Sweet potatoes roasted

The above photo is more caramelized— cooked at 425 f for 40 minutes but microwaved 2 minutes prior to make cutting easier 

 Easy — if you cook them longer than I did they will caramelize more. Makes a super sweet potato!!

Ingredients 

Potatoes

Olive oil salt

Dried thyme 

Parchment paper

Directions 

Preheat oven to 400F

Place parchment on pan.

Cut potatoes in half leaving skins on.

Brush both sides with olive oil. On the skinless side sprinkle salt and dried thyme. Turn them face down on the parchment. 

Cook 40-45 minutes or until caramelized if desired.

Note : to make them easier to cut before cooking you can microwave them for a minute.

Squash soup

 Nice tasty soup with summer squash on a rainy day 😀

• 1 lbs. ground beef OR ground vegan crumbles
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 shallot or 2 green onions sliced thinly
• 1/3 cup spaghetti sauce
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 zucchini cubed to bite size
• 1 summer squash cubed to bite size
• 1-2 yellow  or red or green bell pepper cubed to bite size
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 4 small red potatoes chopped with skin left on
• salt and pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese and fresh basil (optional) for garnish

DIRECTIONS 

Brown onion ,garlic, bell peppers,and meat or vegan crumbles in large pot using a bit of olive oil if needed.

Add all other ingredients except for parmigiana and fresh basil. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until veggies are done. Can serve with the added parmigiana and basil if desired.

Zucchini corn cheese casserole

 Super yummy. Idea from https://pinchofyum.com/sweet-corn-zucchini-pie

Go to above link for original recipe. The recipe called for pie dish but I did it in my square casserole.

What I used:

1 and 1/2 to two tablespoons butter

1/2 large onion

Cup frozen corn

4 cups chopped zucchini 

4 and 1/2 ounces chopped mushrooms from a can

1 tablespoon dried basil 

1/2 teaspoons dried oregano 

4 eggs

7 ounces cheese- used combo mozzarella and sharp cheddar 

directions

In large iron skillet melt butter and toss in zucchini, onion,and cook till almost tender medium high heat. Add corn and mushrooms cooking till tender (total cooking time about 10-15 minutes)

Meanwhile-Preheat oven 375. Beat eggs, seasonings, and chopped cheese.

Pull pan from heat and let cool a few minutes. Grease pan . Mix veggies with egg cheese mixture and pour into prepared pan. I actually pored veggies into prepared pan and then mixed the egg cheese mixture into it.

 Bake covered about 25-30 minutes until it looks set. Uncover and cook 5-12 minutes or until edges start to brown. Cool a bit before slicing or spooning 😜

Veggie pasta sauce with zucchini

Above photo before blending.

 The original recipe which calls for cream cheese with the veggies can be found here https://elavegan.com/veggie-pasta-sauce/#recipe

 I used cottage cheese instead of the cream cheese and I did 2 versions -/ one for hubby with tomatoes and one Gf one for me without the tomatoes. 

2 cups chopped tomatoes (I used fresh plum tomatoes- Roma)

1 and 1/2 cups chopped zucchini 

2 minced cloves of garlic

1 small onion chopped

1 cup bell pepper chopped ( I had orange and yellow ones)

1/2 teaspoon Italian spice blend

1/2 cup vegetable broth

5.3 ounces of cream cheese ( I used cottage cheese)

Salt and pepper if desired

Fresh basil and cooked pasta of choice

Directions- basically you mix all ingredients but not the pasta or basil and bake at 390 F.  I cooked mine for about 40 minutes then blended and served on pasta with fresh basil. The recipe just called for 22 minutes and letting the cream cheese brown. But it depends how big your veggie chunks are— you can leave some not blended  mixed in with blended as I did in the first photo— all depending on how you like. I also added a bit of parmigiana when serving.

Go to link for more details.

Yes and I still had more zucchini 😂 I did 2 recipes and actually used 2 cups of chopped squash in both recipes and still had some of this big guy left!! Was wonderful fresh squash!

Zucchini rice casserole

  

Tasty— note it took mine 30 additional minutes than the recipe called for! BUT probably because I had foil blocking the heat- foil was on my bottom rack! For directions go to https://12tomatoes.com/julia-childs-zucchini-gratin/?utm_source=glp-12t&utm_medium=social-pin&utm_term=20200916&utm_content=photo&utm_campaign=julia-childs-zucchini-gratin   but Add 30 minutes to the covered baking part of the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 to 2 1/2 lbs zucchini
• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
• 1 cup onions, minced
• 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk, as needed
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated and divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For direction go  to the link given above— so instead of 50 minutes covered I added 30 more for a total of 80 minutes.  Then 10-15 minutes uncovered. However my oven took longer because I had foil on my rack which I didn’t realize can make the oven less hot— so next time take note 🧐

 

Scalloped potatoes

 

Nice snd tasty but since I couldn’t use the broiler with my glass pan for the end of the recipe I had to cook it way longer to get the potatoes done and also brown-/ so just a reminder to myself. Go to link for directions, but add lots more time for me https://www.spendwithpennies.com/scalloped-potatoes-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-142543

• ▢ ¼ cup butter
• ▢ 1 large onion diced
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ ¼ cup flour (me 1/4 cup corn starch instead)
• ▢ 2 cups milk
• ▢ 1 cup chicken broth
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 3 pounds white potatoes sliced about ⅛" thick
• ▢ salt and pepper to taste

Scrambled eggs with cottage cheese

Makes for a light and fluffy slightly cheesy egg- nice

 3 eggs

1/2 cup cottage cheese

Salt and pepper 

Toast

Directions mixup eggs and cottage cheese. Cook in iron skillet—. You can use a bit of butter in pan if desired. When done serve on toast.

You can vary amounts of course.

Sautéed veggies for taco or sandwich or pasta

 Nice for grilled sandwich with melted cheese added or just with hummus or whatever— good in tacos and wraps. You can use with black beans or in pasta , eggs, etc

1 onion

1 large bell pepper of whatever color

A package of mushrooms I used 8 ounces

Minced garlic 

Optional: spinach or kale

Seasonings: 1/4 teaspoon of each: onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, smoked paprika, cumin, salt

Fresh basil at the end— cheese if desired 

Directions 

Sauté onions with a tad of olive oil for 5 or more minutes until turning brown. Add peppers, onion, and seasonings cooking until desired tenderness. When finished add chopped fresh basil if desired— fresh oregano would be good as well.