I made a real dinner, you guys.

I actually semi-meal-planned it and put thought into it and everything (say what??). Mom/wife of the year!

It’s tough for me to get my head on straight and focus on my every day responsibilities at the moment. The new house is just crazy and it’s consuming my thoughts. I sat down to write my market/grocery list and I reeeeally had to focus, but I got it done. And I actually bought the things on my list at the market without buying any extra stuff (except a strawberry popsicle for my little helper, couldn’t resist). Although.. we did go to Trader Joe’s afterwards and we have about 0.0% self control in that place.. so mission only semi-accomplished. Oops.

We will have to do a whole run down of our Trader Joe’s favorites soon.. I could talk about it all day. Love/hate relationship.

Okay, so these are mini taco-stuffed zucchini boats. Cute, right? I made them smaller so they’d work nicely for kid portions. I actually thought about making them even smaller, but I thought the filling might fall out. After cooking them, I can say that they’d be perfect bite-sized appetizers if you cut them into 1-inch portions. I’d love to serve teeny tiny ones with some margs- GIANT margs.

If you are paleo or dairy-free, I still think these would be tasty without the cheese. We had some extra filling and we fried it up like a little taco burger, and it tasted great. Cheese not necessary.

These little boats are a nice way to switch things up if you like tacos, but you’re getting tired of your typical tortilla or lettuce wrap. The zucchini is basically just another vehicle for getting that taco goodness in your mouth. It’s really all about the filling, isn’t it? It takes a little extra time, but it’s not as messy as a taco if you’re feeding them to your child. This is important at my house, since my daughter has crazy-dinner-mess-face every time she eats. Girl is serious about her food.

Hopefully, I can keep up this meal-planning streak for another few days. I think you probably know how that’s going to end..

Mini Mexican Zucchini Boats

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

*To make things even quicker, you can substitute about 3-4T taco seasoning for the spices.

Author: Oven Love

Recipe type: Main Course

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 medium zucchinis, ends trimmed
• 1 pound ground beef (I prefer grass-fed)
• ½ onion, minced
• ½ green bell pepper, minced
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced/pressed/grated
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional, not Paleo-approved)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• cracked pepper to taste (probably around 1 teaspoon)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (optional, I used a mixture of monterey jack and sharp cheddar)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Grease the bottom of a large baking dish.
2. To prepare the zucchinis, cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh to make a channel. Set aside.
3. To prepare the filling, mix the ground beef, onion, bell pepper, garlic, jalapeno, tomato paste (if using) and spices in a medium bowl.
4. To assemble, fill the zucchinis with the ground beef mixture. Then cut each zucchini in half (or smaller sections if you life). Place the mini zucchini boats in the greased dish.
5. Bake for 20 minutes. Pull out of the oven, top with the shredded cheese and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the zucchini is soft and the cheese is melted. If you’re not using cheese, bake about 30 minutes until the zucchini is soft and the filling is set.
6. Serve warm and enjoy.

3.1.09

I’m pretty much on a diet of chopped vegetable dishes. Every meal I’ve eaten in the past two weeks has either consisted solely of a) potato salad, b) green bean salad with basil, sautéed radishes, and hunks of mozzarella, c) citrusy coleslaw, or a hearty helping of one of those next to some protein that I was mostly eating just to stave off devouring a giant bowlful of one of those salads. Now that tomatoes are starting to come in? Oh boy. Watch out. Is it possible to eat all of your daily calories from tomatoes? Can I try? No? Okay, I’ll throw in some grilled corn on the cob slathered with homemade lime mayonnaise and queso añejo. And some peaches and cherries. That’s fine. God I love summer.

Gazpacho is a little difficult for me. On the one hand, it’s probably one of the best soups you can eat. On the other hand, it seems a little shameful to purée fresh, ripe, local (expensive) heirloom tomatoes. Maybe that’s because I don’t have any of my own in a garden in my back yard. I kind of feel that they’re like precious gems and to adulterate them with anything more than some coarse sea salt and a basil leaf is to somehow cheapen them. But when it’s terrible and hot and gross out, gazpacho is something to live for.

