Zucchini Fries

Last year I grew some zucchini in my garden and I needed some recipes to use them. I came across this recipe for zucchini fries. They are seriously so good. I am not a huge vegetable fan, but I can eat these like crazy. They are delicious. And my kids like them too. Baked Zucchini Fries 3 zucchini 1/4 c. parmesan cheese 1 pkg. shake n bake 1 egg Pre heat oven to 450 degrees. Trim zucchini-cut crosswise in half, then cut each piece into 1/4 inch sticks. Add cheese to coating mix in shaker bag; shake gently to combine.Whisk egg in medium bowl. Add zucchini; toss to coat. Use tongs to place 1/4 of the zucchini in bag, close bag, toss to coat evenly. Spread on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining zucchini. Bake for 12-13 minutes, rotating baking sheet after 7 minutes, until zucchini are golden brown, and evenly cooked.

Skinny Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

I loved alfredo but it is not so good for you. I also have just discovered spaghetti squash and it is one of the few squashes I really like. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. And I was not disappointed. It was delicious and healthy. Next time I will leave off the red pepper flakes or just put less in because it was a little too hot for my tastes.

Skinny Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
Source: Easy Cookbook Recipes

1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
1 Tablespoon butter
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 Tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk(I used fat-free)
1 Tablespoon cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 Tablespoons extra for topping
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes and fresh parsley, for optional garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. First, prep the squash. Cut spaghetti squash in half using a large sharp knife, scoop out the seeds and place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet covered with water. Bake until tender, about an hour. Once squash is cooked, use a fork to gently scrape the “spaghetti” strands into the center.
For the sauce, melt butter in a small pot over medium-low heat. Once hot, add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in flour, cooking for another minute while stirring. Whisk in milk until no lumps remain. Once hot, add cream cheese and stir until smooth. Remove from the heat. Stir in Parmesan, salt and pepper.
Spoon sauce equally into each spaghetti squash half. Gently pull up the spaghetti strands to coat as much as possible with the sauce. Top with extra Parmesan and place under the broiler of your oven for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
Top each half with a pinch of red pepper flakes and fresh chopped parsley, if desired. Serve hot.
Enjoy!

Creamy Cheesy Potatoes

This is a terrible picture and I am really sorry for that. It definitely does not do them justice.I was not totally sure about these potatoes when I saw them on pinterest, but I had the stuff to make them and I have tons of potatoes that need used up so I decided to give them a try. They were actually really good. I ended up using half-n-half instead of cream and I thought they were delicious. You definitely don't need to use full cream, but it would be interesting to see the difference, so maybe one of these days I will try it.

Creamy Cheesy Potatoes
Source: Get Off Your Butt and Bake

About 5 – large potatoes (enough to fill a 9×13 glass baking dish)

2 Cups Whipping Cream (I used half n half)

Salt and Pepper

2 tsp. Parsley flakes

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cut your potatoes into thin french fry strips, and lay the fries, in a 9×13″ GLASS pan.

Pour all of the cream over the top of the fries. Salt and pepper them generously. Sprinkle at least 2 cups grated Cheddar Cheese over the top. Sprinkle Parsley flakes on top of the cheese.  Cover with foil, and poke a fork through the top of the foil, 2 or 3 times to allow a little steam to escape. This way, your cream doesn’t boil over into your oven!

Cook at 400 degrees for about 1 hour, 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Place your oven rack in the middle of the oven. During the last 15 or 20 minutes of baking lower your rack one more step. This makes the bottom of your potatoes, brown and crispy.

Black Bean Salsa

I made a recipe that other night that had black bean salsa in it. It had it's own version and I actually have two different versions, so I actually combined the three and I think came up with something pretty delicious. The recipe that called for it is actually a barbecue chicken salad and you just put the salsa on it, but this is also really yummy eaten with tortilla chips or just eat it by itself with a spoon!!

Black Bean Salsa

1 can white corn (drained)
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 tomato (chopped really well)
1 red pepper (chopped really well)
2 avacados (chopped)
1/4 cup onion (chopped really well)
2 limes (squeeze juice on top)
1-3 tsp. sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. cilantro (I don't usually put this in or just put in a tiny bit because we don't love cilantro, but if  
                         you like it, go for it)
Combine the corn and beans into a medium sized bowl. Add the tomato, red pepper, avacados, and onion and mix again. Squeeze juice from limes on top and add sugar and salt and cilantro and mix again. Serve with tortillas chips.

Loaded Sweet Potatoes

So, has anybody had the loaded sweet potatoes from Texas Roadhouse?  For our anniversary Loni took me down to Ogden and we ate there.  She ordered this and it was awesome.  So I had to find a recipe for it.  This was pretty awesome, not exactly the same, but pretty close.  We will definitely have it again.

Texas Roadhouse Loaded Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes

Bake sweet potatoes for about one hour at 350.  We wrapped ours in foil.  Pull out of oven, let cool a little bit. Cut a slit in the top about 3/4 of the length of the potato.  Squeeze from both ends until the potato squishes up. Spread the middle apart a bit, push 5-10 little marshmallows into the middle, divide the sauce between the potatoes, add 5-10 more marshmallows and place on a baking sheet. Broil until the marshmallows start to brown, about 1 minute.

Sauce

For each potato use:

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tsp vanilla
Dash of cinnamon

Melt the butter and mix the other ingredients into it.

*This is the recipe we used.  Other recipes I found call for a little more sugar.  I think I might try that next time since they weren't as sweet at the one at Texas Roadhouse.  I also think I will bake them at 350 for a few minutes after putting the marshmallows in to heat the center back up and then broil to brown the tops.  Loni said I should try pumpkin pie spice instead of just cinnamon.