Cucumber Boats

This summer has been hot. Not normal summer hot, like 50 Shades of Hell hot. When it's this unbearable, I like to have food that is refreshing and cool. That's where these cucumber boats come in.

There's nothing really special about these, you could just slice up a cucumber and throw some cottage cheese on top, but the boats look more appetizing and you MUST add basil and cilantro to the cottage cheese. 

What You Need:

• 1 cucumber, peeled, halved and seeds scooped out
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons basil, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• Salt and Pepper - to taste

What You Do:

1. Peel a cucumber - I don't mind the skin, so I just peel off the parts that aren't good.  Slice it in half and using a spoon scoop out all the seeds.  Sprinkle a little salt on the cucumber.

2. Mix together the cottage cheese, basil, salt and cilantro and fill the hollowed out area.

3. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper.

4. Chow down.

Portobello Mushroom Fries

Monkey isn't a very picky eater overall.  But there are a few things that she's turned her nose up too... mushrooms being one of them.  I have found though, if you just call something 'french fries', then she'll dive right in.  She ate these portobello mushroom fries like they were french fries from McDonald's! 

What You Need:

• 2 Portobello Mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon creole/bayou seasoning
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.

Mix bread crumbs, seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper in a flat bowl or pie plate.

In another bowl beat eggs.

Dip the slices in eggs and then transfer to bread crumbs, coating both slides thoroughly.

Place on baking sheet in single layer and bake 15 minutes.

Serve with marinara or ranch dressing. 

Roasted Green Beans

I have really become quite the fan of roasted vegetables this past year, I'm not sure why I didn't do more of this before.  I love the crispness and the enhanced flavor that olive oil gives them.  Add a little cheese?  Yes please!  

What You'll Need:

• Fresh Green Beans, trimmed
• Olive oil
• Dash of salt and pepper to taste
• Shredded Parmesan

What You Do:

Preheat to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.

Scatter green beans out on the baking sheet and drizzle a small amoutn of oil over them. Season with salt and pepper and toss to evenly coat
 

Bake 15, remove from the oven and sprinkle with parmesan.

Grilled Cilantro-Lime Corn on the Cob

Cilantro is a love or hate herb.  I happen to love it.  Mix it with a little lime and you definately have a winner.  We have so much cilantro in the garden and I can't just let it go to waste, so I'm trying out new ways to put it to use.  This is definately a winner!

What You'll Need:

• Corn on the cob
• Butter (2 tablespoon per ear)
• 1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped 
• Juice of 1 lime 
• Salt, to taste
• Red pepper flakes, optional

What You Do:

Preheat grill.

Shuck and clean corn. 

Mix butter with cilantro, lime juice, salt and red pepper flakes. 

Coat each ear of corn in 2 tablespoons of the cilantro lime butter and wrap individually in foil.

Place on grill for around 15-20 minutes. 

Onion Rings

Onion rings.  For some crazy reason, they seem to be one of the few dishes that elude me.  Every time I try making them, they just don't turn out right.  They are either soggy or the breading itself isn't that great.  I had resigned myself to giving up on them and only eating them at my favorite tavern.  That was until I saw this recipe.  The chips intrigued me, surely they wouldn't get soggy, right?  Right!  They were perfect.  This will be the go-to recipe for onion rings in the future.  And the best part about it is that they are baked, not fried, so they aren't that terrible for you!

What You'll Need:

• Onion, cut into 1/2 inch rings
• 1/2 cup flour, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 whole egg
• 1-1/2 cup crushed potato chips
• 3 tablespoons EVOO

What You Do:

Prehat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine 1/4 cup flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper in a bowl.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg, and 1/4 cup flour.  Whisk until a smooth batter is formed.

Place crushed chips into another bowl.

Set up assembly line starting with seasoned flour, then the batter, and finish with the crushed chips.

Dip an onion slice into each bowl consecutively.  Repeat with all rings.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Drizzle with 3 tablespoons oil then pop it into the hot oven for a few minutes. 

