at home with ann

This version of Sloppy Joes is lightened up with ground turkey, and packs a bunch of vegetables into the mix.  My brother-in-law, who might be my most loyal reader, lived with us a few years ago, and probably remembers the Sloppy Jane. It used lentils instead of meat and was even healthier than this version.  After the lentil taco incident, which some of you may recall, I've stayed away from those particular legumes for the time being. Turkey Sloppy Joes Ingredients: 1 lb. ground turkey 1 zucchini, shredded 1-2 carrots, shredded 1 onion, shredded or chopped 1 garlic clove, shredded or chopped Olive oil Salt and pepper 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 8 oz. tomato sauce 1/4-1/2 cup barbecue sauce Rolls, for serving In a medium saucepan, saute zucchini, carrots, onion and garlic until soft. I shredded everything in the food processor, but you could also use a box grater or just chop finely. When vegetables are cooked through, move them to the side of the pan and...

It's been pointed out to me by more than one person that I haven't been posting much lately.  I'm here to remedy that with an easy and healthy meal your whole family will enjoy, as long as you don't have a finicky 4-year-old. Truth be told, instead of writing down recipes and photographing meals, life is moving pretty quickly around here.  Many afternoons I make dinner in 5 minute increments running into the kitchen while I leave Colin "in charge" outside in the back yard. Someday this will likely result in James running Colin over with the mini John Deere (again...), or someone getting stuck in a tree. If you follow me on Facebook (please do! I share mini-recipes and awkward comments - link is on the sidebar), you know I have a serious addiction to my spiralizer.  There are zucchini noodles all over the place here.  Today, I set my beloved kitchen gadget aside for a y-shaped peeler to make these noodles.  This has all the cheesy, saucy goodness of your fa...

You knew that I, queen of the muffins with muffin monsters to feed, could not let zucchini season pass by without making muffins one or twelve times.  Some questionable looking bananas on the counter were begging to be added in, and Zucchini Banana Muffins were born. We made these to snack on at a play date this morning. The batter comes together quickly, and thanks to their mini size, they bake in about 15 minutes.  I had just taken them out to cool when it was time to put James down for his nap.  While I was upstairs I heard what I could only guess to be many, many small items being hurled across the floor.  After leaving the baby's room I knew there was some frantic picking up to be done, but also delicious warm muffins as my reward.  By the time I got downstairs Colin had sampled a few, of course, and confirmed they are great. Zucchini Banana Muffins Ingredients: 1 cup banana, mashed (I used two bananas) 1 cup zucchini, shredded, squeezed to remove...

It has been a busy Spring!  We put our house on the market in March, and I spent the next few weeks furiously cleaning, packing, and attempting to make our house look like we didn't live in it.  Dinners were as quick and easy as possible.  And ideally left the kitchen smelling like apple crisp as opposed to broccoli and salmon.  After our house sold, we were in limbo for five weeks and lived at the beach (I know, there are worse problems to have), until this past weekend when we closed on our new house. Now we're mostly settled in, and I am restocking my huge new pantry and cooking in my beautiful kitchen.  Our move home coincided nicely with the start of CSA Season.  This is our fifth year as part of the CSA at Tangerini's Farm, and I just love it.  The first year I was pregnant and got progressively larger and slower as the season progressed.  The second year I had little Colin in the ergo while I picked vegetables.  The third year I was ...

It's that time of year when we have more tomatoes, corn and zucchini than we know what to do with.  We got 8 ears of corn and several pounds of tomatoes in our CSA pickup last week, so our meals have been all about corn, tomatoes, corn and tomatoes.  On Saturday we made homemade pizza (using this dough ) and topped it with fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella, corn and basil.  I really liked the addition of the corn on pizza, but I would recommend leaving the basil off until after baking because ours got kind of toasted. We were at the beach, so we used cookie trays instead of the pizza stone for baking, and we could totally tell the difference in crust crispiness.  Pizza stones are well worth the investment.  Also, taking crappy pictures with the flash in bad lighting doesn't do it any favors, but I wanted to give you an idea of what it looked like. Sunday night we had burgers, topped with tomatoes, and grilled corn on the cob.  I asked Jon to grill all t...

