Chicken and Potato Salad With Maple Brown Sugar Bacon

Just a note about the potato salad post I wrote a few days ago. It's now gone. I must have been very hungry at dinner because I thought it tasted pretty good but the next day the leftovers were far from appetizing. To stick with my rule of posting only the best I did remove that recipe. Hope you're not too disappointed!

Zucchini Carrot Casserole

Our garden is only in it's early stages but the squash is already overwhelming. This week I gave my brother's family a couple zucchini and yellow crookneck as well as two large grocery bags FULL to the three Kindergarten teachers at school and that doesn't include the supply we ate ourselves or what is sitting on the kitchen counter right now. I wonder if I'll have to start freezing grated zucchini in order to find a use for all of this.  

For dinner the other night I made this zucchini casserole as well as chocolate zucchini bread for dessert. My mom used to make this casserole when I was young. I found a couple variations that used stuffing mix instead of croutons or added other vegetables like bell peppers and tomatoes but I like this simple recipe just fine. This isn't a gourmet recipe nor is it a unique dish bursting with flavor. Instead, it's a simple way to get your kids to eat their veggies and it's rather flavorful for us adults too!

ZUCCHINI and CARROT CASSEROLE

4 cups zucchini cut into 1 inch cubes (if your zucchini is larger then dispose of the seeds.)

1 stick butter or margerine

1 small to medium onion, chopped

1 cup shredded carrots

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup (8 ounces) of sour cream

1 box of seasoned croutons

Boil zucchini just until tender, drain. In a large skillet, melt butter. Add carrots and onion and sauté until tender.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and soup (right out of the can). Stir in the drained zucchini and half of the croutons and mix until croutons are coated. Pour into buttered 3 quart baking dish.

Top evenly with remaining croutons, cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until hot.

*Most online recipes said to peel the zucchini first but I did not. 

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

I love feta! I love it on fresh green salads, in greek pita pockets, and now in black bean tacos with slaw. It really adds a great flavor to this fun little meatless taco. Enjoy!

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw
(Bon Appetit)

Ingredients:
1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained
1/2 Tsp ground cumin
5 Tsp olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Cups coleslaw mix (I used fresh shredded cabbage)
2 green onions, chopped
1/3 Cup cilantro, chopped
4 white or yellow corn tortillas
1/3 Cup crumbled feta cheese
Bottled hot sauce

Place beans and cumin in a bowl; partially mash. Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in a medium bowl; add coleslaw, green onions, cilantro and toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-heat. Add tortillas in a single layer. Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture onto each tortilla; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Fill tacos with feta, slaw and hot sauce.

*Jayne's Notes: I used fresh flour tortillas instead of frying the corn tortillas for less fat. The bottled hot sauce of choice in our family is Tapatio and a shake of it tasted great on this taco.

Yogurt

Homemade Yogurt....

I finally did it! I made homemade yogurt! I have been wanting to do this for a very long time and this week I did it. I have a daughter who just turned one and is not a fan of whole milk. I can't complain because she drinks more water than all of my children combined at the age of 12 months but she's also the skinniest and most petite little baby I've ever had so she needs the dairy fat. In order to help with breakfast prep for a 12 month old, increase dairy consumption, and save grocery dollars (yogurt in southern california averages $1/cup for the on sale price) I made yogurt myself. My husband grew up on homemade yogurt so he was all too pleased to eat made-from-scratch whole milk yogurt compared to the cheap non-fat yogurts I usually buy. The other added bonus is you can customize the fruit flavors per serving! Most days I just put a little homemade fruit jam in the yogurt serving. 

There are 16 in a gallon so you can approximate your servings per that number. After 'incubating' I ladled the servings into individual tupperware so they were easier to store and later serve/eat.

*This yogurt is slightly sweet but more like a semi-sweet 'plain' yogurt. Needless to say you definitely need to add some sort of sweetener, whether it be maple syrup, jam, fruit, granola and brown sugar, etc. 

*Be sure to buy a high quality yogurt starter. Look at the label to make sure it has live cultures. The one I bought had I think 5 different types of live cultures, it was organic and it was plain flavored.

Heat 1 gallon whole milk to 180 degrees.  Remove from heat and let milk cool to 108-122 degrees.  Stir in a carton of plain yogurt.  Pour in a gallon thermos jug.  Put in warm place for 24 hours.  (I put the jug on top of the water heater.)  Chill and enjoy!

