sprouts
½ lb bacon
2 huge cloves garlic
2 tsp butter
½ tsp pepper

Cheesy Cauliflower & Ham

This is a recipe I made based on my Baked Macaroni & Cheese recipe. I was trying to cut down on the carbohydrates, so I used cauliflower and added ham. It would have tasted fine without the ham, but I love ham in this kind of dish, and my little carnivore Timmy always asks, “Is there any meat in it?” ;-)

The only changes I made to it were….oh wait, it’s my recipe! Haha

So, let’s get cooking!

Cut the cauliflower into florets. Cook in a large pot with water halfway up the cauliflower, covered, until just tender.

Cube the ham into ¾ inch chunks.

Shred the cheddar cheese and cube the Velveeta cheese.

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and mix in the flour with a whisk to make the roux.

Slowly add the milk, stirring continuously, until thickened. You’ll want the heat at slightly more than medium, but make sure it doesn’t burn and as soon as it’s thickened, turn the heat down a couple notches.

Add the salt, pepper, and all three cheeses, stirring, until cheeses have melted. Look at the stringy cheese!

Drain the cauliflower after cooking. Add the florets and the cubed ham to the cheese sauce. And look at all that yummy stringy cheesy goodness! Enjoy! ~TMMF

Cheesy Cauliflower & Ham

2 heads cauliflower
3 c cubed ham
5 Tbl butter
½ c flour
4 c milk
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
6 oz Velveeta
1 c sharp cheddar cheese
1 c mozzarella cheese

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

 

This is my second time working with spaghetti squash. I don’t know why I never tried it before, but the taste is so yummy, it makes me want to start experimenting with it on my own! This is a recipe I came across somewhere online; someone shared it on Facebook but the photo with recipe didn’t say who created the recipe. I don’t know who to give credit for it, so all I can say is I found it online. The only thing I changed was using fresh garlic instead of garlic salt.

Anyhoo, my daughter Megan, who has Down syndrome, helped me make this and just like last time, she loved scraping the “spaghetti” out of the squash. She actually scraped hers down more than mine and made a hole in the squash rind because of scraping it so thin! We enjoyed working together, and then loved this zippy recipe at supper.

So, let’s get cooking!

First, cut the spaghetti squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Then lay them upside down on a greased sheet pan. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes.

While the squash is baking, thinly slice the onion and then cut the slices into 3 or 4 pieces. Mince the garlic. I used my garlic press when it was time to add it.

In a skillet, melt the butter and sauté the onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Adjust the red pepper flakes to your desired level of heat. ;) Cook until onions are tender.

When the spaghetti squash is done, turn over and let cool a little so you can handle it, or use a kitchen towel or pot holder. Use a fork to scrape out the “spaghetti.” The middle photo shows the difference after scraping out one (the half on the left). And on the right is the one Megan scraped just as well as she cleans a chicken bone! Clean as a whistle! ;)

So, you’ve scraped the squash into a bowl. Now add the sautéed onion mixture, the sour cream, and half the shredded cheddar cheese.

Mix well and pour into a 7 X 9” baking dish. Sprinkle the other half of the cheese on top.

Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy! ~TMMF

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

1 spaghetti squash
1 small Vidalia onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ c sour cream
1 c shredded cheddar cheese





Now, to announce the winner of the TMMF coffee mug in my give-away: Heidi Strawser!! I had pretty ecru colored cards made and embossed with the names of all who had entered, placed them in a luxuriously soft deep purple velvet bag with polished cherry wood handles gleaming in the sunlight, and had my Chief Assistant reach in and blindly choose one name.

Okay, so really I wrote the names on slips of paper that I tore off because I was too tired to go get the scissors. Then I put them in a used plastic grocery bag. But Megan really did blindly pick one name. That part is true. ;)

Congratulations Heidi!!

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

This is a nifty little recipe that I found online, and since I’d never had spaghetti squash but always wondered what it was like, I decided it was time to find out. And the recipe looked really good, too. I didn’t even veer away from the original recipe for this one; it seemed to be fine just as it was, and the kids ended up loving this. It was a lot of fun to make, and seemed like magic when the squash baked and the insides turned into “spaghetti!" ;)

So, let’s get cooking!

Heat the oven to 400°. Cut the spaghetti squash in half, remove the seeds, and place cut side down on a sheet pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes, until knife tender.

Using a fork, scrape out the flesh of the squash, which will come apart as strands of “spaghetti.” Scrape the strands into a bowl.

While the squash is baking, dice the onion and tomatoes, and mince the garlic. In a skillet with the oil, sauté the onion, garlic, and dried basil until tender. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 4-5 minutes, until liquid is evaporated.

With the spaghetti squash strands in the bowl, add the cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, and tomato-onion mixture. Mix well.

In a small bowl, mix together the parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Spray a 9 X 7 baking dish (larger if it’s a bigger spaghetti squash) with cooking spray. Spread mixture into baking dish. Top with the cheesy bread crumb mixture. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes, until heated through and bubbly.

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Megan helping scrape out the "spaghetti." 

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

1 spaghetti squash
1 Tbl oil
1 small onion
2 Roma tomatoes
1 huge clove garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1 c cottage cheese
½ c shredded mozzarella
½ tsp black pepper
¼ c parmesan cheese
3 Tbl seasoned bread crumbs

Chinese Green Beans

Chinese Green Beans…you know you’ve seen them at just about every Chinese restaurant and buffet. For years I never even tried them, and then one day when the kids and I were visiting friends in New York and we had gone to their favorite Chinese buffet, I decided to. They were crispy and delicious and I wondered why I had never given them a second glance before then. ;)

This recipe is so easy and quick, I’m almost ashamed to include it in this series on favorite Chinese dishes; I feel like I should be sharing something more involved and complicated. Well, I have more like that coming up, but for today we’ll wrap up the week with this extremely simple one.

This is a great dish to serve in addition to other Chinese recipes exactly because it’s so easy, and it’s the one you’ll do just about at the end of the others since it works up so quickly. And it’s all veggies!

First, wash the green beans and snap off the end where the beans were attached to the plant. I always like to call this the belly button. ;)

Peel and mince the garlic, or have it at the ready with a handy dandy garlic press, like I do.

In a skillet on medium heat, sauté the green beans in the toasted sesame oil for only about 7-8 minutes, stirring frequently. If you want to amp up the flavor, use hot chili toasted sesame oil; it's great!

Add the minced garlic and soy sauce and sauté for 1-2 more minutes, stirring continually.

Serve and enjoy! ~TMMF

Chinese Green Beans

1 lb green beans
2 Tbl toasted sesame oil
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbl soy sauce