Cheesy Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini

Love, love, love this recipe from Handle the Heat! I think it would even be good to stuff a pepper using these same ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium zucchini
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons chopped roasted red peppers
• 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
• pinch dried oregano

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out the insides, leaving a 1/4-inch thick shell. Place zucchini, cut sides up, on prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and cook the sausage, breaking up with a spoon, until browned. Remove from heat and mix in cheese, pine nuts, red peppers, scallions, oregano. Spoon sausage mixture into hallowed zucchini shells. Bake 15-18 minutes, until the zucchini is cooked and tender and the cheese is slightly melted.

Fried Eggplant

I slightly followed this recipe by Emeril, but kind of just made things up as I went along. These were so good! I highly recommend serving them with a side of marinara sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (or more) flour or cornstarch
• 1 cup (or more) Italian bread/panko crumbs
• salt
• Expeller Pressed Coconut oil for frying (if you're going to fix anything at a high heat, it's best to use coconut oil as it is much better for you than canola or any other kind of frying oil. Olive oil is not recommend at high temps.

Directions:

1. Slice eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounded slices.
2. Salt generously and allow to "sweat" for about 30min in a bowl or colander. Place on paper towels to remove excess moisture.
3. Dredge eggplant slices in flour or cornstarch, then egg then bread crumb mixture.
4. Place on a paper towel to dry a little before frying.
5. Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat. You'll know it's hot enough when a little water hitting the oil causes a big sizzle.
6. Place eggplants into the frying pan. They will brown really quickly, so be sure to watch them carefully. Repeat this process until all the eggplants have been fried. You may need to add more oil after each batch.
7. Place fried eggplant on a paper towel to dry.
8. Top with some Parmesan, serve with a side of marinara and Enjoy!
   

Fried Cabbage

I had never tried making cabbage before, but really enjoyed this method to cooking it. I did think it was a little heavy on the butter, so I just 1/2 the recommended amount the next time I fixed this dish. Another kellythekitchenkop recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of shredded cabbage (or head of cabbage rinsed and shredded...your preference)
• 2 Tbsp butter for every 1 cup of cabbage (again, I decreased the amount of butter)

Directions:

1. Fry until golden brown and crispy
2. Make sure to have your heat fairly high to brown the cabbage
   

Southwestern Black Bean Salad

I recently stumbled across a fabulous food blog called skinnytaste.com With every recipe I read, my mouth watered and before I knew it my menu that week consisted of 3 skinnytaste recipes. The funny thing is, I am not a fan of most "low fat" or "non-fat" recipes (read more about why here), but each dish I tried was filled with fresh ingredients. On the off chance that a "low fat" ingredient I didn't care for was used, I just substituted it with something else (I'm a huge fan of butter) Each recipe we tried was so delish! This is my new favorite food blog and I highly recommend you trying every recipe on the skinnytaste blog!

Ingredients:

• 1 15.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained (I like to use organic black beans from Trader Joe's)
  
• 9 oz frozen corn, thawed
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 small avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped (I didn't have any scallions, so I just used a sweet onion instead)
  
• 1 lime, juice of
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp cilantro
• salt and fresh pepper

Directions:

1. Combine beans, corn, tomato, red onion, sweet onion, cilantro, salt and pepper
   
2. Mix with lime juice and olive oil
   
3. Marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes
   
4. Add avocado before serving

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I had never tried brussels sprouts mainly because I didn't think a vegetable with the name sprout in it could actually taste good, but that all changed about 3 weeks ago when I found this recipe over at Cheap Healthy Good. I can't say that I have fallen head over heels for these little round, green veggies but I love the fact that they are loaded with nutrients and offer a nice change to our vegetable repertoire. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 lbs Brussels sprouts, ends cut off and yellow outer leaves removed
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and if you like, spray with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix Brussels sprouts, oil, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat. Pour mixture on baking sheet. Roast 35-40 minutes, shaking pan occasionally, until sprouts are browned and beautiful outside, tender and wonderful on the inside. Salt to taste. Serve.
   

Roasted Peppers

This is another recipe from my friend Monica. She's an awesome cook and should really start a blog. ;) Anyway, Walter had these peppers one night at their house and raved about them. I have yet to try them, but hope to soon.

Ingredients:

• Red and green peppers, the quantity is up to you ( Monica used 2 green, 3 red)

Directions:

1. Cut the peppers in half and clean out the seeds and innards
2. Place them on a baking sheet, skin side up
3. Place the sheet in the oven set on broil
4. The skin will start to blacken and soften, about 15-20 minutes (maybe more)
5. Once the skins are brownish-black, remove the peppers from the oven and put them inside a large zip lock bag
6. Close the bag and let the peppers sit in there for 15 minutes
7. Take each pepper out and peel the skin off, it should come right off, you can use a knife to give you a head start on the peel
8. Once roasted, chop the peppers, not too small
9. Mince one clove of garlic
10. Place the chopped roasted peppers in a pan with olive oil
11. Add the garlic
12. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt
13. Cook on medium high heat for 5-10 minutes and you're done!
    

Black Bean Burritos

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for a more vegetarian type recipe that would also be nutritious and filling. Even though my husband believes meat should be eaten with every meal, he did actually like this dish; however, added that "shredded chicken or beef would be really good with this too."

Ingredients:

• 2 (10 inch) flour tortillas (I used about 4 corn tortillas simply because I am trying to steer clear of wheat and gluten)
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 1 teaspoon minced jalapeno peppers
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (I left this out simply because I rarely have a need for fresh cilantro)

Directions:

1. Wrap tortillas in foil and place in oven heated to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through. (or place about 4 tortillas in-between 2 damp paper towels and place in the microwave for about 45 sec.)
   
2. Heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Place onion, bell pepper, garlic and jalapenos in skillet, cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Pour beans into skillet, cook 3 minutes stirring.
3. Cut cream cheese into cubes and add to skillet with salt. Cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir cilantro into mixture.
4. Spoon mixture evenly down center of warmed tortilla and roll tortillas up. Serve immediately.

Roasted Carrots

My mom has always tried to get me to eat my carrots, but I always turned my nose up at them unless they were cooked in a soup. Even then, I'd usually eat around them. Well, my sister-in-law (check her out at Our Kitchen, Sweet Kitchen) fixed roasted carrots for us for dinner one evening and low and behold, I actually enjoyed them. It's still a taste I'm getting used to, but I will definitely be fixing these again. She got the recipe from her cousin-in-law over at Casual Cuisine.

Ingredients:

• Carrots (I just lined a small casserole dish with baby carrots)
• EVOO
• kosher or sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
  fresh rosemary sprigs (I only had dried rosemary and it worked out just fine)
  honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Rinse and peel carrots and cut into large pieces (if you're using whole carrots).
   
3. In a baking dish, drizzle some EVOO to coat the bottom.
4. Place carrots in baking dish. Top with a few rosemary sprigs, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
5. Drizzle some honey and additional EVOO over top.
6. Roast, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes or until carrots are brown and tender but not overcooked.
   

Quinoa

I had been hearing a lot about quinoa and it's nutritious value, but had been a little reluctant to try it until I found the following recipe. It's really, really good and is now a new side dish on my menu rotation. I'm just going to post the link to recipe so that you can read a little bit about what quinoa is and how it should be prepared. Enjoy!

My First Kitchen- What Is Quinoa?

My First Kitchen- Quinoa with Grilled Vegetables