Marinated Zucchini Salad

This recipe and photo came from theReal Mom Kitchen Blog.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 small zucchini, cut into half moon slices about 1/2 inch thick (or bite sized pieces)
• 1 can large pitted black olives, drained very well
• 1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained very well
• 1 red pepper chopped into bite-sized piece
  
• 1 red onion chopped into bite-sized pieces

Dressing:

• 1 cup Italian dressing
  
• juice of half lemon (2 T)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, Asiago, or Romano cheese
• 1 T dried basil (or use 2 T basil pesto or 3 T. chopped fresh basil)
• 1 tsp. dried oregano

Optional: additional 1/4 cup grated parmesan to sprinkle over salad just before serving

1. Cut zucchini into quarter slices or bite sized pieces.
   
2. Steam zucchini until barely tender/crisp, about 3 minutes.
   
3. While zucchini is cooking, open olives and artichoke hearts and dump into a colander to drain well. (Draining the zucchini and olives well is essential or the finished salad will be watery.)
4. Chop the red bell pepper and red onion into bite-sized pieces.
5. Combine zucchini, olives, artichoke hearts, red pepper and red onion in plastic or glass container with a lid (or use a Ziploc bag.)
6. Pour dressing over, just enough to cover veggies, and stir gently. (use part of the dressing to marinate the veggies and then stir in a little more dressing when I serve it.)
7. Marinate in refrigerator 4-8 hours. Turn it over once in a while to keep the vegetables covered with dressing. Just before serving stir in a little of the reserved dressing. Sprinkle the salad with more freshly grated Parmesan cheese when serving if desired.

Rate It!
Jen: 7
* No One else at my house liked this

Menu Planning Monday

Monday:Rotisserie Chicken with
Garlic Mashed Potatoes/Corn

Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff

Wednesday: Summer Vegetable Soup/French Bread

Thursday: Sandwiches/Chips
Veggies w/Zucchini Dip

Zucchini Flat Bread

Zucchini Flat Bread

This recipe and photo from The Real Mom Kitchen Blog

Zucchini Flat Bread

• 1 large Boboli® pizza crust (I used a Pillsbury Pizza Crust)
  
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 zucchini, sliced into 1/8 inch slices (you want about 2 dozen slices)
• 1 1/2 tsp. Johnny’s Garlic Spread & Seasoning (Couldn't find this- used garlic powder)
  
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese (I just eyeballed it as to what looked good)
• 1/2 of a small can sliced olives, drained

1. Place zucchini slices on a baking sheet and cook at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on these you just want to get them tender and about 1/2 the thickness they were originally. If you cook them too long they will burn.
2. Brush top of pizza crust with olive oil. Arrange cooked zucchini slices on crust.
3. Sprinkle seasoning over zucchini followed by cheese. Then top cheese with olives.
4. Bake at 450 degrees for 5 or so minutes until cheese is nice and melted.
   
5. Cut into squares.

Rate It!

Jen: 7
Kile: 7.5
Kiley: 7.5
Madee: 5
Destrie: not good

Kevin's Mom's Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:
3/4 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. margarine
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. soda
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 bag milk chocolate chips
1 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. milk

Directions:
Cream first 4 ingredients
Add eggs, soda, flour, salt, oatmeal, and vanilla
Pour mixture into a greased cookie sheet
Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes-(they took 20 minutes in my oven)
Remove from oven, sprinkle chocolate chips on top, spread.
Chill in fridge until chocolate has set.
Mix powdered sugar peanut butter and milk together.
Spread on top of chocolate.
Return to fridge to chill until set.
Rate It!
Jen: 7
Kile: 6.5
Kiley: 7
Madee: 8
Destrie: good

Zucchini Fritters

Recipe from -Angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Ingredients:
*Zucchini (2)
* 1 Tbsp flour
* 1/4 tsp paprika
* Salt and pepper to taste
* Oil for deep frying

Directions:
1. Cut the zucchini in half, then cut each length into sticks. Season the flour with salt, pepper and the paprika. Roll the zucchini sticks in the flour, making sure they are well coated.
2. Heat a skillet 1/3 filled with oil until hot. Fry the zucchini sticks in batches until they are crisp and golden. Drain each batch on kitchen paper and season with more salt. Server hot with ranch dipping sauce.

Rate It!!
Jen: 8
Kile: 8
Kiley: 7.5
Madee: not home
Destrie: good

Layered Crockpot Enchiladas

This recipe came from our neighbor Lucy.

Ingredients:
3 0r4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg. dry Italian dressing mix
1 small diced onion
1 can diced green chiles
1 can of green enchilada sauce
1 package of flour tortillas, ripped into strips
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups cheddar cheese
olives
2 green onions


Directions:
Place the chicken breasts in a crock pot with 2 cups water and Italian dressing mix.
Cook on low for 2-3 hours.
Add diced onion and diced green chiles.
Simmer for another 2-3 hours, until chicken shreds easily with a fork.
Remove chicken from crock pot and combine chicken with cream cheese. Set aside.
Drain liquid fro m crock pot

Layer the ingredients in this order in the crock pot.

1 can of green enchilada sauce
Tortillas
Then add 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
Tortillas
Then add your shredded chicken/cream cheese mixture
Then cheddar cheese.
Next add sliced olives and green onion.
Tortillas

Let simmer until the tortilla shells have become soft- about an hour. Serve with sour cream.

Rate It!
Jen: 8
Kile: 8
Kiley: 7
Madee: 7.5
Destrie: Good
Lillie: 8.5
Hayley: 10,000.1 (my highest rating ever!)

Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn

Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn
Recipe and Photo by Our Best Bites


About 20 cups of popped popcorn
2 c. honey roasted peanuts
3 c. peanut butter chips (I used Reese's)
1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or oil
2/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place the peanuts and popped popcorn in a very large bowl. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the peanut butter chips and vegetable oil or shortening and heat for 2-2 1/2 minutes or until smooth, stirring every 30 seconds. Drizzle the melted peanut butter chips over the popcorn and peanuts and toss to combine.

Spread the popcorn onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet. In a Ziploc bag, heat the semi-sweet chocolate chips until just melted and smooth (about 1-1 1/2 minutes, mashing the bag every 20-30 seconds). Cut a small corner in the Ziploc bag and drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn. Allow to stand long enough to become solid (you can transfer the pan to the fridge or freezer to hurry this step along). When done, break the popcorn into small pieces and enjoy!

Rate It!
Jen: 7
Kile: didn't have any
Kiley: 7
Madee:7.5
Destrie Good