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Summer Spaghetti with Ham

July 28, 2010 By Kate 1 Comment

Have you picked up your copy of Better Breakfast – 110 Breakfast Recipes yet? Don’t forget, the sales price of $3.97 ends Thursday. Order yours today!

Yesterday, one of our new neighbors invited the kids to forage through his garden. So my husband took them over and while the adults chatted, four little kiddos filled their plastic grocery bags with some wonderfully good garden bounty. What a treat for them, and for me! We are now even more excited for starting the prep work on our own garden for next summer when we head into fall.

Needless to say, my refrigerator and countertops were overflowing with fresh veggies just begging to be eaten. I figured an easy pasta skillet dinner would be a great way to enjoy the vegetables quickly and without heating up the kitchen too much. Toss in some ham and a light, summery sauce and dinner was all set. Delicious!

Summer Spaghetti with Ham

  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1 T. butter
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 2 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
  • 2 ears corn, shucked and corn removed (or about 1 1/2 c. frozen corn)
  • 1 c. frozen peas
  • 1 8 oz. package diced ham
  • 1/2 c. chicken stock or white wine
  • 1/4 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 t. thyme
  • 1/2 t. black pepper
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/8 t. nutmeg
  • 1 c. milk
  • 12 grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1/2 c. Italian blend shredded cheese, plus more for garnish, if desired
  • 1/2 lb. thin spaghetti, vermicelli or angel hair, cooked and drained

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet.Add green peppers and cook for 2 minutes. Add remaining veggies, except tomatoes, and ham. Cook for about 5 minutes, until veggies are crisp tender.

2. Stir in chicken stock or wine, lemon juice and seasonings. Combine well.

3. Add milk and bring to a slow boil for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, just until the sauce begins to thicken up a bit. (It should just cover the back of a spoon without running off.)

4. Remove skillet from heat. Stir in tomatoes and cheese. Add pasta and toss to coat well. Garnish with additional shredded cheese, if desired.

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Chilled Zucchini Bisque

July 12, 2010 By Kate 4 Comments

I love soup. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met a soup I didn’t like. I could eat soup at every meal and be 100% satisfied. Fortunately, my family loves soup almost as much as I do. Well, either that or they just humor me.

In any case, I do tend to draw the line when summer temperatures soar above 85 degrees or so. Although I’d still gladly enjoy a bowl of steamy soup, I know my husband and kids would think I’d lost my mind if I served them soup.

But lately I’ve gotten smart. I knew there had to be a happy medium between my soup-craving taste buds and their warm-blooded bodies. So…chilled soups it is!

I’ve been surprised with how well this idea has gone over. Eating “cold soup” is definitely a novelty, so I think that has helped with the success factor. Anything that’s different is bound to be fun! It also probably doesn’t hurt that the fresh veggies provide an amazing flavor.

This Chilled Zucchini Bisque is fresh and crisp on the palette. The freshness of the zucchini is highlighted with the flavors of fresh lemon and fresh parsley. The texture is rich and creamy. It makes a perfect lunch served with some crispy bread or crunchy breadsticks for dipping.

Chilled Zucchini Bisque

  • 5 medium sized zucchini, sliced (about 7 1/2 c. worth of slices)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
  • 1 1/2 t. Italian seasoning
  • 3 c. chicken stock
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 c. chopped parsley
  • 1 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. black pepper

1. In a large stock pot or sauce pan, add the zucchini, onions, garlic cloves and Italian seasoning.

2. Pour chicken stock on top and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

3. Once cooled, stir in the remaining ingredients. Process in small batches in a food processor or blender until desired consistency. (I made mine fairly smooth with a little bite still to it.)

4. Transfer processed soup to a container for storing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate soup until completely chilled before serving, although the flavors will meld together and improve the longer the soup chills. (We thought it tasted great at about the 24 hour mark. Does it get any more stolen moments friendly than that?)

I think I might play around with the base of this soup and try it with some other veggies. I’m thinking carrots or broccoli would be great. I might even have to try it with my all-time favorite soup ingredient – potatoes.

I’ll admit that chilled soups will never take the place of my beloved hot soups. But for now, they’re keeping the peace and keeping us cool while still being delicious. I’ll take that as a fantastic compromise!

What are your thoughts on chilled soups – yay or nay?

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Stuffed Jalapeno Chicken Rolls

July 11, 2010 By Kate 5 Comments

As we’ve been slowly getting all situated in our new house, we’ve begun venturing out more and exploring our new surroundings. Although we are only 30 minutes away from our old house, it feels like more than that in many ways. One of those ways is all the new shops and resources we find at every turn.

This weekend, I was super excited to check out our local farmer’s market. There was a farmer’s market fairly close to us at our old house, but it was always significantly lacking on the fresh produce front. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when we pulled up to the new farmer’s market and saw booth after booth overflowing with fresh, local produce. Walking up and down the aisles was heavenly and we saw so many wonderful fresh fruits and veggies that we just could not resist.

Great, but what does that have to do with this blog, right? Well, hopefully I will be posting loads of recipes over the next few weeks that are just bursting with fresh, seasonal produce. Also, I’ve decided that I need to push myself a bit outside of my comfort zone and try some new veggies with the family. We do a great job of having variety in our fruits, but our vegetables tend to be the same things over and over again.

Now that I have this amazing resource just a few miles away, I plan to change all that. And I’ll be sharing all the recipes I try and which veggies make the cut and which do not. It should be interesting and I’m looking forward to the challenge. (Suggestions welcome, if you have any!)

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to sharing lots of “Fresh From The Farmer’s Market” recipes with you.

One of my favorite purchases this weekend was a large container of jalapeno peppers. I’m planning to make some homemade salsa and to chop and freeze the rest. I also wanted to make a batch of stuffed jalapeno peppers. But I wasn’t sure how those would go over with the kids. So, I decided to come up with a twist of stuffed jalapenos that we could enjoy for dinner while still introducing the kids to that flavor. These were a hit and I’m looking forward to making them frequently in the future. I think they’d be a great option for entertaining also.

Stuffed Jalapeno Chicken Rolls

  • 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1-2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. garlic powder
  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins, pounded flat
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 3 T. melted butter
  • 1 c. breadcrumbs

1. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, diced jalapenos, salt and garlic powder. Use immediately or refrigerate for a while to allow the flavors to combine.

2. Spread some cream cheese-jalapeno mixture down the center of each piece of chicken.

3. Roll up tightly and secure with a toothpick. Season each roll with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Dip the chicken in the melted butter and then roll in the bread crumbs. Repeat until done. Place in a casserole dish and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken, until fully cooked.

Confession time ~ I used 4 jalapeno peppers when I made this and it turned out way too hot. We all ended up scraping out some of our peppers. But after that, we really enjoyed it. My husband pointed out that since the peppers are cut and combined with the cream cheese, the hotness carries all throughout the filling. So we decided that less is definitely more and that 1 to 2 peppers would be plenty to still get that same awesome flavor without the mouth-scorching heat.

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