As Jon can attest, I've been experimenting with falafel recipes for quite a while.  Not wanting to deal with deep frying, I use a pan fry or oven bake technique.  I'm not ashamed to admit that my past attempts have been less than amazing.  The last batch was so dry that I had to drown them in hummus and hot sauce.  But no more!  Finally, this twist on falafel is a success, and it's all thanks to zucchini.  If you belong to a CSA, shop at farmer's markets, or can't pass up a sale in the produce section of the grocery store, you might find yourself with some extra zucchini on hand lately.  While I actually like zucchini bread (add enough flour, butter and sugar to anything and it's good), this is something a little different. Zucchini Chickpea Falafel Ingredients: 1 large zucchini, shredded (about 2 cups) 28 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 4 cups) 1/2 medium red onion, shredded 1 egg 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 1/4 cup ground flax seed Handf...

This isn't really a recipe, because the only ingredient is zucchini, but more of an idea.  Zucchini noodles are especially popular with people trying to minimize carbs, because it gives you a good vehicle for pasta sauce.  I myself ate a huge hunk of bread on the side, because that's how I roll.  Get it, roll?  Carb humor.  Please don't stop reading because I make bad jokes.  Step one: wash your zucchini Step two: using a peeler or a mandoline (I used a Y-shaped peeler), cut long strips down the side of the zucchini.  When you get close to the middle, switch sides.  Discard the middle with the seeds. Step three: Either steam in boiling water for a minute, or top and serve.  I steamed mine, but I think next time I'd try them raw, because some strips got a little mushy. Look how pretty they are all peeled and curly! I tossed the noodles with some fresh pesto (I go a little crazy with the basil plants), and a couple roasted cherry to...

This recipe was kind of, sort of, inspired by Tyler Florence.  In the midst of one of the many feeding sessions during the day, I turned on Food Network.  Tyler's Ultimate was on, he was making a roasted salmon over ratatouille, and it looked delicious.  It used to be that Colin would ignore the TV when he was eating, because, you know, eating is his favorite; but now he'll fling himself back to look around and smile at me.  This is adorable, and all well and good, but I'd really rather he focus on the task at hand, so my TV watching might need to be put on hold.  We just had salmon, and while I'm happy to eat it every week, I thought it would be good to try something a little different, so I picked up some haddock.  The summer squash and herbs were from the CSA, and they were fresh and delicious.  The Saucy Squash is really just a tomato sauce with summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes and basil.  I'm using the leftovers to make french bread pizz...

There's a problem with the oven.  A problem that means it takes an hour to preheat to a temperature that is no where near the one set, and randomly cools down while it's cooking.  This meant that after "roasting" in a 425 degree oven for nearly 2 hours , the pan came out cool enough to touch and the vegetables were lightly cooked and lukewarm.   Needless to say, Jon's to-do list for this weekend includes fixing the oven or buying a new one.  This meal was inspired by yet another Pinterest find.  This one , to be specific.  I strayed quite a bit from the original recipe, but really it just put the idea into my head to do a roasted vegetable couscous.  Also, the website is British, so it says things like aubergine instead of eggplant, courgettes instead of zucchini, and shallow tin instead of baking sheet.  That's fun.  Roasted Vegetable Couscous 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1 r...

This lasagna is filling, creamy and delicious.  Sometimes you want to go all out with cheese, in which case try the Classic Lasagna .  Other times you want to try something a little different, and this recipe, while still Italian comfort food, won't put you straight into a food coma.  I used zucchini, yellow squash, baby bella mushrooms and onions for the vegetable layer, but feel free to use whatever you like or have aging in your vegetable drawer.  Ever since the Mushroom Millet Bowl , I've been loving mushrooms.  They add an almost meaty consistency to this sauce.  I really liked this lasagna, and Jon said he did too, although he added a healthy sprinkling of Asiago cheese to the top of his.  The only thing I would change for next time would be to add fresh basil to the tofu spinach mixture, almost making a spinach pesto.  Will report back when I do! Vegetable Lasagna inspired by Daily Garnish Ingredients: 3 medium zucchini 2 medium ye...

