Zucchini Pizza

Back in March I was catching up on one of my new favorite blogs, Eat, Live, Run, and some how came across an old post, "Cheesy Zucchini Pizza That Will Rock Your Face".  With a name like that, how can you resist trying it?  Plus I am a huge fan of zucchini and baking things so I new I needed to try this sometime soon.
I tried her homemade Pizza Dough which was super easy and tasty.  Plus, a wheat crust with zucchini just seems right.  The recipe is enough for two crusts which is very good cause I did manage to screw up at the last minute.  Not thinking, I put the dough between two sheets of wax paper to roll it out, and there it stuck.  Luckily the other half of the dough I had thrown into the freezer had not froze yet and I pulled it out to save the day.  Since you can just buy dough or a crust already done up, you can easily avoid my mess up.
The pizza I made was probably a large, definitely enough for four people.  That said, I had way too much zucchini/cheese mixture to put on the pizza, so it is hiding out in my fridge to become something tonight. (Maybe some sort of quesadilla?) I don't know if my zucchini's were too large or if it is just too much.  I would say you might only need one zucchini and one to one and a half cups of mozzarella cheese. I also added peppers to her recipe and was going to add some of my brother's dried chili mixture, but since my spice sensitive friend was joining me for dinner I decided I had better not. All in all it was really tasty and you think your eating healthy with all the veggies and whole wheat and cheese. Plus, it reheats excellently for next day lunch!


Ingreidents

• Pizza dough! (see link above or buy some)
• 2 large zucchinis, seeds removed 
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• sea salt
• pepper
• red pepper flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees when you begin preparing the zucchini & peppers.  Spray a cookies sheet or pizza baking stone with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. Grate the zucchinis and press with paper towels to soak up the liquid. Mix the zucchini and the peppers with the mozzarella cheese and a dash of salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.
3. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and garlic. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
4. Work the pizza dough into whatever shape your heart desires. Spread the ricotta cheese on top and then top with the zucchini mixture. Add some pepper flakes. 
5. Reduce oven temperature to 450 and bake pizza for about 12 minutes, or until the crust begins to turn golden and the cheese has started to bubble.

Enjoy! 

Shrimp and Grits

I am claiming to be from Alabama these days even though I was born and spent most of my formative years in Virginia--hence no accent and the inability to work "y'all" into a sentence. Therefore, I'm relatively new to these things called grits. They always seemed like a big pile of mush, so I never really had any interest in them...until this recipe changed my life, that is. Luckily, it is a pretty involved process or I might make them all the time and be morbidly obese (like 50% of the South...see a pattern?). It's much more successful as a two person job, especially when someone else does 90% of the work. Thanks, Kurt!

  

They don't look very impressive on a plate but are amazing.

Anniversary Grits (from "Glorious Grit's: America's Favorite Comfort Food" by Susan McEwen McIntosh)

Yields 8 to 10 servings

Grits:

• 8 cups milk
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups uncooked stone-ground grits
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Gruyere cheese (or similar, we used Jarlsberg because it was cheaper)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1-1/2 cups chopped red bell pepper
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced (x3 for Kurt)
• 6 ounces andouille sausage (optional), sliced (we left this out to make it pescatarian friendly)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2-1/4 cup less-sodium chicken broth (or veggie broth)
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream (use milk for a lighter version, you won't miss the cream at all)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
• 3 pounds large raw (we used cooked) shrimp
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Combine milk and salt in large, heavy saucepan; cook over medium-high heat just until mixture starts to boil. (Be careful not to let milk boil out of the pan as it comes to a boil--it can do so quickly.) Gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 20 to 25 minutes or until thick, stirring often. Remove from heat, and add cheese, butter, and pepper, stirring until cheese melts; cover and keep warm.

While grits are cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add bell pepper, onion, garlic, and sauté 2 minutes to soften. Add sausage, and cook 6 to 7 minutes or until browned, stirring often. Add wine, and cook until almost all liquid has evaporated. Sprinkle flour over mixture in skillet, and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. (Flour will start to brown.) Gradually whisk in chicken broth and cream; add bay leaves and Creole seasoning. Bring mixture to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, 7 minutes or until thick, stirring often. (Mixture may be cooked to this point, and then covered and kept warm until serving time.)

Just before serving, add shrimp to hot sauce, and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink (or warm through), stirring often. Remove and discard bay leaves, and stir in parsley. Spoon shrimp and sauce over grits and serve immediately.

Be careful! They're so good, it's addicting!

Beef and Corn Quesadillas

I have had a meeting after work every night this week except last night.  I wanted to make something that did not require pulling it from a plastic bag and putting it in the microwave.  The problem is that I did not think ahead at all and did not want to leave my apartment once I was in it, so whatever the recipe was, I had to have all the ingredients.  I pulled out the cookbooks and binder of recipes in search of something.
I kept finding things that I could make minus one ingredient that was not that random, I just didn't have them on hand, like peanuts. I ended up flipping through my latest Real Simple and finding a recipe for Beef Quesadillas. I didn't have all the ingredients, but it gave me some inspiration for my own recipe.  I mixed up some of the veggies I had on hand and needed to use before they went bad and added extra spices.  They turned out to be really good and I have enough for lunch tomorrow.  I think the measurements below are close to what I mixed in, but I didn't measure anything.

 Beef and Corn Quesadillas

• 1/4 Red Onion, diced
• 1/4 Red Bell Pepper, diced
• 1/2 Box (about 5 oz) Frozen Corn
• 12 oz Ground Beef
• Cayenne Pepper
• Salt & Black Pepper
• Mike's Dried Chili Mix 
• lots of Cheese
• Taco Shells

1. Warm about a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and add onion, pepper and corn.  Mix over medium heat for about 5 minutes. 
2. Add the beef, about a 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tsp chili mix. Cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes more. 
3. In a clean skillet warm about a 1/2 tablespoon of oil on medium low heat. Toss in a taco shell and spin it around to oil one side, then flip it over to oil the other.  Allow one side of the sides to slightly brown.  
4. Flip over the shell and add in about a 1 cup of the beef mixture and 1/4 cup of cheese on half of the shell.  Fold the other half of the shell over. Allow the shell to brown on one side before carefully flipping it over to brown the other. Once the cheese is melted remove it from the pan and cut into quarters. 

Enjoy!

This is Amazing! Spaghetti Carbonara

 This is so good! How did I not know about it? I mean I guess I knew about it, I just never tried it. It was so easy and quick and tasty, I had to share it. It came from my Martha Stewart Great Food Fast cookbook. I didn't take any pictures cause I didn't plan on posting this up, sorry.

• 8 ounces bacon (8 slices), cut 1-inch thick crosswise
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• 1/2 cup half-and-half

1. Set a large pot of water to boil (for the pasta). In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat, turning occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 12 minutes; transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate.
2. Salt the boiling water generously; add the pasta and cook until al dente according to the package instructions.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, Parmesan, and half-and-half. Set aside.
4. Drain the pasta, leaving some water clinging to it. Working quickly, add the hot pasta to the egg mixture. Add the bacon; season with salt and pepper, and toss all to combine (the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs). Serve immediately, sprinkled with additional Parmesan cheese. 
5. Enjoy!