Soup's on!

 I did a "stone soup" kind of meal last night. I sure do love Crock Pots!! I had a crazy busy day lined up, so this was the best way to go!
I grabbed whatever I had, which was assorted veggies and some leftover frozen steak and threw them in the crock pot with some water, vegetable stock, and canned tomatoes. I seasoned with cumin, chili powder, garlic, pepper and thyme.
 At the last hour, I added chunks of peeled zucchini to sub for potatoes. They worked great!

I wanted to have fresh rolls to go with the soup. I found a fairly quick recipe on the internet. I put the dough together pretty quick.

  I always use honey when the recipe calls for sugar in bread. It makes it sooo much yummier!

  Using Rapid Rise yeast helped this process move along more quickly!

 

The dough had to rise for 20-30 minutes in the bowl, then another 15-20 minutes in a muffin tin.

 I will need to work on the baking time in the future. And also make sure that I distribute the dough more evenly. Some of the smaller ones were way overdone on the bottoms. Learning and learning and then learning some more! :)

 I really enjoyed this meal. :)

If you have Thyme...

 We had a family party yesterday, pot luck. It was also very warm and I really didn't want to turn on the oven, but the urge was overwhelming! I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen, making an appetizer and cookies.

I have some peaches that I bought last week. I didn't realize they were the white flesh kind till I bit into one. I don't really care for their flavor, so I decided to find a cookie recipe I could use them in. I love the internet!

  I decided to start out with just a half recipe since I didn't know if we'd like the cookies or not. I peeled, sliced and chopped one peach.

  Into the mixer went softened butter, brown and white sugars, egg, and vanilla. I creamed them together.

  Whole wheat flour (my favorite!), salt, and baking powder.

  Then it was time to combine wet and dry.

 When they were incorporated, in went the oats..

 Then the chopped peaches went in

  And finally the raisins. I didn't have raisins on hand, so I had to pick them out of my raisin bran. :)

  For some reason, the first batch produced flatter cookies than the second...

  The peach flavor was very subtle. They reminded me of applesauce cookies. I hadn't been sure about the raisins, but they definitely completed the cookie! They were a hit!

 Once that was done, I started on my Meat Turnovers. Its a German food but also very similar to won-tons. I started with the dough.

  I found the dough to be VERY sticky and difficult to work with. I had to use LOTS of extra flour during the rolling process.

 The dough had to be rolled very thin.

  I was happy to find that the filling called for fresh Parsley. I actually had some on hand!

Chop, chop, chop!

  The filling: extra lean ground beef, onion, fresh parsley, egg, cumin, thyme, garlic powder, salt, pepper, saltine crackers.

 Best way to mix it is with your hands! Fun and messy!

 I cut the dough into squares and filled with a very small amount of filling as per the instructions. You don't want to put much because it all needs to cook.

  There has to be a way to do the dough less sticky... I had to use the spatula to get the squares off the table.

  The turnovers went into a hot olive oil bath for 2 minutes, usually 4 at a time.

  It was a very tedious process, but they are really yummy! Upon testing tasting, I realized they needed a dipping sauce. I found a great little recipe online for Sweet and Sour sauce. It was the perfect compliment to the turnovers. Just need to make more next time. They were a hit at the family party. :)

 I really feel like all the work, trial and error is beginning to pay off. I started teaching myself to cook at the beginning of the year. Lots of food network and picking people's brains for ideas, tips and suggestions. I've made several dishes that went in the garbage and several that have been really great. My good to bad ratio is really improving. I'm no Martha Stewart yet, but I do have a happy husband. :0) Just gonna keep going from here!

Squash Nirvana

 Wow! I have been in my kitchen a LONG time this afternoon! Thanks to Angie and Jessie for letting my kids run amok at your lovely homes! It gave me the freedom to explore all kinds of creativity!
 I wanted to do both a main dish and a dessert today with zucchini as a main player. I found a Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookie recipe on a fun cooking blog, made a few variations based on what I had on hand, and went to it!

 You need a couple of bowls, some zucchini, a peeler or sharp knife and a really fine grater. Oh, and some chocolate chips. :)

  Grating zucchini. Again...

  Whisked the 1/2 c zucchini w/1/4 colive oil and 1/2 c brown sugar, then 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. In another bowl, mixed 1 1/4 c wheat flour w/1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 4 T Cocoa powder. Then, with a wooden spoon, mixed the dry with the wet!
 When the mixture was just  barely incorporated, I added in 1/3 c milk chocolate chips and 1/3 of a large Dark Hershey's chocolate bar, chopped.
 Lined a cookie sheet w/wax paper. Scooped out my little beauties and baked at 350 for 9 minutes.

  The YUMMIEST healthy cookie I have EVER had!! My kids couldn't get enough! They had no idea they were also getting veggies!

  As a true chef, I had to also enjoy one... :)

  Then it was on to the dinner. This is no hamburger helper 10 minute prep dinner! But well worth the extra effort!
 I sliced zucchini, summer squash, red & green bell peppers and onion, drizzled w/olive oil, flavored with salt and pepper. Then into the oven for 20 min at 425.

  While that was going on, I got the chicken cooking, seasoned with garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

  Meanwhile, I got some wheat noodles cooking! Yes, this was a healthy night!

 Behold, the oven roasted veggies! While the pasta was boiling, I combined one 14 oz can Chicken Broth with 2 10 oz cans 98% fat free Cream of Chicken soup and brought it to a boil on the stove.
 When all the components were ready and noodles had been strained, I combined it all together in a big bowl along with 1/4 c fresh grated parmesan and 1/4 c shredded mozzerella.
 Then topped it with a sprinkling of dry bread crumbs. covered it with foil and popped it into a 375 oven for 27 minutes.
 Timer went off and I uncovered this aromaliscious dish, sprinkled the top with some mozzerella and returned it, uncovered, to the oven for another 8 minutes.

 I wish you could smell it....

 I wish you could taste it... The cooking gods smiled on me this evening. Now I am tired and have a full, happy tummy. Good evening!

.

Zucchini & Squash cakes

 Last night was an interesting squash experiment. I had a recipe from food network that seemed easy enough... It took a lot of revising however to make it work...

 Here are the basic ingredients.

  One of the most tedious parts... grating the squash.

 Then grating some more....

  So you mix the squash with bread crumbs, seasoning, eggs and parmesan cheese.

  You make them into cakes and fry them in olive oil. I forgot to remove the extra moisture from the squash w/paper towels. It makes a difference!!

 Through a messy process, I removed as much moisture as I could, added a LOT more bread crumbs and made them smaller. This worked MUCH better! Nice and firm, crisp. Not mushy anymore.

  James dipping the cake in warm marinara sauce.

 They turned out sooo yummy! Definitely more of an appetizer than a main course. Beware! If, like me, you don't eat fried food very often, your tummy may get mad at you a teeny bit...