Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Parm Crust

4 small new potatoes (red or white)

2 small zucchini, sliced into 1" rounds

2 tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp basil

1/4 tsp roasted red pepper

pinch of salt and pepper

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes and cook until just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and let cool. When cool dice into 1" pieces.

In a saute pan over medium heat add the butter, garlic, spices and let cook until the butter melts, about 2 minutes. Season the cut sides of zucchini and potatoes with salt and pepper. Add to the butter and spices and cook until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. While cooking, preheat broiler.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the browned zucchini and potatoes on the baking sheet cut side up. Sprinkle the tops with the cheese. Place in the broiler until the cheese is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate and eat!

** You can actually skip the broiler/cheese process all together and just eat out of the saute pan. With or without the cheese it's very yummy.

Chicken Scampi (Olive Garden copycat)

This is my favorite meal at Olive Garden so I searched it online and found this recipe posted by a lady that used to work at Olive Garden. I wanted to know what scampi means so searched it and found that it is: "a large shrimp sauteed in oil or butter and garlic". Hmmm .. no shrimp in the recipe but definetly alot of butter!

1 cube butter

1 1/2 tbsp garlic puree * see note

1 1/2 tbsp chicken base

2 Tbsp flour

5 ounces white wine * or white grape juice

5 ounces water

10 ounces heavy whipping cream

3/4 tsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tbsp fresh chpped parsley * or dried

Angel hair pasta

Melt butter over LOW heat; do not let it brown. Add garlic puree and let sweat for 2 minutes, quickly whisk in flour and chicken base then add wine/juice and water. When all smooth slowly add the whipping cream while whisking and then all of the spices. Let simmer for about 10 minutes and keep warm while cooking the noodles and chicken.

* You can buy bottled garlic puree or you can make your own. To make your own slice off the top of 2 heads of whole garlic until you see cloves. Spread cloves apart a little and pour approzimately 1 tbsp olive oil over each head. Put in oven at 325 degrees for about 1 hour or until they smell sweet. After they cool, squeeze cloves out of the papery stuff and smash to a puree with the flat side of a knife.

Chicken and veggies for top of pasta: (this is a side recipe, Olive Garden orders pre-cooked chicken for this dish)

Marinade chicken for about 1 hour in:

1 cup Italian-style salad dressing

3 tsp honey

juice from 1 fresh lime.

Grill or sautee chicken with sliced green, red and orange peppers, and red onion.

Serve pasta with sauce, chicken and veggies over top.

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

I was excited to find a recipe for baked chimi's since I really don't like frying things but I was a little worried that the un-fried version wouldn't go over very well. I worry no more. These were great! (Sorry the picture is so dark, now I know not to take pictures on top of my black stove top.) I served it with a meatless taco salad - put crushed up doritos in the salad and it gets them to eat it :D

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

3/4 cup picante sauce or salsa

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/4 to 1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1/2 tsp salt

8 flour tortillas

1/4 cup melted butter

grated cheese

Combine cooked chicken, picante sauce, onion, cumin, oragano and salt in saucepan; simmer 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated and it is warm.

Brush one side of the tortilla with butter. Spoon 1/3 cup chicken mixture onto center of un-buttered side; top with grated cheese. Fold ends down.

Place seam side down in 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven at 475 degrees about 13 minutes or until crisp. Top with desired toppings; guacamole, cilantro, picante sauce, sour cream, olives, tomatoes, cheese.

Tip: We were in a hurry to get to dinner because we needed to leave so for the last 3 minutes I turned the oven to broil - it crisped them quite nicely! Also, to save a little time, you can use 2 cans of canned chicken breast (Member's Mark or Kirtland work well) just be sure to drain the liquid before adding other ingredients.

Applebee's Grilled Club Sandwich

This is LeRoy's all time favorite sandwich so when I found the copycat recipe online and made it at home it became the most overused recipe of all time. He loves them hot off the grill, cold the next day and as many times as I will make them. We all enjoy them, but not as much as LeRoy. Since having them at our house Mom and Kara have also adopted this wonderful recipe, much to the tummy-satisfaction of Dad and James.


thick slices of bread (Texas Toast works best)
softened butter
mayonnaise
grated cheese
turkey slices
ham slices
cooked bacon
tomato slices (completely optional)
Bullseye barbecue sauce

*Heat pancake grill when you have all of your items ready to go . . this is a fast paced put together so the bread doesn't burn.

