Pan Fried Parmesan Zucchini

Zucchini was coming in faster than I could keep up with it a few weeks ago, so we were trying all kinds of different recipes.  I love zucchini and onions, cooked in a little butter with some salt and pepper, but I can only eat that so many times before I get a bit tired of it.  Thankfully, Sherri, has some great zucchini recipes on her blog.  I made this cake {which is DELICIOUS} and this bread from her collection.  I shredded and froze tons of zucchini for future baking throughout the year.  And, I made Zucchini Cornbread, which was also good.

One night, though, Bradley suggested that I fry up some zucchini, similar to how I make my Fried Okra.  I wanted to use bread crumbs for the coating, but didn't have any, or any crackers, so I opted for pretzels.  Let me just tell you that these were. so. good.  Unfortunately, I didn't really measure all of the ingredients--that's what is fun about cooking, but frustrating when you try to blog about it. Ha!    But, my little tip for you is to try crushing up different things to use as coatings for frying foods.  You could try goldfish crackers, cheese doodles, potato chips, tortilla chips--pretty much anything that will be fried will work.

If you have some zucchini lying around, you'll want to give this one a try.

Pan Fried Parmesan Zucchini
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup crushed pretzels {chopped up in the food processor}
1/2 - 1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/3 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
1 large zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick
oil for frying

In a small bowl, combine the flour, pretzels, garlic salt and Parmesan cheese.  In a separate bowl, place the eggs.  Heat enough oil over high heat to cover the pan 1/2-inch deep.  Dip zucchini slices in egg to coat, then in the pretzel/cheese mixture to cover.  Keep as much coating on as possible and transfer to the hot oil.  Repeat until the pan is full, and turn heat down to medium-high.  Cook until golden brown on both sides, only turning once.  Drain on paper towel lined plate and serve.

I didn't make any, but as we were eating these, we realized they would be pretty tasty with a remoulade type sauce.  

Making Creamed Corn & the Recipe

Up until about 3 months ago, all of my experiences with Creamed Corn have been out of a can.  The day I came home from the hospital with Mason, though, my friend brought us a delicious home-cooked meal, complete with homemade Creamed Corn.  It was delicious!  My mom, Bradley and I all tried to guess at the ingredients and we just couldn't put our finger on it.   This same friend asked if she could join us for the 4th of July {her husband is currently deployed} and I agreed, so long as she would bring the corn, other necessary ingredients, and teach me how to make Creamed Corn.

Here's how to make this deliciousness!

1. Enlist the help of some friends, because it takes awhile to prepare the corn.

 2. Shuck the corn.

3. Cut the corn off of the cob.  This is where it gets technical.  You only want to cut off the top portion of the kernels; the portion that is arched.  Just trust me on this one.  And, you'll want a really sharp knife.

You should have a pile of pieces that looks something like this after this step:

4. Once the tops are removed, use the sharp slide of the blade and scrape it down the sides of the cob, extracting all of the creamy goodness of the cob.

The cob will look like the picture below once all of the cream is out.

5. Admire all of the creamy goodness that you've worked so hard to achieve.

6. In a large skillet, melt some butter over medium-high heat.

7. Once the butter has melted, add in all of the corn.

8. Cook this for about 15 minutes, until the corn starts bubbling on the edges and looks cooked.

9.  Taste it and add salt and freshly ground pepper, as desired.  Serve it with whatever you want, like our 4th of July feast pictured below.

And, the other end of the table:

There you have it!  Super easy, super tasty, super homemade.

Creamed Corn
20 ears of corn
1 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste

Shuck all ears of corn and pull of silk.  Using a very sharp knife, scrape the arched portions of the kernels into a large baking pan.  Once all of the tops are off, go back over the cob with the sharp blade running along the sides of the ear, extracting the cream from under the kernels.  Repeat with all ears of corn.

In a large skillet, melt butter.  Add corn, with the juices, and cook about 15 minutes, over medium-high heat.  Taste for doneness, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Adjust amounts as necessary.  You can make more or less.  This freezes well, just place what you would serve for a meal into a ziploc bag, remove excess air, seal and freeze.  


source:  the Slaten family

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Sauteed Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes

We are thoroughly enjoying the delicious fresh produce from our garden!  In some ways, we're getting more than we can keep up with.  We pick about 100 cherry tomatoes every day.  I'm trying to be creative as possible with cooking beans, tomatoes, and zucchini in various ways.  This green bean recipe is delicious, and coupled with some corn on the cob, and maybe some homemade biscuits, you could have an entire meal.

Sauteed Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes

3/4 lb. green beans
olive oil {or leftover bacon grease}*
5 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 lb. cooked, diced bacon
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcester sauce

Steam {or boil, but I prefer to steam them} green beans until done, but not too soft.  In a large skillet, heat olive oil.  Add mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook until tender.  Add tomatoes and beans, cooking until tomatoes are heated through.  While this is cooking, mix sugar and Worcester sauce in a small bowl.  Add the mixture to the skillet, a little bit at a time, until it has enough juices to cover the beans.  {I didn't end up using all of the brown sugar mixture}.  Gently stir in the cooked bacon.