Remove from oven and quickly place the onion rings on the baking sheet, then return to the oven.  Bake for 8 minutes then flip each ring and bake for another 8 minutes.

Grilled Stuffed Roasted Red Peppers

I made these little pockets of love for the first time the other day and I thought I was going to die.  Or be constipated after eating so many of them.  I couldn't keep my grubby hands away from them!  Lucky for me, neither of those things happened. 

What did happen though was that I forced my little sister Bonnie to try one.  She hates almost all vegetables and I wanted her to try a bite so badly because I just knew she would like them.  It only took me wrestling her to the ground, hog-tying her, holding her nose shut until she had to open her mouth to breath, and then shoving a bite in there to accomplish my mission.  But I came out the victor!  And I was rewarded by her saying, "Oh, those aren't so bad afterall!"  Yep, mission complete. 

What You'll Need:

• 4 large roasted red peppers, drained well and dried
• 4 slabs of mozzarella or provolone cheese, about an inch wide
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• A handful finely chopped cilantro
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• Kitchen twine or toothpicks, soaked in water

What You Do:

Slice the peppers open, remove all seeds, blot dry and reserve.

Add the cheese to a dish and sprinkle with the red pepper flakes, cilantro, a little lemon zest, lemon juice and a liberal drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Toss to coat the cheese chunks in the marinade.  You can either immediately go to the next step, or let the cheese marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

Wrap each chunk in a roasted pepper and tie with twine or stick a few toothpicks thru to secure it.

Heat grill to medium, and grill the bundles until the peppers are evenly charred and cheese is browning at edges, about 8 to10 minutes.

Snow Peas with Pasta

I came about this recipe because my mom's garden has an abundance of snow peas right now and I had leftover spaghetti noodles in the fridge.  I love both so figured why not put them together?!  I made this last night and served with grilled chicken that I had marinated in Italian dressing and then topped with pepperjack cheese.  It was a very delicious meal!

What You'll Need:

Pasta (a good amount, sorry I didn't measure)
Snow peas (a good amount)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp lemon juice
Heaping palmful of parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

What You Do:

Reheat pasta, or prepare according to directions. 
Blanche snow peas for 2 minutes.
Throw pasta together with remaining ingredients and add snow peas.  Serve!

Big Butt Mac N Cheese

Recently Laura, a friend of mine from high school, was looking for the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe. She requested various recipes from friends, so she was able to cook a different one for her family every night for an entire week.

Yes, even after all of that cheesy goodness she is still as skinny as ever.

Say it with me now, I know you want to… Brat.

Not the ‘B’ word you were going to use, was it? Keepin it family friendly here people, come on!

The one I gave her was used on Day 4 and she said it was the best so far. I’m not sure which recipe her family ended up liking the best at the end of the week though, so unfortunately I can’t take the crown for the best mac n cheese overall.

Since they gobbled mine up without having any leftovers she gave it a new name as well…. Big Butt Mac n Cheese!

I don’t have an actual recipe for it as I just threw some stuff together one day and alter it every time. But here are the basics for what you’ll need for my favorite Grilled Macaroni and Cheese…

2 cups macaroni
1 can cheese soup
1 can milk
A cup or two of grated cheese, any flavor you’d like
2 or 3 tablespoons of pico de gallo (depending on how spicy you like it)
Butter
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper to taste
Dash or two of Chipotle Tabasco sauce

What to do:
Boil macaroni; while it’s boiling heat up the soup and milk in a sauce pan and melt the cheese.
Mix together with drained macaroni.
Add pico de gallo and Tabasco sauce.
Put the mixture in a greased grill-safe pan.
Top with bread crumbs and then pats of butter.
Bake on grill for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly. I really like it when the sides get a little crispy, but you do whatever your taste buds desire!

This can also be done in the oven, but let me tell you, the grill is the way to go if you can. It gets this awesome smoky flavor and perfect crispness on the edges. Mmmm… I’m salivating right now thinking about it.

Damn this weather and ever-present rain! I need one more sunny day so I can use the grill!

Enjoy my Big Butt Friends!