Sausage - Bean Casserole

I guess, if this had chicken and duck and you used dried beans and soaked them overnight and then you roasted you're own meat and cooked it in an earthenware dish, then the French wouldn't yell at you for calling it a "Cassoullet", but I'll pass! This was quick and tasty and a great way to use of the last of the tomatoes from the garden. You could easily add some chicken to this. I just didn't have any thawed. Tweaked a recipe from recipezaar for this.

1 lb of chicken sausage (I used a spicy sausage from Trader Joes)
1 diced onion
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup red wine
2 large or 3 medium tomatoes chopped
1 tsp Herbs de Provence seasoning (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
1 can white or great northern beans (I found some Bush's beans that were a mixture of both) - drained and rinsed
2 heaping tsp REAL bacon bits (not those crunchy orange things)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Brown the sausage in a skillet. Remove and saute onions and garlic in the drippings (add a little canola or olive oil if needed) until soft. Add the wine and reduce by half. Add in the tomatoes and seasonings. Saute until tomatoes are softened. Then add beans, real bacon bits and sausage. Transfer to baking dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake at 325 for about 1 1/2 hours.

This is SO much better the next day. So make ahead if you want and pop in the oven when you get home from work.

Ricotta Custard - No bake

I can't say I'm back to cooking up a storm, but I did come up with this little easy treat. You only have to get your blender dirty!

No Bake Ricotta Custard

2 cups ricotta cheese (cottage cheese would work, I suppose)

1/2 cup Almond Breeze (or any kind of milk is fine)

1 package Jello (I used black cherry - YUM)

1/4 cup of pasturized egg (like Egg Beaters) OR you can use a whole egg, but this is NOT cooked.

** dont skip the egg or egg beaters, you need this for the creamy, custard texture**

Heat the milk in the microwave until almost boiled (1 min 30 secs for me). Put milk in blender and add the jello. Mix on low until jello disolved. Add the ricotta and egg beater. Blend on low until well mixed and creamy smooth.

Chill for 2 hours or over night.

I want to try some cocoa powder with the black cherry jello to make a black forest custard! YUM!

Blogging Hiatus - for a GREAT reason!

Garden Veggie Quiche

In my ever increasing attempts to use up the big green "Z" and tomatoes AND because I got a new spice I wanted to try out, I came up with this quiche that is wonderful and easy. It's crustless of course.

~Garden Veggie Quiche~

4 eggs

2 tsp Herbs De Provence (My new spice and now I'm in love)

1/2 cup fat free half and half (or cream or milk)

1 cup grated mozzarella-

2 medium tomatoes skinned, seeded and chopped

1/2 a medium zucchini sliced thin (I *heart* my Pampered Chef mandolin slicer)

Mix eggs, spice and half and half with a whisk until slightly foamy.

Line the bottom of a pie plate with the zucchini slices and sprinkle a little salt on them.

Add cheese and tomatoes to the eggs and pour into pie plate. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes (until browned and the middle is set)

This is really good. I didn't think I'd like it so much!

Zucchini Bread

I know, I know... this chick has a zucchini fetish! Seriously, it's just such a summer staple around here, I use it a lot. Wait until fall when we get the cows to the butcher. You'll think I eat nothing but red meat! I love living on a farm and eating what's fresh and available and FREE!

Anyway, I've been tweaking several zucchini bread recipes. This is an adaptation of one from the Splenda website. I used a mixture of flours to bring the carb count down and also a mixture of sweetners to keep that "Splenda taste" out of it. It is very moist.

Zucchini Bread - Sugar Free/Low Carb

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup almond flour (remember, this is just almonds ground very fine)

1/2 cup coconut flour (you have to order this, you cant grind this yourself)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

dash nutmeg

Mix all these together and set aside

3 eggs

1/2 cup Splenda granular (NOT the baking blend, that is half real sugar)

1/4 cup Xylitol granules (I get this locally at a health food store, can also be ordered online)

Mix these with an electric mixer at medium spead for about 5 minutes until a nice lemony color.

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup canola oil

Add these while mixing and then add the dry ingredients until just incorporated.

1 cup shredded, drained zucchini

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, but walnuts are probably more traditional)

Mix in zucchini and nuts by hand.

Put in spray coated loaf pan. (I would also sprinkle with a little additional flour so it comes out)

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Check middle with toothpick to make sure it's done.

Crock Pot Chicken

I'm not sure what to call this. After the "Great Chicken Massacre", I have a freezer full of chicken. When we decided to grow our own this year, I didn't realize my preggo belly wouln't want chicken. But, I decided to try some cooked to death in the crock pot. This came out tender and moist and I'm looking forward to it tomorrow as a chicken salad.

Joni's Sweet Crock Chicken

One whole chicken cut up (mine was skinless)

1/4 cup of Bulliard's Louisianna Steak Marinade (I get mine at our local Dollar General Store, but I'm sure any soy-based marinade would work)

2 tbl sugar free pancake syrup

1 tsp fresh ground ginger (try powder if that's all you have)

Place chicken in crock and mix the marinade ingredients. Pour over chicken and cook on low all day.

After it was done, I removed the chicken and took it off the bones. If you had skin on yours, remove it now too. Then remove fat from the juice and return juice to crock. Mix 2 tsp corn starch with enough cold water to disolve it. Put this in crock and mix well. Add back in chicken and turn to high. Sauce will thicken a bit.

Hope you like it. This was a thumbs up from everybody. (Including the preggo belly)

Zucchini Pizza Bake

So, I had envisioned in my head how this would turn out and it was NOTHING like my vision. BUT it was good and it IS healthy, so I'll post it. I was thinking I would get more of a "crust" on the bottom, but even with squeezing and draining the shredded zucchini, the bottom was still pretty mushy. Not a bad mushy, just mushy. (LOL... makes no sense, but it was good)

2 cups shredded, squeezed and drained zucchini

2 eggs

1/4 cup Fat Free 1/2 and 1/2

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp oregeno or Italian Seasoning

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

Mix all these ingredients and place in bottom of 9 x 12 pan and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until browned.

While 'crust' is baking, make the topping.

4 Morning Star sausage patties (or whatever sausage you want or ground beef)

1/2 green pepper chopped

3/4 jar your favorite spaghetti sauce

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

mushrooms for topping

In a skillet with a little water cook until softened pepper and sausage. Add sauce and simmer, breaking up the sausage.

Pour this over the crust when it's done and top with cheese and mushrooms. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until bubble and cheese is browned and melted.

Let this sit for a bit before serving, it will set up nicely.

Like I said, this is tasty, just not what I envisioned. BUT it did use up a nice chunk of zucchini and that was my main goal! LOL