Kale and Apple Sausage Pizza

This is one of those recipes passed on by a friend who got it from a friend's blog, etc. It was tasty and would be super easy to "improvise" depending on what ingredients you had in the fridge.


Kale and Apple Sausage Pizza


1 bunch kale, cleaned, coarsely chopped, and sauteed in olive oil
2 chicken and apple sausages, cut into thin rings

1/4 C chopped walnuts (or pecans...that's what I used, because that's what I had!)

2 C grated gouda

1 package pizza crust (I just use Trader Joe's, it's so convenient, and good...)

Preheat oven to 425. Roll out dough as thin as possible. Top with all other ingredients, and bake for 18 minutes.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

I know, it sounds weird...but I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome, so go ahead and give it a try!

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

1 avocado

1/2 banana

4 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1-2 Tbsp. agave nectar (or liquid sweetener of choice)

1/4 cup milk (originally recipe called for coconut milk, which I'd like to try, but didn't have any at the time...)

Plop all of the ingredients in a food processor, whiz away...you'll know when it's done by the consistency. I put mine in the refrigerator for a while to chill, but you could enjoy right out of the processor bowl if you'd like!

Grilled Potato "Skins"

For the Labor Day holiday, we had our friends over for a BBQ and decided we wanted to do something a little different than our normal BBQ fare of hamburgers, corn on the cob and potato salad. So, we marinated a tri-tip (recipe to come!) and made these Grilled Potato "Skins" which were so fun, and very yummy! I mean, everything tastes better with bacon, right?!

Grilled Potato "Skins"

4 Russet Potatoes, baked and skinned
8 slices of bacon
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt
pepper
olive oil
sour cream (opt.)

Cut the baked potatoes in half and cut the ends off so that your potato will sit flat on either side. Scoop out a half inch center section on the larger of the flat sides. Wrap 1 slice of bacon around each half of potato and secure with toothpicks (soaked in water for 10 min. first). Lightly brush olive oil on top and bottom of potato and season with salt and pepper. Place potatoes, flat side down, on the grill. When bacon is cooked, add cheddar cheese into open hole in the top of the potato and cover with a foil tent. Continue cooking until the cheese is melted.

To serve, place a small dollop of sour cream on plate and place the potato half on top. Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini

When I went through my co-workers garden last week, she had a rather large zucchini that I grabbed up. I decided that the best thing to do with that much zucchini was to try out a stuffed zucchini recipe. Here's my first try at this recipe, I've decided that the only thing I might do differently next time is to add some chopped tomatoes. This turned out rather well, and in fact, my roommate said it's her second favorite meal!

Stuffed Zucchini

6-7 fresh zucchini (I used 1 really large one)
1/2 lb. Italian Sausage
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
Parmesan cheese

Crumble Italian sausage and cook over medium heat. Remove from pan and set aside. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out insides leaving about 1/4-in shell. Finely chop zucchini pulp; set aside. Saute onion in oil in large heavy skillet. Add mushrooms, garlic and reserved chopped zucchini; cook over medium heat until most of moisture evaporates. Add sausage, cream cheese, egg, Parmesan, parsley, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Mix well; cook for about 5-10 minutes. Cool filling slightly and fill zucchini shells. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. Place on baking sheet; bake for 30-40 minutes at 350°F until bubbly and golden brown on top. The time in the oven will depend on the size of your zucchini.

You could easily make this a vegetarian dish by omitting the Italian Sausage.

Summer Vegetable Pizza

I managed to make it to the Farmer's Market for the first time this year yesterday afternoon. My roommates are out of town this weekend and so I decided that while I had the chance to experiment on my own, I'd pick up some fresh veggies to play with. One of the items I picked up was some eggplant. Now, I've cooked with eggplant before, but I've been pretty limited in preparation of them so far...in that I've only made them as eggplant parmesan. So, here's my first attempt at an alternative dish for eggplant!

Summer Vegetable Pizza

1 whole wheat pizza dough
1 small zucchini
1 small eggplant
3 small tomatoes
1/2 lemon
1 green onion
handful of basil
4 oz. goat cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper

Slice all of your veggies into thin rounds. Roll out pizza dough and put onto pan or pizza stone. Mix room temperature goat cheese with juice from the lemon, salt and pepper. Spread onto pizza dough. Sprinkle with slivers of basil. Spread rounds of vegetables in concentric circles. drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with green onions, salt and pepper. Bake in pre-heated oven at 450 for 10-15 minutes.

This is another of those pizza's where you could substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand and it will be great! The goat cheese, lemon and basil almost make it a little sweet, so the summer vegetables worked great with that combination!

Baby Red Potato Salad

Of course we had to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for the 4th of July! I wanted to make a lower-guilt side dish to go along with it, but was craving potato salad...so I searched for something that would work, thinking that maybe a more vinegar based salad would be best, especially since I had a few "pickier" eaters who don't like mayonnaise that much! I found this recipe on a blog I frequent and went with it. I liked it, it has a nice crunch to it with the fresh pepper and onion, and it has just a little bit of mayo so it still had that "potato salad" feel, but much lighter and fresher.

Baby Red Potato Salad

4 cups baby red potatoes, cut into quarters (or small pieces)
1/2 cup green pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

Boil potatoes in salted water until soft, approx 10 minutes. Drain and let cool.

While the potatoes are boiling, combine red onion, green pepper, mustard, olive oil, vinegar and mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and let the flavors marinade while the potatoes cook. Once the potatoes are done and cool, mix into the bowl and add scallions and additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve room temperature or refrigerate until ready to serve.
salt and pepper to taste.

Mango Salsa

I was planning a movie night with a small group of my friends and since I've been hearing a lot of grumbling about when I was going to make my famous Bitchin' BBQ Shrimp again I decided I might as well do it for movie night. For some reason I really wanted to make Mango Salsa to go with it. I don't usually serve this salsa with my shrimp, but mango's have been on sale a lot lately and I happened to have two of them that were ready to be eaten, and I figured it would probably go well with the shrimp especially if we made them into tacos. I will of course follow this post up with a post for the shrimp...they deserve their own post after all, they are that good!

Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangos chopped (small chunks are best)
1 lg. cerano chili (seeded & chopped)*
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
juice of 3 limes
juice of 3 oranges, or 3 tbsp. orange juice concentrate
1/4 bunch of cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Mix and serve.

*1 chili will make it just have a slight spicy bite to it, still pretty mild, you can adjust the heat of your salsa by adding another 1/2 or 1 whole chili.

Baked Zucchini Fries

A couple of posts ago (the Chili Rubbed Pork Chops post) I mentioned that I had made some zucchini fries to go along with the chops and so I figured I'd post that recipe as well for those who were interested. And since it seems like I've been on a small zucchini kick with the soup in my previous post!

Baked Zucchini Fries

1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp. flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup panko style bread crumbs
2 medium zucchini, cut into chunks and then into strips
2 large egg whites, whipped until frothy

Preheat oven to 425 oven. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix together the Italian seasoning, flour and salt. Place breadcrumbs in another bowl. Dredge the zucchini in the flour mixture, then dip in egg whites, and finish by dredging in the breadcrumbs. Place coated zucchini on coated baking sheet and repeat until all the zucchini is done. Spray top of zucchini with cooking spray and roast in oven for approx. 12 minutes, or until done and crispy on the outside.