Squash and Zucchini Casserole

Okay, I officially have a new comfort food favorite! It comes in the form of this warm, cheesy, delicious squash and zucchini casserole. I have been eating it for breakfast/lunch/dinner for the past two days! I just ate my last plate of it for breakfast and am so sad that it is gone. Boo. Guess that just means I need to make more!

Lately here we have been drowning in squash and zucchini. We have gotten large quantities in our CSA basket for the past three weeks. I was getting REALLY sick of sauteed veggies. I NEEDED something different. This cheesy crunchy goodness has been the perfect thing to have in the kitchen over the last few rainy days.

So if you are looking for a way to get rid of some of that summer squash and zucchini, try this recipe out. I promise you will not be disappointed!

Start with two medium sized zucchinis and yellow squash. Slice and add to a pan with heated olive oil. Add a chopped yellow onion. Saute squash, zucchini, and onion in pan for 5-10 minutes. Don't overcook or your squash will become mushy. Turn off heat and add shredded cheddar and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and add to a casserole dish. I sprayed the dish with cooking spray first.

For the topping melt butter in a bowl. Add panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Mix together and spread on top of casserole.

Cook on 375 for 20-30 minutes. (It only took 20 in my oven.) Take it out once the top is golden brown.

Ingredients:

-2 yellow squash, two zucchini
-1 cup sour cream
-2 cups shredded cheddar
-1 yellow onion

Topping Ingredients:

-1 cup panko bread crumbs
-1/2 cup parmesan
-3 tablespoons melted butter

I served my casserole with green beans, dill mashed potatoes, and cucumber salad. These pictures are before it was cooked. I was too hungry to get a photo of the completed casserole!

Zucchini Bread

The past two weeks we have gotten quite a bit of organic zucchini in our farmers basket. The only way I ever cook zucchini is in a stir fry with other veggies over rice. But to be honest I am getting a little sick of that. I didn't want all of the zucchini to go to waste so I started thinking of other recipes I could use it in. I had never made zucchini bread before but I had tasted it at bakeries and thought it was worth a try. I am so so so glad that I made this because it turned out so delicious! I made two loafs and they are almost gone just two days later!

First you want to grate one large zucchini coarsely. I used my food processor attachment to do this because it is super easy and fast. Then you can mix together all of your dry ingredients in a bowl. (3 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 2 1/4 cups white sugar.) In a separate bowl mix together wet ingredients. ( 3 eggs, 1 cup vegetable oil, 3 teaspoons vanilla extract.)

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat well. Once the mix has been beaten, add two cups of the grated zucchini and 1 cup chopped walnuts.

Pour the batter into two greased 8 x 4 inch pans.

Bake on 325 for 30-50 minutes. Keep an eye on it, you want it to stay moist and not get cooked for too long!

The bread is so moist and delicious and the walnuts add the perfect little crunch. We have been eating it for breakfast and for dessert. A wonderful way to eat veggies without even knowing it! (Perfect for kids and picky husbands/boyfriends too!!)

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large zucchini
1 cup walnuts

Vegetarian Pad Thai with Spaghetti Squash

SPAGHETTI SQUASH- ahhhh! This has been one of my new favorites. I know being a vegetarian doesn't mean you can't eat noodles, but going along with the theme of trying to be an all around healthier person, spaghetti squash is a great substitute for the carb loaded noodles.

This dish was soooo amazing and we kept saying the whole time we were eating it "can you believe that EVERYTHING in this dinner is vegetables?!". It doesn't get much better than that!

Alright first lets talk about the delicious spaghetti sqaush. First of all, I had no idea that there was a squah actually called "spaghetti" squash. I thought it was just a recipe where you used squash and turned it into spaghetti. I was amazed when I showed up to the store and actually saw the real thing!

There are a lot of different ways to cook it but the easiest and the fastest is in the microwave. First use a knife to puncture holes in the top of the squash. If you forget to do this you will probably end up with a messy squash explosion in your microwave! I usually cook it for 8-10 minutes.

Once you take it out and let it cool a bit, you slice it in half long ways. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Then the fun part.....use a fork to scrape out the "noodles"! The squash literally comes out just like noodles. It is the best! And you can actually get a lot of noodles out of just one squash. I would say enough for up to 4 people.

Now on to the other part of the recipe. Since we made this before we started getting our weekly farmers share, we bought a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables along with some fresh chopped bok choy. We cooked it all in a pan with a few cloves of garlic. When that is done, remove it to a separate bowl.

