Baked Zucchini and Tomatoes

Vegetables, I need vegetables! After eating rich, heavy holiday food for a while, I am so ready for a plate with some fresh vegetables on it. Don’t get me wrong, I love warm, cozy, comforting winter foods, but right now I’m also longing for that light, crispness a fresh vegetable can bring. Kinda hard to find a farmer’s market right about now, but I can get zucchini in the grocery store, and I’m pretty sure this recipe will do the trick!

This dish is easy to toss together, and the flavors of tomatoes, garlic, and zucchini are always a hit. Even though these veggies are baked, the zucchini still has a crispness and a light taste, which is just what I am looking for.

Baked Zucchini and Tomatoes

• 3-4 medium sized Zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 14 oz can diced Tomatoes (I like the Italian seasoned kind.)
• 2 tablespoons cold Butter, small diced

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Put zucchini in the baking dish, top with garlic, salt, and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Pour tomatoes over the top. Dot with diced butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Top with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and return to oven for another 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Merry Christmas Breakfast!

Hello All! I took a few days off to enjoy Christmas and I hope you did the same!

We had several days of fun and merriment with a little bit of travel mixed in, but of course, our favorite is Christmas morning! Last year, we started the tradition of having a nice Christmas breakfast here at our house, and this year I ritzed it up a little and we actually ate in the dining room on real plates and everything! I love having both sides of our family come over to see what Santa has brought and then sit down to a nice meal (in our PJ’s!) – I can see this easily becoming my favorite Christmas tradition.

We enjoyed a hearty breakfast casserole (recipe below!), sour cream cornbread toasted and served with honey and strawberry jam (thanks to Ina Garten’s new cookbook – Make It Ahead), and the Brunch Bacon I posted about a few weeks ago. Coffee and juice finished it off.  I had every intention of also serving fruit, but it managed to get left in the fridge and forgotten about. Oh well, no one’s perfect.

Our breakfast casserole had a crust made of hashbrowns, then loaded with ham, cheese, and eggs and baked like a quiche. I baked the hashbrown crust the day before, put it in the fridge, and then did the rest quickly on Christmas morning. The sour cream cornbread was made 2 days ahead and just needed to be toasted, and the bacon pretty much just cooks itself in the oven. I love not having to stand over a bunch stuff! Throw it all in the oven and go play with the new toys!

Hasbrown, Ham, and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

• 1 bag (30 oz.) shredded Hashbrowns, thawed
• 4 tablespoons Butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 cup diced Ham (or 1 cup other meat such as sausage or bacon)
• 1 cup shredded Cheese (cheddar or colby)
• 10 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a 9X9 square baking dish with non-stick spray.

Combine melted butter, salt, pepper, and hashbrowns. Press onto bottom and up sides of baking dish. Bake for 30-40 minutes until edges get browned. Remove from oven, use the back of a spoon to press potatoes down even more to make a dense crust. Cool, cover, store in fridge until ready to make and bake filling.

Preheat oven to 350.

Evenly scatter meat and cheese in your prepared potato crust. Whisk together eggs and milk until well combined. Pour into crust. Top with a pinch of salt and pepper. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until set and golden brown. Serve warm.

Up-cycled Shopping Bags

So many stores are using those nice paper bags with handles these days, and I hate to throw them away (surprise, surprise), so I fold and stack them nicely in a drawer. Well, this time of year as my shopping trips increase, so does my stack of bags!

Instead of buying gift bags this year, I decided to make good use out of all the shopping bags I had accumulated. An easy arts-and-crafts day, and, voila, a nice new stack of holiday bags!

First, I rummaged through my paper drawer and found some cardstock and some Christmas scrapbook paper. Then I grabbed my trusty paper cutter ($5 at Hobby Lobby with a coupon!!).

I measured the area on the bag that I needed to cover (i.e., the other store’s logo), and cut a square of cardstock to fit. Next I cut a bunch of 1/2″ strips out of my scrapbook paper in varying lengths. For my bags, I was able to use a 6″ large square and strips at 5″, 4″, 3″, 2″, and 1″. I glued my strips onto the larger square in the shape of a tree, and then glued the whole thing onto the bag. I placed the bags under some heavy books to make sure they would dry flat, and done!

A nice, easy project to take my mind off all the hustle and bustle!

Oatmeal Bread

The last few days have been what my mom and I call “bread-baking weather”. Gray, cold, damp. All we can think about is mixing, kneading, raising, and the aroma of fresh bread wafting through the house. It’s an instant pick me up and just what I need to pull me out of the blahs of winter.

This oatmeal bread has been in my recipe box for years, and it’s my go-to for homemade bread. The oatmeal gives it a heartiness and keeps it so moist it’s almost hard to believe. I love it with soup on a cold night and toasted with cinnamon-sugar for breakfast the next morning.

This recipe makes two loaves. One for you, and one to share!

Oatmeal Bread

• 1 cup Oats
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• 2 teaspoons Honey
• 2 packages dry Yeast
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• ½ cup warm Water
• 1 cup warm Milk
• 1 tablespoon Salt
• ¼ cup Brown Sugar
• 4-5 cups Flour

Combine oats, boiling water, and honey in a small bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in another small bowl, allow to proof for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together warm milk, salt, and brown sugar. Stir in oat mixture and yeast mixture. Stir in 4-4 ½ cups of flour 1 cup at a time until a dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Add more flour as needed.

Oil another large bowl, place dough in bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover and let raise 1 ½- 2 hours.

Punch dough down, divide into two equal pieces, knead each a few times, shape into loaves, and place each in an oiled loaf pan. Let raise until doubled in size, 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325⁰. Bake loaves for 20-25 minutes until golden. Allow to cool in pans 10 minutes before removing.