*Butter the bread on one side, the other side with mayo and have them all stacked and ready to go. Put all of your lunch meat on a plate and warm for about 35 seconds so that it isn't cold when you build the sandwich.

*Once you are ready, place 1/2 of the bread slices on the grill - butter side down, mayo up - and quickly layer cheese, 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey, bbq sauce, bacon, tomato, 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey, cheese and top with mayo side down piece of bread. Carefully flip sandwich over to brown other side.

**The picture shown above is without tomato and only 1 slice of each kind of meat.

**I'm not picky about the lunchmeat quantity. If I'm making enough sandwiches for the whole family or guests I use a little less (only 1 slice ham, 1 slice turkey)because they can get expensive. Also if you only have 1 kind of lunchmeat, it still tastes great with that.

Basically, this is a very flexible sandwich. However, we have tried it with regular breads and it isn't near as good - the Texas Toast makes a big difference.

Broiled Tilapia (Fish)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (fresh)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp celery salt
2 pounds tilapia fillets

*I just do 2 fillets at a time because Erika always eats mine, and then save the rest of the dressing in the fridge for the next day.

Preheat broiler. Line broiling pan with aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, mix together the parmesan cheese, mayo and lemon juice. Add seasonings and mix well.

Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Season them with salt and pepper. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

** really yummy to eat with broiled zucchini **

3 Bean Chili

I was looking at a magazine while getting an oil change and found this recipe. I haven't actually tried it yet but I make a taco soup with the 3 beans that is similar. I figured this would be a good one with veggies (peppers and zuchinni) instead of meat.

1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 TBSP chili powder
2 sweet bell peppers,(yellow or red)cored and diced
1 medium-size zucchini, trimmed and diced(not peeled)
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (blend if you want)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp oregano
1 15 oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 15 oz can small white beans drained & rinsed
1 15 oz can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
Grated cheddar cheese

1 - heat oil in a large nonstick pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and chili powder and cook 3 minutes.

2 - add peppers and zucchini and continue to cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3 - stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, ketchup and oregano. Cook 8 minutes

4 - Gently stir in the beans. cover pot and continue to cook 3 minutes. Serve with grated cheese, if desired.

Crock Pot Lasagna

I have been intending to make lasagna all week long but just haven't been able to get to it. Well, today I decided to try a new recipe from the cookbook that I won at bunco and made it in the crock pot. I was a little unsure because my previous knowledge of crock pot cooking suggested not using dairy products like cottage cheese, cheese, sour cream, etc. However, I just needed to get something put together for dinner tonight so I followed the recipe. I also wondered if the pasta would be done in 4 hours and with only 1/4 cup water and the recipes states NOT to go over 5 hours of cooking.

It smelled wonderful by about hour 2, nice a bubbly and looking like . . . lasagna.



12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 jar (28 oz) spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup water
1 carton (16 oz) cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

Break noodles in half. Place half of the noodles in bottom of greased 4-quart slow cooker. Sitr Italian seasoning into meat and spread half over the noodles already in slow cooker. Then layer half of the sauce and water, half of cottage cheese, and half of mozzarella cheese over beef. Repeat layers. Cover and cook on low heat 4-5 hours. Do not cook more than 5 hours.

My own adjustments

• I used 8 noodles, that's what I normally use when I make it because my family likes less pasta, more sauce.
  
• I only used about 1/2 pound of beef
  
• I quickly made my own spaghetti sauce because I didn't have a jar on hand and I also just added the beef to the sauce like I do with regular lasagna.
  
• Layered noodles, cottage cheese, mozz cheese, sauce . . . twice, ending with sauce

Chimichangas

This is a guaranteed crowd pleaser for everyone at our house, except me! They all love them. They ask for them often. I get extra hugs when I make them. So what makes these so appealing to my brood? Duh, they are fried.

