What I have been up to...

Beer and brats to kick off Maifest in Amana!

Barbecue chicken stuffed taters. 

The first crop of the season-- some radishes, and baby rainbow chard. (and a reusable target bag... so pretty)

roasted zucchini and summer squash-- timmy's new favorite!

chicken parmesan burgers-- these were amazing!

strawberry rhubarb crumb bars. oh. my. god.

Broiled Zucchini

Wow, going on vacation (twice) and moving do not a consistent blogger make. I have barely cooked in the last six weeks, but everything I have cooked is very far behind in being blogged about. It's my mid-August resolution to get caught up before the semester begins, so here we go!

My friend Jamie grew an over achieving zucchini plant this year which produced jumbo-fruit at an alarming rate. Luckily, Jamie likes me and is generous and gave me two of these beauties. Oh, and I guess I traded her for a grocery bag full of swiss chard... I had big plans to bake chocolate zucchini bread or try something new and exciting (zucchini fries anyone?) but in all the craziness of the last month I just lacked the ambition. So, one night, between packing boxes to haul out to my car, I quickly whipped this up. It could not have been easier and would be a super yummy side dish for a summer meal.

• thinly sliced zucchini
• olive oil 
• S&P
• herbs of choice
• parmesan cheese

Turn on the broiler. Arrange zucchini slices on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings and cheese if you are using it. Put under broiler for 5-10 minutes (depending on heat of broiler and thickness of zucchini) until cheese and edges of slices are golden brown. 

Mini-pizzas in a flash

It is hot outside. Legitimately. I spent the day working in the yard and sweating, and the last thing I wanted to do was spend a lot of time in a hot kitchen making dinner. So, I opted for a super easy and quick meal that ended up surprising me with how good it was.

Mini and fast pizzas -- serves 1

• 1 "sandwich thin". I've been using these instead of bread for my lunches lately and really like them. The whole bun is the same amount of calories as a normal piece of bread, but it tastes the same! Anyway, open up the sandwich thin so you have two little round flats. These will be the pizza crusts. 
• 1TBSP goat cheese. Spread half on each "crust"
• Toppings-- I used a few thinly sliced golden tomatoes on one and some baby zucchini on the other.
• Brush everything with olive oil (probably used less than 1 TBSP total)
• Sprinkle on parmesan
• Pop under broiler for 5-6 minutes (until parm is golden)

Super food Tuesday

Who knows why this popped into my head today, but I decided to prepare some quinoa for dinner. I have only used it in my cooking once or twice before, so it's definitely out of my comfort zone still.

I prepared the quinoa according to package directions but with chicken stock instead of water to add a bit of flavor-- obviously, veggie stock, or white wine could be used instead of you're vegetarian. I also added in the juice of half a  lemon, and a after I turned the burner off, I threw in a handful of chopped fresh basil (from my "garden" and rosemary which I had on hand). While the quinoa was cooking, I sauteed one thinly sliced baby zucchini and some crushed garlic in some olive oil. At the last second I added in a diced fresh tomato and salt and pepper to taste. The final step was to toss the now fluffy quinoa with the sauteed veggies. I kept the pan on low heat during this step to continue cooking and added in a handful of shredded Parmesan while tossing.


The dish was actually pretty decent. I think that the lemon juice was really what took it from bland to fresh. Normally, this would be a good side dish, but since the quinoa has such great food value it worked just fine as my main dish!