*I cooked my bacon in a large electric skillet, drained most of the grease, and then used some of it to cook my veggies.  Obviously this isn't as healthy, but it sure tastes good!

Scalloped Red Potatoes with Rosemary

Before I give you the recipe, I have a quick decorating update:  the girls' room is halfway painted!!  I finally mustered up the energy {plus, I think I'm nesting} yesterday to get to it.  Of the 4 walls in their room, two have vaulted ceilings, so I have to wait for Bradley to be home before tackling those two walls, but the other two are finished, plus I cut in all of the lower trim.  It's coming along!

On to the recipe...

We love potatoes at our house, and I'm always looking for different ways to make them.  Since Easter is coming up in a few weeks, I thought I would try a potato dish that would be a wonderful side to an Easter ham.  These potatoes are perfect for that!  Leaving the red skins on makes it a colorful dish, too.

Scalloped Red Potatoes with Rosemary


5 red potatoes
3 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons butter
salt
pepper
dried rosemary
2 cups milk

Wash the potatoes, and leaving the skins on, thinly slice.  Grease, or butter, a 2 1/2-quart baking dish, then line bottom with a layer of potatoes.  Sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour, salt, pepper, and a dash of rosemary over potatoes.  Dot with 1 tablespoon butter, cut into little pieces.  Repeat layers 2 more times.  Pour milk over top of all.  Bake at 350F for 1 hour.

slice the potatoes thinly

first layer, dotted with butter and seasoned

pre-cooked

finished product

source:  slightly adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook


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Day 15: Oven Roasted Potatoes

Please, accept my apologies for not posting over the weekend!  If you're a regular reader, you know that I normally only post during the week, so sometimes doing one on the weekends for my series is a challenge.  This weekend was especially packed, so I haven't even been on the computer for more than about 5 minutes since Friday.  Don't worry, I'll make up for it by back-posting :)

This potato recipe is a great way to eat potatoes, as it's healthy, easy, and delicious!  Really, oven roasted potatoes are perfect for any time of year, but I especially like to pair them with pork dishes, which are a great fall food.

Roasted Rosemary-Onion Potatoes
Printable Version

4 medium potatoes (1 1/3 pounds)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Heat oven to 450F.  Line rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease.  Cut potatoes into 1-inch chunks.  Mix remaining ingredients in large bowl.  Add potatoes; toss to coat.  Spread potatoes in single layer in pan.  Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes, turning occasionally, until potatoes are light brown and tender when pierced with a fork.

source: Betty Crocker's Cookbook

Baked Potato Casserole

I apologize for my absence the past few days.  The girls and I have been at my parents' house and I've barely opened the computer the whole time we've been here!  It has been nice to relax and spend time with my family.  On Saturday I ran in the 10 mile race that I mentioned in my post Run Mama Run, and I'm thankful to say that I finished the race.  I'll share more on the race later, but let me just say that my body hasn't been this sore since I gave birth to my first child.

We're driving home today and I can't wait to share with you some projects later on this week!  For now, here is a yummy potato recipe for you.  My mom made this for us this summer and everyone loved it.  I altered the amounts to just feed our family of four, but as it is written it would easily serve about 10 people.  One of the best parts about this recipe is that you use red potatoes, one of my favorites when I don't want to skin potatoes.  Just leave them like this:

I even made my mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving last year with red potatoes, just to save some time.  I was apprehensive at first when I found out this recipe calls for mayonnaise, but you can't even taste it in there, so don't be alarmed.  Enjoy!

Recipe
Printable Version

2 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cubed and cooked
1/2 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons minced chives
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl combine the potatoes and bacon.  In another bowl combine the remaining ingredients.  Mix all together and spoon into a greased 4 1/2 quart baking dish.  Bake, uncovered, at 325F for 50-60 minutes, until browned and bubbly.

Risotto with Mushrooms and Peas

Risotto is one of my favorite ways to serve and eat rice.  The rice is cooked slowly, with chicken broth, so the end product is a creamy, flavorful side dish that is an excellent accompaniment to any meat.  We usually eat it plain, but you can also add cooked vegetables to it at the end to pack in some more flavor.  This time I simply sauteed some mushrooms, steamed some peas, and then after adding in the cheese, I stirred in the mushrooms and peas.  It was delicious!


Risotto with Mushrooms and Peas
Printable Version

4 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
1/2 cup dry white wine, or sherry
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 oz mushrooms, sauteed in butter, and kept warm (optional)
1 cup cooked peas, kept warm (optional)

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer.  Cover the broth and keep hot over low heat.  (If you make your own broth, just make it before you start the rest of rice, and keep it on the stove).

In a large, heavy saucepan , melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute until tender, but not brown, about 3 minutes.  Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter.  Add the wine and simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 3 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes.  Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining tablespoon of butter, and the salt and pepper.

If adding the mushrooms and peas, stir in at this point. 

Transfer the risotto to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

source:  Everyday Italian, by Giada de Laurentis