Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hamburger Zucchini

My friend Anne was telling me about something she makes with Zucchini. I decided to make it, without really having a recipe, and it was so yummy! And it was so fast and easy. Used fresh garden tomatos and zucchini. Yum yum.

Ingredients
Hamburger
taco seasoning (I only used 1/2 a packet)
zucchini
tomatoe
cheese

Directions
Brown and drain hamburger. Add taco seasoning. Add zucchini and cover. Cook for about five minutes. Add tomatoes and cheese and cook until cheese is melted.

Baked Zucchini Fries

My friend gave me some zucchini and so I searched for some recipes. I have a few I'll post, but these turned out so good.
I got this recipe from here

Baked Zucchini Fries
Recipe adapted by Our Best Bites from Aggie’s Kitchen

About 1 lb. zucchini
1/2 c. Italian-seasoned panko bread crumbs (If you don’t have or can’t find any Italian-style panko bread crumbs, just add 1/2 tablespoon of Italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt, and 1/4 tsp. onion powder to 1/2 c. plain panko bread crumbs and you’ll be good to go. Either way, mix the bread crumbs with the parmesan cheese and set them aside.
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese (the crumbly stuff, not shreds)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Whisk 2 eggs together in a shallow pie plate and set aside.

Cut the ends off the zucchini and then cut the zucchini in half so you have two short, stubby pieces. Set one piece on its end and cut it in half lengthwise. Cut that half in half, making 2 planks. Repeat with the remaining halves (so you’ll get 16 planks per zucchini).

Stack 2 planks on top of each other and cut into strips. Thicker strips will yield “meatier” fries with more zucchini flavor while thin strips will be crispy and taste virtually nothing like zucchini. When all the fries are cut, blot the pieces with a paper towel.

Working with a small handful at a time, dip the zucchini sticks in the egg, shake them to remove any excess, and then roll them in about 2-3 tablespoons of bread crumbs at a time, adding more as needed; you just don’t want to work with all the bread crumbs at once because they’ll soak up moisture from the egg and won’t stick to the zucchini. Place the coated strips on the prepared baking sheet and repeat until all the zucchini strips have been coated.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in the prepared oven then remove from oven, flip the fries, and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until the zucchini is not soggy and the coating is crisp and golden brown. Serve immediately with Pizza Sauce or Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Dutch Oven Apple Dumplings

I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks recipe blog. If you click her link you will see a whole bunch of pictures.I made one batch in the dutch oven and one in the oven. Both were delightful, however, the dutch oven batch turned out much better. I can't wait to make these again. They were so good! And seriously take a few minutes to put together. My friend made them and told me about them probably over a year ago and raved about how good they were. I finally decided to try them and I'm glad I did.

Ingredients
2 whole Granny Smith Apples
2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls
2 sticks Butter
1-1/2 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Cinnamon, To Taste
1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda
Preparation Instructions
Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top. We probably cooked it for about 40 minutes in the dutch oven also.

Milky Way Cake

Another recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. I saw this and wanted to make it so bad! It turned out amazing! Loved it. You can't eat very much because it's so rich but it was very yummy.
Ingredients11 whole Milky Way Bars (regular Size), Divided Use
3 sticks Margarine, Divided Use
2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
½ cups Buttermilk
3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract, Divided
2 cups Sugar
4 whole Eggs
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 dash Salt
½ cups Milk (more If Needed)
1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans

Preparation InstructionsPreheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a double boiler or in a saucepan over very low heat, melt 8 Milky Way bars together with 1 stick margarine, stirring to combine. Once melted, remove from heat and set aside.

Sift flour and salt together and set aside.

Mix baking soda with buttermilk, then add 2 teaspoons vanilla and set aside.

Cream 1 stick of margarine with the 2 cups of granulated sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the creamed mixture, mixing after each addition. Add melted candy bar mixture and mix to combine.

Pour into a greased jelly roll pan or 9 x 13 baking pan and bake for 1 hour or until cake is done in the center. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

To make the icing, melt the remaining 3 Milky Way bars with remaining 1 stick margarine (in a double boiler or in a saucepan over very low heat). Add powdered sugar, dash of salt, milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and chopped pecans and stir over low heat. Add more milk if needed.

Pour over the cooled cake and allow to set. Cake will be very sticky! Don’t expect neat, perfect slices.

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream