Zucchini and tater cakes

I won a copy of Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations from Food Feud and have been flipping through it, trying to choose my first recipe to make from it. I settled on “Red Potato Cakes with Tomato and Wilted Spinach” from the St. Patrick’s Day section. But since it’s made with green and yellow squash and recommended to be served with a roasted tomato slice, it’s perfect for summer.

I had my doubts about this recipe, but it turned out really well. These little cakes were made with cooked potato, raw zucchini, and soymilk – then pan-fried. With so few ingredients and chunks of raw zuke, I wasn’t sure they would turn out. But they did. I used two zucchinis and left out the suggested yellow squash. My mixture was a little wet, so I tossed in some cornmeal to help hold the cakes together. These guys turned out really well!

The serving suggestion was to put the cake on cooked spinach and top with a slice of tomato. I roasted my huge, heart-shaped tomato briefly under the broiler and served it on the side, along with some tofu scramble and collard greens.

Let me tell you, these little cakes were great straight out of the fridge the next day, too.

Leftovers across state lines

Quick supper solution: eat your leftovers. I am sometimes good about eating leftovers, sometimes bad about it. I do think my folks would have finished off the stewed zucchini and tomatoes we made during our visit, but I snatched more than half of the leftovers and carried them home in our cooler.

The tomatoes and zucchini were stewed with some pre-mixed Cajun seasoning and were spicy! but perfect, and at home I served them over some brown rice and with a generous side of black eyed peas.

We’d also used a block of frozen tofu as an ice pack in the cooler, fully expecting to need to eat it on our trip, but instead I toted it home and cooked it last night. I dry-fried it and seasoned it with Bragg’s and more Cajun seasoning. Perfect, quick, and easy!

Confession Time: Healthy Foods

First things first. When I went to check the mail this afternoon, I saw a package sticking out of the mailbox. My first thought was, “Oh no! They delivered this to the wrong person!” Because my last name is not Cookie. I wish it was.

This is a much unexpected shipment from The Shenandoah Vegan, which was a reward for correctly identify some orange flowers. What’s inside? I’ll show you when I use it. Thanks, Shen!

I had originally planned a post about one-dish meals and healthy food. I quickly tire of both. One of my goals recently has been to cook quicker, cheaper meals. You may think I’m rich, the way I post about traveling, but I’m not. It’s time to buckle down, especially with more airfare already purchased. I also want to get dinners together more quickly, so I have time for other things, and reduce the temptation to just grab take-out.

This meal was quick and easy.

This meal was healthy.

I think it would make a tasty side dish for something a little more salty, and a little more filling. I get bored eating a big old helping of one thing. This is the Sweet & Sour Lentils recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant cookbook.

The lentils are cooked in apple juice and ginger, and then combined with onion, garlic, zucchini, red bell pepper, carrot, tomato, and rice vinegar and soy sauce. The serving suggestion mentioned brown rice and scallions, and I followed that direction. Between the apple juice and vinegar, the sweet & sour flavor was perfect, and the veggie/lentil/rice combination was really enjoyable. I’d make this again, but as a side dish.

What are your favorite quick and easy meals? I need suggestions.

Sloppy Joe and Lazy Sunday

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I can’t believe it’s almost Monday again, but last week flew by for me faster than any I could remember before. I guess I’ve reached that age when time starts going by too quickly.

I spent a little time this weekend cleaning for some company that will be here shortly, but I also played some bocce ball and went to the Taft Museum.

You can hardly see me there! Today was the final day of an exhibit on Pictorialism and they were encouraging visitors to bring their cameras and take some photos. I asked Alex to take a photo of me. I took a photo of my car. I got a primo parking spot!

After the musuem, I had a quick meal of sloppy joes and steamed vegetables, along with some pan-fried potatoes coming into a second life after being boiled. I use the Fantastic World Foods Sloppy Joe mix, and that’s a favorite in this house. Sometimes it’s more tomato-y, sometimes less (depending on whether I remembered to purchase extra tomatoes), but I always like to have it with grilled onions and it’s a dependable quick favorite.

On the weekends, sometimes I get the desire to make an involved meal, and other times I want to go out. As much as I like to cook, sometimes I want a break – and lately, I’ve wanted that break on Sunday nights.

Do you have a favorite quick meal, or any shortcuts to share? For me, it’s either pasta and quick veggies or something like this sloppy joe. Sometimes this kind of predictable meal is just what I need.

Quick and Easy! Smokey Tempeh, Sweet Potatoes, and Kale

This supper came together in a matter of minutes, not including time to marinate the tempeh. But that’s not active cooking time, so it doesn’t count. I’ve just started using tempeh more, and I’m loving it.

This is Smokey Grilled Tempeh from Veganomicon, along with steamed sweet potatoes and kale with raisins and pine nuts.

This is the kind of supper I was hungry to have; it’s been busy here and quick meals don’t always feel this good. I mentioned slinging beers, and last night I served dinner at our local Ronald McDonald House like I do the first Monday of every month. I made a variation of my stuffed zucchini: whole wheat pasta with crushed tomatoes, cannellini beans, basil, and grilled zucchini. I even topped it with some Almesan. Those flavors are so good together, and this makes for a delicious pasta dish. But it’s still a rush to get there and have the food prepared immediately after a busy day at work.

We don’t always serve pasta – usually we’ll do soups, breakfast foods, Mexican, sandwiches, etc., but this happened to be “Italian” night. If you’ve ever offered to serve at RHM or in a similar situation, you understand that they discourage bringing pasta, well, because it’s cheap and easy and too many groups do this. Don’t worry, these folks ate up these cheesy, meaty casseroles with no complaints. And they dug into my dish, too. There was a line for half an hour!

I’m taking the rest of this week easy. It’s time to enjoy summer before it’s cold again.

If you haven’t already entered, check out this giveaway from vegan and so forth. Good luck!

Garlic-Cardamom Grilled Vegetables

Is anybody else out there a huge NPR nerd? I listen frequently, and although I don’t always find time to listen to The Splendid Table, I heard it this past Sunday. They discussed a recipe I found so intriguing that I tried it just a few days later. I made Julie Sanhi’s Grilled Vegetables in Garlic-Cardamom Marinade. When I heard the story, I already had an eggplant and zucchini that I planned to grill, and this marinade sounded so tasty that I got a few extra ingredients and put it all together.

Several of the ingredients here are foods I’ve never used before, including fennel and cardamom. I’m so excited to try new things. One other new thing I’ve done this week is to pull out my serving dishes and use those (some for the first time, ever) even when it’s just two of us.

Eggplant, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, red onion, fennel, and scallions

The marinade was light, but bright and fresh because it was mostly lime juice, cilantro, and garlic, plus some other spices and oil. I put in a whole chopped jalapeno, but I didn’t get any heat at all. I was a little worried that I’d find all the jalapeno bits in one bite, but thankfully I didn’t!

These vegetables were delicious. While I grilled, Alex went to our neighborhood Indian place and got a takeout dish and rice to go along with the vegetables.

So far, I’m doing pretty well on my pledge to use the grill more frequently. Up next? Grilled pizzas!

The Gigantic Zucchini

I mentioned before that my father gave me a gigantic zucchini. I know that some vegetables lose their flavor the larger they become, and my father seemed to be thinking along the same lines when he asked if the zucchini tasted okay. The answer? A resounding YES.

I did a quick Google search for gigantic zucchini and found many, many images and recipes for zucchinis larger than mine, but this one is still five times bigger than any I’ve seen in the store. I cooked this up yesterday in two recipes, thankfully using only ingredients I had on hand as I haven't been shopping since my return from my trip.

The gigantic zucchini in a 13x9 pan. I need to ask how much it cost.

This is half the zucchini in a 13x9 pan. I used the other half to make spelt zucchini bread from Vegan Brunch, a great success I’ve already told you about. Yes, this zucchini made two full recipes.

Prior to my trip, I’d been perusing Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, a cookbook my mom gave my for Christmas (along with a slow cooker!). I figured slow-cooking was perfect for summer as a way to cook with little energy and not to heat up the kitchen. Plus, I was hoping to find some recipes that I could prepare ahead of time so I didn’t have to bother with cooking supper after work. This stuffed zucchini recipe had already caught my eye. One of the things I love most about cooking more is getting a feel for what flavors I like most and what recipes are likely to turn out well.

This recipe turned out really well. So, so good. How can I tell? I ate the leftovers for lunch, and I’d be ready to eat another helping now. Seriously. We divided the giant zucchini in to thirds and each had a third for supper, plus my third for lunch today. And if there was another piece, I can guarantee it would be gone now that I’m hungry once again.

This is a hollowed zucchini stuffed with onions, garlic, cannellini beans, diced tomato, the zucchini I scooped out, basil, and pine nuts. Plus salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil. I baked this in the oven while my zucchini bread baked and served with a side of whole wheat penne with jarred Newman’s sauce and Upton’s Naturals Italian-sausage style seitan.

My only complaint is really my fault: because this was a slow cooker recipe, some of the beans dried out in the oven. Maybe next time I’ll make a real pesto from the basil and pine nuts to add some moisture, or if my zucchini are smaller, I’ll throw all this in the slow cooker. I know that’s a really energy-efficient way to cook, so I hope to do more of that soon.

Zucchini Spelt Muffins

I see it happen every year: people are inundated with zucchini in the summer and are looking for new recipes to use it in. I’ve never been overloaded with zucchini and have never, either of necessity or of interest, tried many zucchini recipes. I’ve steamed it, baked it, had it fried and not-fried, and put it in a pie. That’s a pretty thorough list, right? It’s missing one big area: zucchini in breads.

Not only was making zucchini muffins a good way to use the zucchini, but this was a good way to make a dish that was great to have to eat as a quick snack or breakfast (for as long as the dozen lasted!).

This is yet another recipe from Vegan Brunch. I’ve been cooking enough lately with “different” ingredients that I’m familiar with everything it requires, and had most of it on hand. These muffins are made with spelt, which gives them a healthy nutty flavor and also is really easy to work with.

Just add some spices, soymilk, flax seeds, spices and a little brown sugar and oil along with two grated zucchini and bake. Here's a tip for grating the zucchini: you don't need to trim both ends before you grate them. Just trim one and hold the other one while you grate! These were delicious, even to me a zucchini break newbie. They were somewhere between a sweet bran muffin and a crumbly wheat bread, but they are all together delicious.

Savory Zucchini Pie

After a preview of hot summer, the weather cooled down enough to turn on the oven again, and I was eager try a new recipe. I still had a frozen pie crust (from way back last fall, I’ll admit it, I even moved it from house to house) and made this cheesy zucchini pie with mushrooms.

Saute:

8oz package of mushrooms, sliced
3 zucchini, sliced thinly
diced onion

Let the vegetables cool and drain any water the zucchini let off. It’s important to cool them at least slightly so they don’t melt the cheese and cook the egg on contact. I peppered the vegetables but didn’t salt them as the cheese is already very salty.

Shred some Reggiano (I eyeballed it, maybe just under a cup) and a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Beat two eggs and combine the eggs, cheese, and vegetables. Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes or until set.

This was good. Rich, but good.

Briami, My Way

Briami is a Greek dish of roasted vegetables. I start some on the stove, bake it all up with some garlic, and then add some crushed tomatoes near the end. Serve with feta and bread.



I've made briami a few times and I think it's one of those things like lasagne, or chili, or anything else that you can adapt to your taste within a certain framework. So I'm not saying this is authentic briami, but it sure is good. Especially in the cooler months, I love a dish you can put together and then relax while it bakes. I have a hard time eating a dish immediately after I've cooked it if I haven't had a few minutes to sit down first.

The only tough part of this dish is cutting all the veggies. First, I cut the potatoes pretty small and cook in a skillet with canola oil. The other veggies can go right into the oven: zucchini, eggplant, carrots, onion, mushrooms, and smashed garlic. My carrots were still a little firm, but I like them that way. If you prefer them tender, you can skillet them as well.

I baked at 350F for an hour, stirring partway through and with about 20 minutes left I added some salt and the canned tomatoes. I think I mistakenly bought crushed tomatoes when I should have bought diced tomatoes, but this was delicious nonetheless. My tomatoes had some seasoning in them already; otherwise I would have added some oregano.

Trying to make it easy by not frying it

No-Fry Fried Zucchini is just as good as it sounds. Yeah.


I'm always looking for new sides to go with pasta. Sometimes we'll just toss a whole bunch of veggies together, maybe some ricotta, and stop there. I've already written about the no-cream creamed spinach, but I was ready to try something different. We made actual fried zucchini once, I think it was when we were frying eggplant for eggplant parm. We also battered and fried some pickles, at Alex's request. This no-fry breading pretty much just fell off, but the zucchini was good. Maybe next time I'll try a recipe for oven-fried battered zucchini.

Ingredients:
3 zucchini, sliced or made into "fries"
1 egg
Store bought breadcrumbs, seasoned
Grated Parmesan
Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 400F. Yes, for this I did something I almost never do -- I preheated the oven. I used something else I almost never use -- Pam. Spray your baking sheet. I find the smell off-putting, but I used it anyway.

Beat the egg in a low dish. In a second low dish, mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan. I used about 3 parts breadcrumbs for 1 part Parmesan. Season it if you wish; I was worried that between the Parm and the seasoned crumbs the breading would be too salty. I thought it was fine; Alex added salt.

Coat the zucchini strips in egg, then breading, and lay across the baking sheet. Bake 10-13 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender. Now, the recipe I used instructed me to spray Pam on top of my breaded zucchini. First of all, I didn't want to do this, but on second thought I decided to give it a real try. When I spritzed my Pam at the zucchini, the breading flew off! So none of that. It also instructs you to turn them halfway through the cooking time, at about 7 minutes, and I think that is absolutely impossible so I didn't even try. Honestly, though, I'm not sure I would have liked this better if I had tried harder. As I said before, the goodness of the zucchini overpowered the silliness I put it through with my breading and baking.