Sad Day at Casa Hagg

Yesterday I had some beautiful tomatoes & garlic & onions... all ready to slow roast for a pasta dish ...

mmm... yummy, eh?  I put them in the oven on 250 to roast for an hour... then they were going to have a party with some farfalle pasta & some Parmesan cheese ..

I was a roastin' away and enjoying that wonderful smell when all of a sudden, it started to smell a little bit like a burnt smell.

What? the oven is only on 250?? So I went to open the oven & it's locked. And hot. Very hot. Very VERY hot. What? So I turned the oven off & waited for it to cool. And called Scott. And the appliance repair dude.

After about an hour, the oven is still hot.. and I realized that the broiler was on. With the oven door locked , the power off AND the maters & onions & garlic still in there.

The appliance guy called back & walked me through shutting the power off from the breaker.

SO now.. no oven, no stove.

I was forced to grill the only thing that I had defrosted in the fridge for dinner.. a butterflied leg of lamb that was meant for an upcoming special occasion...  On a Wednesday night.

 I made a paste of chopped garlic, rosemary, thyme, olive oil, salt & pepper & massaged it in & let sit at room temp for about 45 minutes before grilling. I grilled it to an internal temp of 145 then let it rest.

I don't eat lamb anymore, but Ryan said that it was out of this world fantastic.

I also grilled some bacon ( indirect heat) for some BLT sandwiches for me.

And of course, some squash. Lots & Lots of squash.


So the stove FINALLY cooled down, hours later,  we turned the breaker back on, now there is no power to the oven. ( the stove- top is working)

I should be thankful for that ;)

So CJ, our trusty appliance guy came over this morning and managed to get the door open to discover this

basically, dust.... formerly farm-fresh tomatoes...

to which Ryan said, " mmm, mom. good eats.. now that's some home cookin'!!"


CJ said that the control panel is gone :( to the tune of at LEAST couple hundred bucks ( if in fact that is the problem :(

The oven had put itself into self- cleaning mode all on it's very own

So I am now without a stove. This is hard for me.. I'm almost hyper-ventilating....

How am I to make Scott's birthday cake??

How am I to...

How am I to...

How am I to... *calm down, Michelle*

I was planning to bake up a ton of zucchini bread

  do you think that I can bake a cake on the grill??


*snif*  what's a girl to do??

Zucchini friatta

Phew.... ok.. the last recipe that I promised ( and actually lived up to..)

I made this last night because I had 3/4 of my zucchini left and felt a little creative.   I shredded the zucchini, it came to about 2 cups loosely packed. I rolled it in paper towels to drain excess moisture.

I mixed 1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs with 2 egg white & 1 egg, 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, 2 garlic cloves; minced, fresh thyme, parsley & rosemary minced, 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese & the shredded zucchini.

season with salt & pepper.

I heated a large non-stick skillet with olive oil and added the whole mixture & pressed down lightly with a spatula. I let it cook for about 8 minutes until a crispy crust formed.

Next I inverted it onto a foil-lined cookie sheet & baked in 375 oven for about 25 minutes. I topped it with more parmesan cheese & put it under the broiler until the cheese melted.

I made a mixture of low fat cream cheese, non fat greek yogurt, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt & pepper & served it as a dipping sauce.

This was good last night, but equally as good cold when I had it for breakfast this morning :)

This one's for you, Jessica.... I hope that it works for you

*smooch*

~michelle

More zucchini recipes!!!

Zucchini, zucchini, zucchini..... these babies seem to grow enormous overnight!! I'm making a real effort to try to utilize every single one of these wonders

first up, I have a recipe that I got off of my weight watcher's message board..

Zuck-a-mole

just as it sounds, it's a 'guacamole' type of dip or spread , but it's made with zucchini rather then avocado!!

the recipe is courtesy of Billie Jean form Warren, Michigan

3 pounds summer squash
Approximately 1/2 head garlic
1 large onion (sweet varieties preferred, i.e. Vidalia, Walla Walla)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
1/2 cup basil and/or mint leaves
1/2 cup parsley, stemmed
2 tablespoons juice of lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 375.
Slice zucchini in half, lengthwise. Separate garlic cloves but keep skins on. Quarter onion. Place vegetables in roasting pan and slather with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the teaspoon of salt. Roast until extremely tender, at least 1 hour and up to 90 minutes. 

While vegetables are roasting, prepare herbs; pull leaves off stems and tear or chop coarsely. Let vegetables cool slightly and squeeze garlic from skins. Place all vegetables into bowl of food processor and pulse. Add herbs. Puree until smooth and combined. Add lemon juice and salt. Drizzle in remaining olive oil. Taste for seasonings and adjust accordingly.
Chill and serve with crackers, pita crisps, crudite or make as part of a sandwich.