Remember that giant zucchini/weapon I picked up off the free table at the CSA last week?  It was destined for zucchini bread, or to be used as defense against intruders.  Since we live out in horse country, where the biggest crime in recent history has been mailbox baseball, zucchini bread it was. Zucchini Bread recipe from Baking Illustrated Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 pound zucchini, seeded if, like me, yours is giant 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup plain yogurt 2 large eggs, beaten lightly 1 Tablespoon lemon juice 6 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled Shred the zucchini.  I used my food processor with the shredder disc.  You can just add chunks straight into the food processor, or grate by hand. Transfer the shredded zucchini to a strainer and sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons of the sugar.  Allow to drain for at least 30 minutes....

I'm not sure how I got it into my head that I wanted to make ratatouille, maybe because all the vegetables are in season, or once I thought of it I couldn't get the cute cooking rat  out of my head.  In any case, it was a great way to utilize a bunch of the CSA veggies (and a few extras from the farm stand) this week.  I read a whole bunch of recipes online, but went with the Joy of Cooking, my go-to for classic recipes. Ratatouille Ingredients: 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons olive oil 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 lb. zucchini, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 1/2 cups onions, sliced 2 large bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces 3 garlic cloves, chopped salt and pepper 1 1/2 cups tomatoes, chopped 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme 1 bay leaf 1/4 cup basil, chopped I prepped the eggplant by putting the cubes into a colander, sprinkling with salt and leaving for about 30 minutes.  This draws out some of the liquid and eliminates bitterness. In a large dutch oven...

I mentioned yesterday that in addition to the Polenta Packets, we also grilled up a bunch of vegetables to eat this week.  Grilling vegetables is one of the easiest things you can do with a grill, and they are delicious.  I sliced up an eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash, and marinated them in Italian salad dressing.  You can marinate in anything you like, but I would say at least a little olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper. I peeled strips into the skin of the eggplant and sliced into about 1/4-1/2 inch rounds.  The zucchini and yellow squash were a little small, so I sliced those lengthwise so they wouldn't fall into the coals.  A few of the zucchini threw themselves through the grate onto the coals anyway, but that was likely due to the tong technique of the griller.  The griller was not me. Grill the vegetables over medium or high heat a few minutes each side, or until they have nice marks and have softened.  Return to the dish you used...

Hello wonderful readers!  We had a fantastic time in Alaska last week, and if I ever finish sorting and editing the 200+ photos I took, I will share a little recap with you.  When we arrived home at noon on Saturday after traveling since 7AM Alaska time on Friday, I can assure you that I had no energy to cook or shop for food.  So, when I woke up inexplicably bright and early on Sunday, I hustled over to the market to restock our kitchen before the weekend masses descended on the store.  Aside from a few setbacks (forgetting my shopping list and a crazy delay at the deli), I escaped with food for a few days, and a great meal planned for dinner last night. As you know, we love cooking on the grill.  Charcoal grilling can be a lengthy process, so we reserve it for weekend evenings when we don't have anything else going on.  Lounging around on the porch waiting for the coals to heat often results in us eating dinner on the late side, but it's always worth th...

I apologize for the inconsistency in my blogging lately.  I've been feeling a bit off, and as a result, my cooking isn't very adventurous or interesting.  We still need recipes for off days, though, and this soup has been my go-to all week. Minestrone Soup 1 onion, chopped 2 small zucchini, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced olive oil 1 teaspoon dried thyme 2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon dried parsley 2 cups chickpeas (any bean will do) 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with liquid 28 oz. water or vegetable broth Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Chop and drop the vegetables into the pot- onion through garlic.  Cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add in the spices and cook one minute more. Add in the chickpeas, diced tomatoes and water or broth. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for 20 minutes. A quick, easy, healthy meal in no time.  If you need extra comfort, pair it with gril...