Mediterranean Zucchini Casserole

500 g small zucchini
100 g grated parmesan
100 g mozzarella
250 g puff pastry
3 T. pesto
1 small branch of mint
2 cloves garlic
2 eggs + one egg yolk
1 T. olive oil

Grate the zucchini, salt and let drain in a sieve for 10 minutes. Sop up liquid with a paper towel.

In a large bowl, mix zucchini with parmesan, diced mozzarella, lightly beaten eggs, pesto, minced garlic, and minced mint. Salt and pepper.

Place in a 9x13" pan and roll out pastry to cover. Make several small slits in pastry with a knife. Brush pastry with remaining egg yolk.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until top is lightly puffed and golden.

Spinach Leek Tart

200 g flour
100 g butter
1/2 t. salt

4 large leeks
350 g fresh spinach
3 eggs
40 g butter
25 cl creme fraiche
80 g grated emmental cheese (or swiss)

Mix flour, butter and salt together gently with fingertips in a small bowl. Incorporate 3 T. water. Gather dough together in a ball, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Clean and slice leeks, then sauté in butter for 15 minutes, over low heat. Rinse spinach. Place in a saucepan and salt. Cook for 3-4 minutes over low heat. Drain and coarsely chop. Add to leeks and cook another 3 minutes. Salt and pepper and let cool.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the pastry dough and place in a 12" tart or quiche pan. Poke with a fork and then add spinach/leek mixture.

In a bowl, mix the eggs with a fork and add the creme and cheese. Salt and pepper. Pour mixture over vegetables and bake for 30 minutes, reducing the temperature to 375 degrees after 15 minutes.

Chicken Tacos

This is the easiest crockpot recipe I've ever made. Just place:

chicken breasts (4?)
a jar of salsa
a can (or two) of black beans, drained
a can (or two) of corn, drained (you could also use frozen corn)

in crockpot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Take chicken breasts out and shred. Add chicken back to pot and stir. Serve with hot tortillas, cheese, sour cream, etc.

Peanut Butter/Banana/Cocoa Protein Shake

This recipe is based on one that Marc invented -- it reminds us of a smoothie we used to frequently order at WorldWrapps in Seattle (yum). I tweaked it a little as a result of some of Jessie's smoothie tricks.

I give you...

Peanut Butter/Banana/Cocoa Protein Shake

2 c. ice
1 c. soy milk (or regular milk)
4 T. peanut butter
1 large scoop of protein powder
1 ripe banana
1 T. cocoa (optional, still very good without it)
1/3 c. uncooked oatmeal
1/2 t. vanilla

Put ice and milk in blender. If you don't have a Blendtec, you may want to blend at this point, to avoid overloading your blender's motor. Or if you're feeling brave, just put all ingredients in at once. Blend until all ingredients are well mixed. Taste to see if you want to add any sweetener (I don't).

Makes 1 giant or 2 regular servings.

You've got your protein, your whole grains, your fruit, your dairy. Nice texture, too. Makes a good post-workout smoothie because all the protein helps to rebuild muscle. Also delicious for breakfast and it stays with you to keep you full for a good while.

If I had a Blendtec to make this smoothie it would be even better because:

1. It would blend up in a flash, narrowing the gap between wanting the smoothie and drinking the smoothie to almost nil!

2. It would pulverize the ice, no more pesky larger ice chunks!

3. It would eliminate the nasty electrical smell that my blender sometimes emits, making me fear it will give up the ghost before finishing my tasty drink.

Here's the one that I want!

If you like it, go vote for it!

Corn Salad with Lime Dressing

Jessie came back with this recipe from Denver. Apparently my Aunt Linda gave it to my Aunt Denise. Who knows where Aunt Linda got it? In any case, it's delicious.

6 ears roasted or grilled corn, stripped from the cob
1/4 thinly sliced red onion
1 pkg. cherry tomatoes, halved
chopped cilantro to taste

Combine all ingredients and toss with lime dressing:

2 T. oil
3 T. fresh lime juice
2 T. rice wine vinegar
chopped cilantro
salt and sugar to taste (I made it without sugar because the corn was so sweet it didn't need any.)

Best Fudge Cake

sadly, this is the best photo I got...

Denise calls this the Giant Ding Dong cake, much to Grandma's chagrin.
It's pretty much a showstopper.

3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2  cup soft butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water

1. Melt chocolate in small saucepan over very low heat

2. grease well and flour three 9X 1 1/2"  pans (I spray with
Pam, set a circle of waxed paper in the pan, and spray again with Pam)

3. Beat butter until smooth in large bowl with electric mixer.
   Add sugar and eggs; beat on high speed until light and fluffy,
   about 5 minutes.

4.  Beat in vanilla and chocolate with mixer on low speed, then add
baking soda and salt.   Add flour alternately with sour cream,
    beating in low speed until smooth.  Pour in boiling water;
stir with a spoon until well blended.  Pour into prepared pans.

5.  Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 - 35 minutes or
until center springs back when touched lightly with fingertip.
    Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.  Remove from pans;
cool completely.

6.  Split each layer with long serrated knife into 2 layers;
fill with sweetened whipped cream.  Frost with ganache.
      
Note:   Batter will be thin and makes thick layers.

** Quite often, I don't bother to sift the flour. This time I measured
the cake flour, sifted it, then measured again. There was almost
1/2 c. left over. The cake was wonderfully moist. I guess I'll
be sifting from now on.


Filling:

6-8 oz. softened cream cheese
2 c. whipping cream
sugar
vanilla

Whip cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add whipping cream
and continue beating until desired stiffness. Add vanilla and
sweeten to taste.  (I used 6 oz. cream cheese because I wanted it to
taste more whipped cream-y and less cheesecake-y.)


Ganache:

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. whipping cream
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 bar German sweet chocolate
a few grains of salt

(I used a 4 oz. bar of bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate.
Use what you like, for a total of 4 oz.)

Stir together sugar, salt and 1/4 c. cream in a small saucepan.
Cook over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Add chocolate
and stir constantly until dissolved. Add remaining cream. 

Ganache will be quite thin, and will thicken as it cools.
When completely cool, pour over the cake and smooth on the sides.
Refrigerate cake until serving.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

I decided to try a new way of using up over-ripe bananas this week because I had a LOT. (Thanks, Jill!) I found the recipe here and it was a huge hit with my family -- it's rich and delicious.

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa (I prefer dutch process)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

2. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3 Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

p.s. I made a double batch and found that there was too much batter for my 2 8x4" loaf pans. Next time I'll try a 9".