Turkey burgers

My friend Michelle hosts a book club swim/bbq at her house every summer and she makes these burgers that put a regular burger to shame. The secret? Well, turkey patties, granny smith apple slices, sharp cheddar slices, lettuce, Grey Poupon, cranberry sauce, and thin buns. That's it. Try it out.

Tilapia

Mom showed me a new way to cook fish, and I don't think I'll go back to my old way of using lemon slices and Cajun seasoning in the oven. Instead, sauté onion and garlic, then add the fish, chopped tomatoes and chopped green peppers (basically a pico de gallo with the fish), adding water also. Finally, add Chipotle seasoning to taste, and simmer until the fish is nice and flaky. All our kids liked this, and they don't like tomato chunks and some don't like peppers, either.

More Zucchini recipes

We're having fun with zucchini at our house! Here are some more recipes we've tried.

Sausage, stewed tomatoes and zucchini. I bought a case of stewed tomatoes when I really meant to get diced tomatoes. Stewed tomatoes have sugar in them which is pretty yucky in chili, I think. So I went looking for recipes to use up my stewed tomatoes and this one works for excess zucchini too! I thought it was great. We had it first on spaghetti noodles while the picky munchkins ate regular sauce on theirs, and then with rice the next night was even better. I used ground sausage rather than links.

Zucchini crab cakes--zucchini breaded and fried. Mr. Brady loved these.

Zucchini, Corn, Onion and Bacon: I used frozen corn and bacon drippings I had saved previously (but didn't have any bacon left). It was good!

Zucchini quiche--Shannon says: this was yummy; kids loved it. added sausage, sub'd queso fresco for feta. need to decrease the pepper in the crust. would use the crust for other quiches and maybe chicken pot pie?

Zucchini Tomato Bake--haven't tried it yet but might tonight

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Made this tonight--it's super good. Richer than the chocolate zucchini sheet cake that Mom gave me the recipe for. Of course it would be awesome with a chocolate frosting, but it's not needed. We loved it warm from the oven. It only took 53 minutes to bake in our oven.

Rhubarb Crumble

Made for Father's Day 2013.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl combine rhubarb, white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour and almond flavoring. Stir well and spread evenly into baking dish. Set aside.
4-5 cups diced rhubarb (about 4 stalks)
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. almond flavoring (Shannon's suggestion--I guessed on the amount and will try a little more next time)

Sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped nuts over it if desired.

In a large mixing bowl combine brown sugar, oats, and 1 1/2 cups flour. Stir well then cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over rhubarb layer. (Shannon suggests cinnamon in the topping but I didn't add it.)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (if you let it soften it won't make a crumbly topping but will still taste great!)

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. It was a big hit!

Frog Eye Salad

I made frog eye salad for the first time yesterday. This recipe says it makes 8-12 servings. I doubled it. It made so much that the 16 of us did not eat even half of it. One batch makes enough to fill up my big pink bowl.

I think I would like it without the coconut, and if you were eating it right away, I'd like some banana slices and not so much pineapple. I would definitely add more marshmallows--it's dessert anyway--and they are the kids' favorite part.

This is the one big bowl size (serves 16?)

Put water in a pot and heat to a boil on the stove. Add:
1 TB vegetable oil
2 tsp. salt
16 oz. acini di pepe pasta
Cook until al dente. Drain and rinse.

In a saucepan combine and then cook (stirring) over medium heat until thickened:
1 cup white sugar
2 TB flour
½ tsp salt
1 ¾ cup pineapple juice (use the juice from the cans below)
2 eggs, beaten

Remove from heat and add:
1 TB lemon juice
Cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta with the sauce. Add:
3 (11 oz.) cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 (20 oz.) cans pineapple tidbits, drained
1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (8 oz.) container of Cool Whip

Mix well and refrigerate until chilled. Before serving add:
2 cups mini marshmallows (original recipe only has 1 cup)
1 cup shredded coconut (optional--we usually leave it out)

Breakfast Cake

I love breakfast foods and feel bad when my kids eat cold cereal, but my usual rotation of warm yumminess was seeming old to me. So I made a zucchini bread and a pumpkin bread a little healthier (whole wheat flour and less sugar) and baked them in 13x9 pans for breakfast cake. Easier than doing muffins, I figure, though you do have to get up early enough to get it in the oven so it can come out nice and warm at the right time. This isn't health food by any stretch of the imagination (there is still plenty of sugar and oil) but it can't be much different than syrup on pancakes and waffles.


Zucchini Breakfast Cake
We grated the zucchini from our garden and froze it in 3 cup portions for this recipe, and then used 5 cup containers to make individual mixes of the dry ingredients.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13x9 glass pan.

3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour (or half wheat/half white)
1 1/3 cups sugar (lately I've been doing only 1 cup sugar)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 TB ground cinnamon
1 TB vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup oil (or half oil, half applesauce)
3 cups grated zucchini

Mix well, combining dry ingredients together first. Put in greased pan. Bake for 45-50 min. (until knife inserted comes out clean).



Pumpkin Breakfast Cake
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 13x9 glass pan.

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour  (or half wheat/half white)
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves
4 eggs
1 cup oil (or half oil, half applesauce)
2 cups pumpkin

Mix well, combining dry ingredients together first. Put in greased pan. Bake for 45-50 min. (until knife inserted comes out clean).