Since there’s not much to gazpacho, you must use good tomatoes. Don’t put off this recipe until the winter or something. Go out and splurge on some beautiful tomatoes. And if you have them in your garden, you are lucky and please send some to me. And as with most traditional and iconic recipes, there are a hundred versions, all hotly contested as being the one perfect one I’m sure. I don’t have too many strong opinions on what vegetables should or not should be included in gazpacho and what the levels of vinegar and oil should be. I do strongly feel, though, that using tomato juice is a no-no. I mean, you’re trying to celebrate gorgeous summer tomatoes. Why would you mix them with bottled tomato juice? Gah. But if you want to leave out the cucumber and red pepper, or add in some parsley, go for it. Topping gazpacho with a hard boiled egg is also extremely acceptable.

That’s it. That’s my gazpacho. It’s wonderful. You can certainly chill it if you need some extra cooling off, but I think room temperature allows the flavors to be their best. Unless room temperature means boiling, which it would be here if my air conditioner ever stopped working. Some garnishes you could use if you haven’t already started to dig in, are finely chopped cucumbers and red peppers, parsley, toasted almonds, and crumbled/chopped hard boiled egg.

Seriously gardeners, send me your tomatoes. I hear that you have wayyy too many to eat. Pretty sure.

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho (Guest Post)

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: Julia Campbell, The Crankin’ Kitchen

Recipe type: Soup

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs heirloom tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium cucumber, seeded (cut in half width-wise then in quarters length-wise and seeds cut off) and chopped
• 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, seeded, deveined, and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1½ tsp sea salt
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

Instructions

1. Mix together the vegetables in a large bowl.
2. In a blender, purée garlic, salt, olive oil, and vinegar. Scoop about half of the vegetable mixture into the blender. Blend until smooth, in batches if necessary.
3. Pour blended veggies back into the bowl of chopped vegetables and mix.

3.1.09

I heart quick dinners. Don’t we all?

Some nights there just isn’t time to mess around with the oven and the pots and the pans and the measuring cups and the nonsense.

Some nights I just pull out the cast iron and see what happens.

The night I made this skillet, I was lucky enough to have some cooked rice, some beans and some Aidell’s Cajun-Style Andouille Sausage* hanging around. So creole/cajun/jambalaya-style skillet it was. It came together lightening fast since the rice and sausage were already cooked, but it wouldn’t take more than 20 minutes to get that taken care of, so still a quick dish in my book.

This one was a winner for the adults in our household, but it was a bit spicy for the kids. If you want to make a kid-friendly version, I would go easy on the spices and use a milder variety of sausage. Still a yummy combo, I’m sure.

If you’re not really into the cajun/creole thing, maybe try Italian sausage and cannelini beans or really anything else from the pantry or fridge that sounds good to you. That’s the best part about skillet dinners- you can just throw more stuff in until it looks like a meal. (Spoken like a true food professional, amiright?)

*P.S. This post is not sponsored by Aidell’s, I just like them! They are the best option at my local grocery store for natural link sausages.

2.5 from 2 reviews

Creole Rice Skillet with Andouille Sausage

 

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The prep time includes cooking the rice and sausage.

Author: Oven Love

Recipe type: Main Dish

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1-2 tablespoons grass-fed butter or lard
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups cooked rice, any variety
• 4 andouille sausage links, cooked and chopped
• 1½ cups or 1 drained and rinsed can of red kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika (I use smoked paprika but any kind will do)
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper (or both)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme

Instructions

1. In a cast iron skillet, heat the butter or lard over medium heat. Saute the onion and bell pepper until they begin to soften.
2. Add the rice, sausage and red beans. Stir and let cook until warmed through.
3. Add the spices and stir until completely coated. Serve warm in the skillet.

#version#