The best part of this recipe is definitely the sauce. (Which by the way is really, really, really easy and delicious!)  What you need is 1/4 cup of vegetable broth, 2 tablespoons all natural peanut butter, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, and a small squirt of sriracha. (Sriracha is the best hot sauce for this kind of thing but it is very spicy so don't ruin your dish by putting a lot in there, you only need a little squirt!) Heat the sauce in a pan until it is smooth and creamy. Once it is ready, add spaghetti squash and stir fry veggies and mix together. 

Garnish with chopped peanuts, green onions or garlic scapes, and a wedge of lime. 

The result? A healthy,cheap, easy, delicious dinner! I am serious about this one, it is so so so freakin' good! 

Ingredients: 

-fresh or frozen stir fry veggies

-fresh bok choy

-one spaghetti squash

-1/4 cup vegetable broth

-2 tablespoons all natural peanut butter

-1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

-1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

-small squirt of sriracha

Optional Garnish:

-peanuts

-green onions or garlic scapes

-lime wedges

Spinach & Cheese Lasagna

Lasagna is my comfort food. Whenever its cold out, raining, or I just want something comforting and cozy to eat, I make lasagna. Jeremy isn't too big on leftovers, and because with a big pan of lasagna there is always so much leftover, I end up getting to eat it for a week. And.I.Love.It!

I got this recipe idea from my mom. When we were growing up my mom didn't use meat in a lot of her dishes. We weren't vegetarians but when it came to spaghetti and lasagna my mom usually just did veggies instead of beef. Even before I became a vegetarian I always preferred it this way. 

In our farm share last week we got a big bag of organic spinach. I didn't feel like doing the usual spinach salad or something boring like that. I decided to use it to make this yummy comfort food that reminds me of my childhood. (Okay I'm only 23...it really wasn't that long ago!!) 

First thing you want to do is boil the lasagna noodles. While they are cooking, saute your spinach with a little salt, pepper, and garlic. I also add half a chopped onion and saute that with the spinach. After the spinach is wilted and onions clear, put it in a mixing bowl with one regular size container of ricotta cheese and a hand ful of mixed Italian cheeses. Add whatever spices you prefer (I usually use thyme, oregano, and parsley). 

Once you are ready to assemble the dish pour a small amount of pasta sauce on the bottom of the dish. Add one layer noodles, one layer cheese and spinach mixture, and one layer of pasta sauce. Repeat twice. Top layer gets the leftover mixed Italian cheeses. 

Bake at 350 covered for 20-30 minutes. Uncover for the last few minutes to crisp up the cheese on the top! 

Ingredients:

-lasagna noodles

-pasta sauce

-spinach

-ricotta

-bag of shredded mixed Italian cheeses 

-onion

-Italian spices

Vegetable Broth

This should have been common sense but I didn't ever do it until I read about someone else doing it on a blog. I am always buying store bought vegetable broth for soups and never making my own. I came across a blog post about saving all of your veggie peels, tops, ends, you name it. It really made a lot of sense because I always feel guilty about throwing away all of that stuff. It took me about two weeks to get three zipper bags full of carrot peels, onions skins, brussell sprout ends, broccoli stalks, garlic skins and ends, pepper cores, potatoes skins, and all kinds of other stuff I usually just throw away. Every time I had something to save I would add it to a zip lock bag in the freezer. Once I had three sandwich bags full, I added them to a big pot of water and boiled it for about an hour.  (I don't know the actual time but it was at least an hour.)Then I drained out all of the liquid. I added just a bit of salt (you don't need too much) and it was done. Done and delicious.

My favorite thing about this was that I could literally taste all of the different vegetables that were a part of making the stock. I tasted the brussell sprouts, carrots, onions, and peppers. It was so good and didn't cost a dime. This is really a win win because you don't have to waste anything in the kitchen, you don't have to spend money on store bought broth, and you get a way better flavor!

So start stocking your vegetable leftovers people!!!

Vegan Philly Cheese Steak

I found this recipe on Pinterest and fell in love. I used to love philly cheese steaks before I became vegetarian and I was sooo ready to try this recipe. It was a bit complicated because you have to first make the slow baked tofu. I pretty much followed all of the recipe but forgot to make the avocado garlic spread and was so hungry by the time I remembered that we just ate without it. And to tell you the truth, it was amazing and didn't even need it. Me and Jeremy each ate a philly and a half and I brought the leftovers for lunch the next day. This was my first time having vegan cheese and I was super impressed, it melted wonderfully and tasted delicious.

Since the recipe was a little complicated I am just going to post the link for this one. The blog rocks and she has way better pictures than me! Get the recipe here: http://www.namelymarly.com/2012/07/vegan-philly-cheezsteak/

I am serious about trying this though, it was so so so good and really reminded me of eating a philly!

Here is a picture of mine......doesn't do it justice!

