Veggie Bars

2 packages crescent rolls
2 packages cream cheese (8oz each-so 16oz total)
1C mayonnaise
Package of dry Ranch dressing mix
1C chopped carrots, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower (more or less if you want)
1C shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9x13 pans. Press one package of crescent rolls into each pan, pinching the seams together. Bake until golden brown according to the time on the package. Cool. Meanwhile, mix together cream cheese (the softer the better!), mayo, and Ranch. Spread the mixture over the crusts. Chop the vegetables (I've used a food processor before, usually I end up chopping them finely by hand so I don't haul out the processor just for that much) and sprinkle over the mixture, and sprinkle cheese over the vegetables. Press with waxed paper and refrigerate overnight (I keep the waxed paper on until I'm ready to serve).

Almost Lasagna

This made SO MUCH. I put a ton more vegetables in than was called for-almost an entire bag of spinach, two zucchini, and a red pepper-basically what's in the Farmer's Market Lasagna that we love. There was enough that we ate (large portions) for dinner and lunch the next day, and then had enough to freeze... which we unfroze a few days later when I forgot to take anything else out. That batch was better-the sauce was able to soak into everything, and we made it with cheddar cheese because we had no mozzarella-and that was a good switch (I think we'd use cheddar next time-it makes it different!)

Ingredients

• 1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked, (or other similarly shaped pasta-like small shells)
• 1 pound Ground turkey, (or beef, chicken, sausage or tofu crumbles)
• 1 jar Pasta Sauce, (26 ounces)
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 pound Ricotta cheese
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 cups veggies , (diced zucchini, matchstick carrots, etc.)
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Brown meat and drain well, if necessary.
2. While meat is cooking, stir together eggs, ricotta, grated Parmesan and salt and pepper.
3. Mix cooked meat, macaroni, sauce and veggies. Add ricotta mixture and blend well.
4. Coat a 9-by-13 baking pan with cooking spray or olive oil and spread half of macaroni mixture evenly over the bottom. Top with a cup of mozzarella and a healthy sprinkle of grated Parmesan. Add the remaining macaroni mixture and top with another cup of mozzarella and another sprinkle of Parmesan. Cover with foil.
5. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F and bake the casserole for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 to 20 minutes until the cheese on top is lightly browned and bubbly.

Pureed Chickpea Soup - Passato di Ceci

Recipe from Food Network (and I copied and pasted it-the chef must have written it herself, it's written in the same animated way in which she talks!) Patrick and Maya were huge fans of it, I liked it but couldn't eat a ton of it because it was kind of like flavor overload. We'll definitely make it again though! (And also-we made grilled cheese with it out of the rest of the loaf of fresh bread which was a huge win!)

Ingredients

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 pound pancetta, cut in 1/2-inch dice
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch dice
• 2 celery ribs, cut in 1/2-inch dice
• 1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch dice
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed, divided
• 2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 bundle fresh thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 quart water
• 3 sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped
• 5 to 6 (1/2-inch) slices country style bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Directions

Coat a large pot with olive oil, add the pancetta and bring to a medium heat. When the pancetta starts to become crispy, add the onion, celery, carrots, 3 cloves of garlic, pinch of crushed red pepper and season lightly with salt. Sweat the veggies for 6 to 7 minutes or until they become very aromatic and start to soften.

Drain the water from the soaked chickpeas, rinse and add to the pot. Add the chicken stock, thyme bundle, bay leaves and 1 quart of water. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer until the chickpeas are very soft and falling apart, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Turn off the heat, season the water with salt and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes.

Fill a skillet with olive oil until it is about 1/2-inch deep, and the remaining 3 garlic cloves, the rosemary leaves and a pinch of crushed red pepper and bring it to a medium heat. Remove the garlic once it is golden; it has fulfilled its garlic destiny. Add the bread cubes and cook until they start to become crispy and golden. (They will absorb a LOT of the oil. That's why they taste good!) Season with salt and remove the croutons from the oil to a bowl, reserving the rosemary oil. MMMMM!

Add the infused oil to the soup. Puree the soup in a food processor, blender, or good old fashioned food mill. Correct the consistency and seasoning, if necessary. If the soup is too thick, cook it a little more to reduce it, or thin it by adding more stock or water. Taste to be sure the seasoning is perfect.

Ladle the soup into serving bowls, top with the croutons and finish with a large drizzle of olive oil.

Farmer's Market Lasagna

This is a recipe I found I think in Parents magazine a couple of years ago-it's a favorite of ours, and better lasagna than one with meat, in our opinion!

1 zucchini, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2C carrot, shredded
3C baby spinach
1 jar pasta sauce (I tend to use a bit more)
lasagna noodles
15oz Ricotta cheese
1C shredded Mozzarella (I use a bit more of this too... of course!)

Combine zucchini, pepper and carrots in a bowl and pour in 2T water. Cover and microwave on high for 2 minutes; drain (or you can do like we do and just put it in a pot with a tiny bit of water on the stove till it gets all nice and steamy). Stir in spinach. Layer a bit of sauce, then noodles (I don't cook mine before-personal preference), then half of the veggies, then half of the Ricotta. More sauce, a third of the Mozzarella, noodles, the rest of the veggies, the rest of the Ricotta, another third of Mozzarella, noodles, the rest of the sauce, and then the rest of the Mozzarella (I go heavy on the sauce each time since I don't pre-cook the noodles). Cover tightly with foil. Cook for one hour on 350 degrees if you precook noodles, an hour and a half at 320 if you don't. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Paula Deen's Cheesy Squash Casserole

This is another one we had at Lady & Sons on Mother's Day-we've had it twice and it SURE is delicious! This makes a LOT-a lot more than the three of us can eat at one sitting so feel free to back off on the squash use if you need or want to.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 medium yellow summer squash, thinly sliced
1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 sleeve crackers, crushed medium to fine (recommended: Ritz, or I sprinkle mine with French's French Fried Onions)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the squash, onion, and butter until soft. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan, Cheddar, and sour cream. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Place in the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle the cracker crumbs evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.