This was jut as yummy warm as it was cold ( I couldn't wait for it to cool to try it).  For those of you on WW, I'm not sure point-wise, but it's probably pretty low. You could make it even a bit more point friendly but switching out some of the olive oil for chicken broth.

another keeper!

Next I made Zucchini carpachio from Tyler Florence.

I used my mandolin to slice the zucchini very thinly, but you could do it with just a knife, it just takes longer. I also used about 1/2 of the ricotta cheese.

It also took only 1 zucchini for this plate. I have some pretty big zucchini!!!

Scott found a recipe for zucchini quesadillas in a magazine, so we tried those. I thinly sliced about 1/2 of a zuck, and sliced some jalapeno cheddar cheese.

 I sprayed a non-stick skillet with cooking spray then added a tortilla ( mine was from trader Joe's, I think a chili-lime flavored one) added the cheese then topped with the thin zucchini.

I chopped up a bit of avocado & made some  basil confetti, seasoned it with s & p.

This particular one, I just cooked then fold in half then used a pizza cutter to cut into wedges.  You could also just add another layer of cheese, add another tortilla, flip it, for twice the serving.

In an effort to behave, I was good and only ate my half ;)

I usually would eat something like this with non-fat greek yogurt with some cumin mixed in. I must have been in a rush.......

I'm off to PT~  my first time driving in a month, but I have one more post later this evening.. another zucchini dish, but for right now, I am out of time....

and yes, I will be VERY careful!!!

xoxoxo

thanks for reading!

♬♬ Bikinis,zucchinis, martinis, yeah!♬♬

Ok, I know.. not the REAL lyrics of this summer's most overplayed song, but this week, in my house, it works!

This week at CSA was very exciting ( actually, they are ALL exciting),  but this week we got to pick flowers!!

Here is a picture of my favorite BIG girl, Leah..  Her mommy likes orange flowers, go figure? Just kidding!

this is my basket of Flowers & greens... we also received corn on the cob!! 12 ears!!  Of organic straight off of the stalk sweet summer corn.  ♬Heaven♬

In addition to this, my own zucchini plants in my garden have produced beautifully. I welcome any zuck recipes that anyone has to share..

I made Paula Deen's Chocolate chip zucchini bread

Ryan rolled his eyes when he heard zucchini bread, but let me tell you.. he was the first to DEVOUR this bread!! It is so tasty.  The chocolate chips seemed to sink, so I think that when I make it again I will use that blueberry trick where you roll them in a bit of flour first.

 I drizzled melted chocolate on top just because I thought that it needed it.  There are an additional 8 mini muffins that are already missing form this picture (everyone enjoyed them).  They were perfect for make-ahead form Scott's breakfast for the week. I'll be making these again and often!

Next I made stuffed zucchini. I just kind of made up my recipe as I went along based on what I had.

I took leftover whole grain bread from the CSA & crumbled it in a bowl & added milk until the bread was absorbed. Then I drained excess milk.

I brought a large stockpot of water to a boil & salted it. I boiled the zucks whole for about 5 minutes. Drained, cooled, halved the long way & scooped out the center with a melon baller. I cut them into 3 inch zucchini boats

I heat a skillet with olive oil, added a chopped onion, garlic & squash innards. I sauteed for a few minutes, seasoned with salt & pepper, let cool & added to the bread mixture. I added 2 eggs, scrambled & some parmesan cheese.

I filled each boat with filling them sprinkled a bit more cheese. I cooked them in a 375 oven until the tops were  bubbly & brown, then drizzled a bit of EVOO on top.

VIOLIA!

I usually try to make these a bit healthier, but I was feeling all wild, so I went with it. They were so light and delicious!


I'm sure that I'll be posting more squash recipes.. I've also been just slicing & grilling them.

And now, teenie time!!!

I made cucumber martinis. It was so hot this week that the thought of a cool, crisp cucumber martini just sounded SO good!!

I peeled, seeded & pureed 2 small cucumbers with about 1/3 cup of water & a tablespoon of agave syrup ( if you don't have agave, you can use honey or make a simple syrup, the idea is just to add a bit of sweetness)

Then I strained it over ice, pressing the pulpy mixture through a fine sieve..  I added a healthy shot of vodka, then strained into a chilled martini glass, & garnished with a cucumber slice.

this was pure refreshment in a glass...

perfect at the end of a very hot July day :)  AHH!!

now sing me out...♬♬♬♬♬

oxoxo

 ( you didn't think that I'd post the bikini shots here, did you?? This is a family show :)