Embracing Him

It’s hard to live in our house if you don’t like zucchini. We eat it at least once a week and I use it in a variety of ways. A few weeks ago we were at a local farmers market with some friends and we spotted some beautiful zucchini that I had to have.

A few days later, I used them to prepare Mexican style zucchini. It proved to be a delicious, vegetable rich side dish that complimented our enchiladas quite nicely. I love the texture and color of the vegetables in this recipe. I have definitely added Mexican Style Zucchini to my permanent recipe file.

Mexican Style Zucchini
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 zucchini, sliced thick
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 can corn (12 ounce), drained
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the zucchini slices, diced tomatoes, and corn. Stir gently. Cover and cook until the zucchini is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and add the Cheddar cheese; allow to sit until the cheese has melted.

Photo: Courtesy of ILoveButter (Flickr)

The cooties came calling at the Thorpe house last week, so I decided to make a comforting batch of soup. I was in the mood for a thick and hearty soup, so I opted not to make the traditional chicken soup.

Instead, I made my first batch of Baked Potato Soup and it was absolutely delicious! I will definitely be making this soup all winter long.

Many potato soup recipes instruct cooks to fry bacon and use those drippings in the soup. I wanted a more healthful recipe, so I omitted the frying of bacon and sauteed the minced garlic and onion in olive oil. The soup was very flavorful even without the additional fat. You can still satisfy your bacon craving by garnishing the soup with canned bacon bits or crumbled turkey bacon. However, if you’re a purist, feel free to fry up that bacon!

My potato cubes were large, so I smoothed them out and thickened the soup using my immersion blender (a handy kitchen gadget!). This made the soup more creamy, but still allowed a few potatoes to remain intact for texture.

JT felt the soup was a bit too peppery but I thought the proportion of pepper was the perfect. To make sure the soup isn’t too spicy consider starting with a 1/4 teaspoon pepper and add more to taste if necessary.

Baked Potato Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half (can use low fat or fat free)
bacon bits (for garnish)
shredded Cheddar cheese (for garnish)
2 green onions, diced (for garnish)

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Whisk in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth.

Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and half and half. Heat through but do not boil. Serve hot and garnish with bacon, cheese, and green onions.

If you’d like to see more fabulous recipes, visit Tuesdays at the Table and stop by Tempt My Tummy over at Blessed With Grace.

Photo: Courtesy of greg.turner (Flickr)

It’s fall ya’ll and pumpkins are plentiful! This past weekend was a cold and rainy one, so I decided to prepare a few things to warm us up. Seasonal flavors such as pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger are delicious, and I couldn’t resist putting them to good use in these wonderfully moist muffins.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (minis work well)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Photo: Courtesy of alumroot (Flickr)