Paula Deen's Tomato Pie

What?! An actual post?! That's right folks. There have been a couple of times in this pregnancy where I have cooked... unfortunately the other times it's been something I've already blogged about or I was just too hungry to remember to stop for a second and take a picture. Hopefully after these babies arrive and stop feeding off my brain cells I will make a return to cooking!

For Mother's Day this year Patrick got us reservations at The Lady & Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah (we live nearby). There were a couple of things we tried that were SO GOOD-this being one of them! You'd think by the picture and the measurements that the cheese mixture on top would be too much-but it was actually fine because of how tomato-y it is. It could actually stand to have more crust to it, in my opinion-I think when I make it next time with Paula's crust recipe I'll roll the crust a bit thicker.



4 tomatoes, peeled and sliced (I used 2-but mine were MASSIVE)
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 (9-inch) prebaked deep dish pie shell (or use Paula Deen's pie crust recipe, which I highly recommend-recipe at the bottom. I didn't have time to this day but will for SURE next time, as it made an amazing crust for an apple pie I made last year!)
1 cup grated mozzarella
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the tomatoes in a colander in the sink in 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 10 minutes.

Layer the tomato slices, basil, and onion in pie shell. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the grated cheeses and mayonnaise together. Spread mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

To serve, cut into slices and serve warm.

Paula's Perfect Pie Crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
12 tablespoons butter, (1 1/2 sticks) cold and cubed
1/4 cup to 1⁄2 cup ice water

In a large mixing bowl,sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with the flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or a pastry cutter. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough together into a ball. When it comes together stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.

Yield: 2 (9-inch) pie crusts

Sausage and Zucchini Soup

This one is wonderful if you love soup. If you just like soup, it's pretty good. I'm not really big on it but it was especially nice for something different, and it warmed up nicely for Patrick the next day.

1lb hot or sweet Italian sausage (I would double next time)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
28oz diced canned tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained
3C water
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 medium carrots, sliced
5 celery stalks, sliced
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

Slice sausage and cook with onions and bell pepper over medium-high heat in a pan about 10 minutes or until sausage is browned. Drain fat.

In an 8qt Dutch oven (or I just used my soup pot) add tomatoes, water, potatoes, carrots and celery to sausage mixture. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 20 minutes or until vegetables are just tender. Stir in zucchini and simmer 5 to 10 minutes more or until zucchini is tender. Serve hot. (I added a tiny bit of sour cream-yum!)

Loaded Hamburgers

Patrick and I came up with this concoction, and we're pretty proud of it. We wanted some deliciously massive burgers, and since we're really into vegetables lately (who am I turning into?!?!) we wanted to put them in too.

-1lb lean ground beef
-1 green pepper and 1 red pepper, finely chopped
-packet of McCormick's Tomato Garlic & Basil Marinade
-Onion powder (or onions, if you are an onion lover -eww!-)
-Garlic or garlic powder
-Salt & pepper
-1 egg
-bread crumbs (just a handful, or enough to make the egg not so sticky)
-Shredded mozerella cheese

Mix it all together, sans the cheese. Patrick does it with his hands because it's easier. Then he separates it into 5 globs, putting one aside for Maya. With the other 4 he separates them in half, flattens one half and makes a pouch, and puts it on the plate. I put in the cheese while he's flattening the other half, and then pinches them together. Cook it on low/medium low until it's done-these are really thick burgers. They are so good we personally don't use any condiments!

TSFL edit:
Make 6oz patties. Use 1tsp of the spice packet and up to 1/2C diced peppers in each patty (if you are following TSFL do each one individually to ensure you have the right measurements, if just eating healthy it's not a big deal). Cook on the grill and enjoy with no bun but 1tbsp ketchup for dipping... and a nice massive salad :)

Chicken Broccoli Braid

(It makes double what you see up top there... we were just piggies and dove in before I remembered to take a picture!)

This is the all-time favorite recipe in this house. Patrick asked for it as his last meal before Iraq as well as his first when he got home. Maya loves it and it makes delicious leftovers! This is a Pampered Chef recipe.

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup cooked broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
4 oz. (1cup) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. all-purpose dill mix (or I use dried dill weed and I think it was better)
1/4 tsp. salt
2 pkgs. (8oz. each) refrigerated crescent rolls (those ones that are "for baking"-the flat ones-aren't so good with this!)
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 375F. Chop chicken and broccoli and place in bowl. Add bell pepper, garlic, and cheese, mix gently. Add mayonnaise, dill mix, and salt. Unroll 1 package of crescent dough; do not separate. Arrange longest sides of dough across width of 12" x 15" rectangle baking stone (or baking sheet-but everyone should have a baking stone!) Repeat with remaining package of dough. Using roller, roll dough to seal perforations (or just pinch together really well-important!). Spread filling evenly over middle of the length of dough (look at my picture if you don't get it). On longest sides of baking stone, cut dough into strips 1 1/2 inches apart, 3 inches deep using a pizza cutter. To braid, lift strips of dough across mixture to meet in center, twisting each strip on turn. Continue alternating strips to form a braid. Tuck ends under to seal at end of braid. Brush egg white over dough using pastry brush. Sprinkle with almonds (optional-I don't care for them on there). Bake 25-28 minutes or until deep golden brown.