Baked Veggie Spring Rolls

Cabbage, cabbage, cabbage. Yes, three times. As part of our weekly share of organic local veggies we get a lot of cabbage. Actually, cabbage three weeks in a row to be exact. And not the little sissy cabbage head from the grocery store, I am talking cabbage that takes up an entire shelf in the refrigerator. The first two weeks we ended up giving a lot of it away because we just couldn't cook it all. Tonight I was bound and determined to get rid of some of it and turn it into something delicious. The result was a batch of my favorite baked veggie spring rolls!

I have made these before and fell in love with them. Sometimes on a lazy night when we order chinese food I just say, "just order me egg rolls for dinner". That is how much a love a good egg roll. The only problem is they usually make me feel terrible afterwards because they are fried..... and I feel so guilty for eating them. This is my solution.

The recipe is actually pretty easy and not very time consuming. You can improvise depending on what veggies you have that you need to get rid of. I sauteed grated fresh ginger, chopped cabbage, thinly sliced carrots, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, and garlic scapes. You only need to cook it for a few minutes because you want the veggies to stay a little crunchy. Once they just start to have signs of wilting, add a mix of 1/4 cup water and 1 tablespoon corn starch to the pan. (Make sure you mix that together first before you add it.) Then add around two tablespoons of soy sauce. Cook for a minute or two until the sauce thickens.

I take it out of the pan and transfer it to a bowl to cool off. Pre heat the oven to 400 and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place a spoon full of the cooled veggie mix onto a egg roll wrapper. Fold over the corner and sides and roll into a egg roll shape. Once the sheet is full, spritz the top of each roll with cooking spray.

Bake for about 10 minutes and then flip over for another 10

. I try to keep an eye on them while they cook to make sure they don't burn.

Serve with Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce for dipping! (Liqiud Aminos are another recent discovery since becoming vegetarian. I delicious and healthy substitute for soy sauce. Find out more about it here http://bragg.com/products/la.html. We found it at Harris Teeter and some Food Lions have it in the health food section.

These are so good and we usually have left overs to eat for lunch the next day.....but I'm already planning to eat them for breakfast tomorrow morning!!

Enjoy!

Ingredients: (I really don't use measurements much, I just use my own judgement!)

-cabbage (Maybe 2 cups?)
-carrots
-bean sprouts
-water chestnuts
-ginger (don't use too much! It is really strong! I only used maybe a teaspoon!)
-egg roll wraps

Delicious Beet Hummus

This summer we signed up to be members in the Sommer Set Farm Community Supported Agriculture program. Each week we pick up our "share" of veggies from downtown Manteo. The fun thing about it is that we get things that we would have never bought at the store, so we are forced to experiment with new vegtables.

I have never been a picky eater but beets was one of those things I would never touch. I just thought they seemed weird. I always saw them at strange places like the Pizza Hut salad bar or somewhere gross like that. I think my mom used to cook them when we were growing up but I always just had this thing about them and wouldn't go near them.

My mom and other friends on Facebook had quite the laugh when I accidentally spelled beets "beats" on a Facebook status asking for advice on how to cook them. It was an accident, I swear! And regardless of my terrible spelling, I got over 20 comments with suggestions on what to do with the beets. My friend Kristen suggested making beet hummus. I figured since I love hummus maybe this would be an easy way for me to try beets for the first time and actually like them.

The recipe was super easy and didn't take long. I cooked the beets (about 6 of them- they were pretty small) in a covered pan with 1/4 inch of water in the bottom on 375 for about 15 minutes. (Just cook until you can easily put a fork in them.) Afterward I peeled them and cut them into cubs. Add half a table spoon of cumin (the recipe called for a whole tablespoon but I only used half), three table spoons of tahini (the recipe called for two but I used three to make the texture better), five table spoons of lemon juice, and chopped garlic scapes (they are the long green tops of garlic- we get them in our weekly share so we use them instead of garlic) and salt and pepper to taste.

Blend in the food processor until the texture is to your liking. (By the way- since becoming a vegetarian the food processor has become my best friend! What did I ever do without it? So perfect for making dressings, dips, and other fun stuff!)

Serve with pita points, cabbage, or raw veggies! We tried it first with cabbage leaves and then tried it with pita points and both were really good.

Not only is this delicious, but it is SO BEAUTIFUL!!! I think me and beets are going to get along just fine :-)

Ingredients:

-4 medium size beets or 6 small beets
-3 tablespoons tahini
-5 tablespoons lemon
-1/2 tablespoon cumin
-garlic or garlic scapes (however much you want!) I used about a tablespoon of chopped scapes but they are more mild then actual garlic cloves.