It's that same frying process that leaves me with a headache from the permeating grease smell that lingers in the kitchen for what seems like days during the winter. My best suggestion, and the only one that I have found to avoid the headache and a greasy kitchen, is to cook these in the summer in a dutch oven, or regular frying pan, over a cache cooker. These are so easy in the summer and I don't deal with the annoying leftover headache or smelly kitchen. So now, on to the recipe.

Filling:

• 2 cans refried beans
• grated cheese
• taco seasoning to taste
• salsa or hot sauce to taste
• browned ground beef**

**Our family prefers just the beans, not the beef added but you can do it both ways.

Have a sautee pan filled with enough oil to cover half the chimi - so you can roll it over to fry the other side. I have a friend who does enough oil to dip the whole chimi in but I think it wastes the extra oil and it scares me to have that much hot oil on my stove :) Heat to . . . hot. My stove does best just above medium heat. It takes a while to get it there but it doesn't fry them so fast that they burn.

Put a spoonful (large, small, depends on how many you want to make) of the filling in the tortilla. If you are going to fold them into squares just leave the filling in the center. If you are going to roll them more like a crisp bean burrito (which is what I do) then spread the filling on half of the tortilla, avoiding the edges. To roll mine I turn the sides in a little (prevents spattering when the oil hits the filling) and then roll them in a tube. With 2 cans of beans I usually get between 15-19 chimi's depending on how full I make them. You can of course do the recipe with 1 can for a smaller family but if you are going to go to the effort I'd do 2 cans and freeze the leftovers.

To fry, use metal tongs to hold the tortilla closed, set in hot oil with the fold of the tortilla down first, fry on one side until golden, then fry on the other side. Set on a paper towel to soak up a little of the oil. If you eat them right away they are crispy and if you let them sit a little they are soft.

You can eat these plain as a finger food - which is what the kids do. Or you can put them on a plate, cover with other taco type toppings (salsa, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives) and eat with a fork - which is what LeRoy does. Leftovers make a great lunch for LeRoy to grab and a good afterschool snack, especially for the 2 hungry teenage boys that appear at my house daily around 3:40. They also freeze well - don't ask me how long, I don't know. I have left them in the freezer for up to a week knowing I would be gone on a weekend and they are eaten that weekend but I'm sure they could freeze longer and be fine.

So what do I eat after I have gone to the effort of pleasing my family and I'm sitting on the edge of a grease headache? Usually regular vegetable tacos filled with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, olives, salsa, avocado and a touch of sour cream.

**WARNING: due to the combination of deep fried and refried beans you may find family members experiencing a rather explosive, smelly after-effect. It is recommended that you DO NOT make these on a Saturday if your intentions are to attend church on Sunday.

Pizza Pockets

(For those with the Fullmer Family Cookbook, this is mom's breadstick, pizza dough recipe)

Dough:

1 TBSP yeast

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 tsp sugar

let is rise for a few minutes

Add:

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 TBSP sugar

Mix and knead for about 3 minutes. You don't want it stiff but you might need to add a little more flour so that you can handle it. Let rest for 10-15 minutes. Divide into 10 balls. Roll out each ball to a rectangle (these will be very thin).

Spread only about 1 tsp of your favorite pizza sauce (homemade or canned) but be sure to not get it too close to the edges. If it is too close it just makes it messy to pinch together but it won't really hurt anything.

Add toppings:

any combination of what you like on your pizza

Pepperonni

Canadian Bacon

Italian Sausage

Pineapple

Olives

Mushrooms

Top with Grated Cheese

(we like a mixture of Colby Jack and Mozarella)

Fold over top and seal edges. Place on a buttered baking sheet, brush with egg mixture (1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tsp water), let rise 10-15 minutes. Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top.

Notes:

* You don't have to have these perfectly shaped, by the time they rise a little and bake they look great.

* The 2nd time that I made these I just mixed all of my toppings together rather than applying 1 topping at a time. It saved a little time in the end and because it is folded over no-one sees how carefully (or not) you applied the toppings.