Double Chocolate Cheesecake Layered Cake

My husband and I celebrated our 8th anniversary yesterday and this is the dessert I made him. Let's just say that he absolutely loved it! I was pleasantly pleased as well because the taste was fabulous but the best part was the preparation was relatively easy. Boxed cake/brownie mixes sure do make things easier! I did make sure to use good quality mixes because if I was going through the effort of making a 5 layered cake it had better taste good!

 

By the way, this is my photo and I'm not sure if the cake or the roses are prettier (especially that white one at the top right or the darker pink at the left! I'm not sure what type of rose that dark pink is but I love the petals.). I did forget to clean my cake pedestal after cutting a piece. There are so many nit-picks of food photography I am still learning.

Double Chocolate Cheesecake Layered Cake

(courtesy of Jenny on Picky Palate)

2 8 oz packages softened cream cheese

1/2 Cup sugar

2 eggs

1 brownie mix 9x13 inch size

1 chocolate cake mix

Favorite Chocolate Frosting Recipe, prepared (tripled)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place cream cheese and sugar into a stand or electric mixer bowl. Beat until softened. Beat in the eggs until smooth. Pour into a wax paper lined and greased 9 inch springform pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until middle is set and not jiggly. Remove and let cool completely. Refrigerate overnight or for 2-3 hours. Carefully remove sides and transfer to wax paper (I used a giant spatula to help, it's ok if it breaks a little, just piece it together and freeze cheesecake for 30 minutes to firm).

2. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and divide evenly into a wax paper lined and greased 9 inch cake pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center. Let cool completely then carefully turn over onto wax paper; set aside.

3. Prepare cake mix according to package directions and pour into 2 wax paper lined 9 inch cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center. Let cool completely then carefully turn over onto wax paper; set aside.

4. Place one of the chocolate cake layers onto a cake stand. Spread with a thin layer of chocolate frosting then layer with the brownie. Spread brownie with a thin layer of frosting then top with cheesecake layer. Spread with a thin layer of frosting then layer with remaining chocolate cake layer. Spread entire cake with remaining chocolate frosting. Chill until ready to serve.

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Kabobs

This was dinner tonight and I loved the colors! I always tell my kids that the more rainbow colors the more vitamins! (Fruit Loops don't count!) I'm still a novice at grilling. Tonight's lesson in grilling was that if you must change a diaper while grilling at least turn the grill down. Some of the bacon wraps were casualties tonight.

This recipe comes from Natalie at Perry's Plate. ("Hi Natalie!")  She is the nicest blogging stranger that I've met so far and I love her recipes. If you want to jump over to her blog you'll see this recipe in top-notch photos.

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Kabobs
adapted from Taste of Home as featured on Perry's Plate

¾ c. Italian dressing
¼ c. lime juice
2 tsp. Worcestershire
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into roughly 1-inch chunks
About 12 slices of thin-cut bacon, cut in half (turkey bacon or prosciutto works nicely, too)
About 24 slices of fresh basil
Metal or wooden skewers

In a zip top bag, combine dressing, lime juice and Worcestershire. Add chicken. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.

Drain and discard marinade. Top bacon slice with piece of chicken and a basil leaf (or sprinkle with dried basil). Roll up and thread onto metal or wooden skewer. Grill, covered, over med heat for 5 min on each side or until chicken juices run clear.

Jayne's Notes: 

- My family loves kabobs especially served over rice. Tonight I squeezed a little lime juice over my serving while eating and it brought out some of the marinade flavor. 

- Cut your chicken on the large size of 1 inch rather than the small. I found that the smaller chicken pieces were done sooner than the bacon wrap. It was also hard to skewer the smaller chicken pieces with the kabob stick. The bacon took a long while to cook so next time I might use prosciutto and see if that cooks quicker.

- I strung pineapple pieces between each chicken wrap. It gave a sweet flavor to the meat and grilled pineapple tastes divine!

- Group your meats on their own sticks since they take the longest to cook. Once the meat is almost done you can add your 'longer cooking time' veggies and lastly your cherry tomatoes since they cook the fastest. (Watch those tomatoes! They really do cook fast and all you want to do is warm the tomato until the skin is just starting to break.)

- I've always been scared of using fresh herbs and when I saw this recipe my first reaction was 'a WHOLE basil leaf on each chicken?!?' There's nothing to fear with this recipe. Fresh basil makes a big difference and the flavor is not overpowering.