Healthy Holiday Snacking – Edamame Hummus

You know, I’ve heard for years that if you keep healthy foods and snacks ready to go and right in front of you, that’s what you will choose. Well, hey, it works!

My holiday baking season has begun, and as I’m testing recipes, planning menus, and giving food gifts, my house is a wealth of cookies, cakes, and treats of all kinds. After a few too many days of a taste here and a nibble there, I was feeling the after-effects of overindulgence, and my body just felt like I needed a reset button. Enter in a healthy snack!

After trying out edamame hummus on a recent date night, I knew I had to make some. It was an instant hit, and has been a regular in our fridge ever since. I love it with crisp celery and carrot sticks or spread on a turkey sandwich. I’ve even been making my own tortilla crisps (which I like way better than pita chips!).

I keep the celery, carrots, and hummus ready to go, and now grab that for a snack instead of the cookies on the counter. I feel so much better about my holiday snacking, and as a bonus, I have an impressive appetizer at the ready for any surprise guests!

Edamame Hummus

• 1 pound bag frozen, shelled Edamame
• 3 cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
• 5 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

Boil edamame in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Rinse with cold water.

Combine cooked edamame and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times until finely chopped. Add lemon juice, tahini, salt, pepper, and cumin; pulse to combine. With the machine on, stream in reserved cooking liquid and olive oil. Process until creamy in texture.

Store covered, in refrigerator.

Tortilla Crisps

• Flour Tortillas
• Oil
• Salt
• Cumin

Preheat oven to 350. Brush tortillas with vegetable or olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and cumin as desired. Cut each tortilla into 8 wedges. Place in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

 

Rustic Tomato Tart

A few days ago I was craving the flavors of roasted tomatoes and pesto, similar to the appetizer toasts I like to make for a crowd (see the Roasted Tomato and Pesto Toasts here), but I wanted something I could use as a bigger part of our meal, so I came up with this Rustic Tomato Tart.

I used the savory cream cheese crust that I love and layered pesto and roasted tomatoes. Topped with a little extra parmesan cheese, it was perfect! I love how roasting the tomatoes brings out so much sweetness and the pesto reminds me of summer. Folding the edges of the crust over (like a galette) is simple and rustic and beautiful all at the same time.

We enjoyed our tart alongside grilled chicken, but served with a salad, it is definitely satisfying enough to act as a vegetarian main dish.

Rustic Tomato Tart

• Prepared recipe of Cream Cheese Crust (you’ll only need half, save the rest for another use)
• 8-10 Roma tomatoes (I like more tomatoes, so I lean towards 10)
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 1/4 cup Pesto
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water (Egg Wash)

Cut tomatoes in 1/2″ slices lengthwise. I usually get 4-5 slices per tomato. Lay slices on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.  Allow to sit for 15-20 minutes. (This helps to draw some of the moisture out of the tomato.) Blot dry with another paper towel.

Preheat oven to 400⁰. Lay tomato slices onto a baking pan prepared with non-stick spray. Roast for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

Roll out prepared dough to 1/4″ thick. The size and shape doesn’t really matter; remember, we’re going for rustic! Mine came out more like an 11×18 rectangle, so I went with it. Place rolled-out dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet, spread with pesto, leaving a 1″ border all around. Layer on your roasted tomato slices. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Fold your crust dough over the edges of the tart, overlapping as needed. Brush crust with egg wash. Reduce oven to 350⁰ and bake for 20-25 minutes until crust edges are golden brown.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Lamp Post to Lantern

Don’t you love holiday catalogs? Pier 1, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware – those are the visions of sugarplums that dance in my head. I don’t actually need everything I see, and to be honest, I look at the catalogs more for ideas than anything else. So many future DIYs and tablescapes right there at my fingertips.

Recently, I came across several ads for these beautiful lanterns filled with Christmas lights or ornaments, and while I wasn’t willing to pay the hefty price tag, it did remind me that I had an old broken lamp post light hanging out in the garage. More than a year ago, we knocked the front lamp post while mowing and it snapped the base of the light. We replaced the lamp fixture and stuck the broken one in the garage.  Good thing I’m such a pack rat, the lamp worked perfectly for a little lamp-to-lantern DIY project!

I was able to take the broken base off the lamp and remove the inner light bulbs and parts. From there it would stand on its own like a lantern, but it needed some prettying up. I took the whole thing apart to clean the metal and the glass, then laid all the pieces (except the glass) out on cardboard in the garage.  A few coats of leftover gold spray paint (same Rustoleum Pure Gold I used for my IKEA Table), and it was ready for greatness!

So far I’ve used it on my Thanksgiving table with glass pumpkins and filled with LED battery-operated lights in a Christmas arrangement. Wonder where it will pop up next?

Chicken, Mushroom, and Wild Rice Soup

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I hope all of you did as well. My holiday was spent traveling, visiting, and eating, until I could do no more. I love Thanksgiving and am so very thankful for the hustle and bustle, but then I was ready for something simpler.

Before I hauled the Christmas decorations down from from the attic, we took a few quiet days here at the house for ourselves. I made a big pot of soup, and we all curled up on the floor to play Legos and watch football. It was awesome.

This is another recipe that I cannot claim as my own, but I wanted to give it a share anyways. I came across this Chicken, Mushroom, and Wild Rice Soup in my Southern Living magazine several years ago, and I have been making it ever since. This soup has a mild and comforting flavor, the white wine and splash of cream give it a richness, and I love how the wild rice adds a little bit of a different texture than plain white rice.

A simple bowl of soup was just what we needed after stuffing ourselves with a little bit of everything on the Thanksgiving table.

Here is the link to the recipe for Chicken, Mushroom, and Wild Rice Soup. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

NOTE: The picture in this post isn’t mine; it’s also from Southern Living. Like I said, I’m taking it easy this week.