If you’ve ever grown zucchini or squash in a backyard garden, you are all too aware that you’ll reach a certain point in the summer where you begin running out of ideas of what to do with all of it. Unfortunately, it’s still spring so that wonderful problem isn’t quite upon us yet, but I thought that with the weather quickly warming, now is a good time to start prepping for the summer squash bonanza.

I might add, that I absolutely love zucchini; when forced to choose a favorite vegetable, zucchini is often my answer even though broccoli, peppers, and peas are pretty much tied with it for first. That aside however, I am always looking for delicious, hearty, non-dairy vegetarian dishes (that’s a mouthful!) that are easy to prepare because if it isn’t fairly easy to make, it won’t get made very often. Zucchini boats are something I associate with my mother, and she always filled them with a delicious cheesy, onion-y filling that was divine. (This filling also happened to be the sauce  for my parent’s baked macaroni and cheese; onion+butter+flour+milk+cheese+noddles = comfort food heaven.)  Both the macaroni and zucchini boats were certainly delicious dish, but I cannot eat them anymore due to my lactose issues. Furthermore, my boyfriend thought the macaroni sauce-filled zucchinis were rather boring texturally since it was all rather “mushy” as he put it. To fix both of these problems I came up with a new recipe that combined the best of both worlds: keep the zucchini boats and sauce, but come up with a new filling that had a different source of protein and flavor.

The recipe below makes about 4 main-course servings. To adjust, make about 1 whole zucchini per adult or 1/2 for children, and only increase the beans and onion slightly to accommodate more servings.

1 onion, diced
4 zucchini, washed
1 12 or 15 oz can black beans
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 c cheese (optional)
marinara sauce to cover (approximately 2 cups)

To prepare:

1.Preheat the oven to 450° F. NOTE: 350° F also works, but will extend the cooking time by about 10-15 minutes.

2. Fill a pot large enough to loosely and flatly fit all of the zucchini, about halfway with water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, wash the zucchini.

2. Dice the onion. Add the onion and olive oil to the sauté pan. Sauté until the onion has softened.

3. Rinse the beans thoroughly in a colander and add to the onions. Drizzle with more olive oil if needed. Sauté until warm.

3. Add the zucchini to the boiling water, reduce to medium heat, and cook for 15-20 minutes. When the zucchini bruises when you try to remove it from the water, it’s done. Remove the zucchini and place on a cutting board.

4. Cut both ends off and halve each zucchini. Then using a spoon, scoop out the seedy membrane. Be careful not to burn yourself because it needs to be done while they are still hot, and also be careful not to break the skin.

5. Dice up the seedy membrane you removed from the zucchini and add it to the beans and onion filling. That way nothing goes to waste and you get even more of that zucchini goodness!

5. Spray a small glass pan with PAM and lay the boats in so that they fit snuggly enough not to tip over, but not tightly.

6. Fill the boats with the beans and onion mixture. Then cover with cheese if desired.

7. Put in the preheated oven and cook for 10 minutes.

8. Pull out of the oven, add the marinara sauce so that is covers all of the boats, and place back in the oven for 10 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling around the sides.

That’s all there is to it! It’s about 45 minutes start to finish, but 20 minutes of it is just waiting for it to bake. This dish is a really balanced meal in and of itself and would be a nice change for vegetarians and vegans who are all to often served soggy eggplant paremsan and greasy stuffed portobello mushrooms; however, it’s also a great way to incorporate more veggies and non-meat proteins in to your diet. I served the zucchini boats with a baked potato dish, but it’s hearty enough that not much else is needed. I know I’ll be making this recipe again soon because it was a big hit! In the future I may try adding some minced garlic and freshly cracked pepper to the filling, but even without that it was full of flavor and really satisfying.

Also, the concept of filling a food with other foods, especially when you can call one a boat, is a great way to get kids to eat vegetable dishes…or at least, it worked for all the kids I know! Stuffed peppers are another good alternative, but I’ll save that for another day.

I hope you enjoy!

My father gave me a gift subscription to Bon Appetit and I’ve been loving it! The February 2012 issue was all about southern food and it got me thinking about how little I’ve learned about southern cuisine over the past 5 years. I wouldn’t go so far as to say chicken and dumplings is a southern recipe, but dumplings, like biscuits, tend to make me think of southern cooking.

To that end, I decided it would be a good idea to try out the Chicken and Dumplings recipe that appeared in this issue of Bon Appetit. Let me start by saying it is delicious. Let me follow that by saying it is super easy! The dumplings are a ricotta-based gnocchi and are packed full of taste but remain really light. Just dump the ingredients in a bowl, mix and chill. Nutmeg makes it such an interesting flavor. The chicken and gravy portion of the recipe is equally easy. Cook the chicken in the chicken broth, remove, make a roux of butter and flour, whisk it in to the broth, add the chopped vegetables, shred the meat and add it back to the pot. Viola a hearty, flavorful, healthy dinner!

Two of my dear friends from college came over to help me eat the large pot of this, and their were claims that this was the best meal they’d had in a long time. It doesn’t get better than easy to make, extremely delicious, and healthy too!

You can find the recipe on the Bon Appetit site, here. I made this again within the week and so far everyone who’s tried it has asked for the recipe. Now, I’ll just refer them here. I do hope you enjoy this though; it’s perfect for both a cold wintery night and a pleasant summer evening. This recipe is going down as one of my fall backs for many many years to come.

Ingredients

1 box of shell pasta

Cheese – a mix of Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Parmasean

Spinach – 1 package of frozen chopped spinach

1/2 onion diced*

2 tsp minced garlic (left overs from the Garlic Knots are perfect)

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

3 c tomato based sauce (Marinara or meat sauce works well)

*If you are not a fan of firm onions, you can sauté them lightly before adding them to the mixture.

 

 
Bring a pot of water to a boil, and add the shell pasta. Cook according to directions and drain. Set aside, but make sure that they do not stick together.

The mixture that you stuff the shells with can vary greatly depending on which cheeses you prefer. If you do not like ricotta, this is my recommended ratio: 1 cup or so of Ricotta , 2.5 c Mozzarella, and 1 c Parmesan. The small amount of Ricotta will not flavor the dish, but will help combine everything. You can also use mostly Ricotta, and if you want a cheaper option, you can use cottage cheese. Yes, I said cottage cheese; it sounds horrible, but it’s not bad, just add some Mozzarella.

Open the package of frozen spinach and thaw. Add the spinach to the cheese mixture. Then add the onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix until combined.

While the shells are cooling slightly, grease a 9×13 pan. Hold a shell in your non-dominant hand and fill with a spoonful of the cheese and spinach mixture. You should be able to fit three rows of about 12-15 shells each. They don’t need to be packed too tightly, but it should be a fairly smug fit. Once the shells are filled, pour the tomato sauce across the top of each row. Sprinkle more Mozzarella cheese over the top.

Cook the shells for 15-30 minutes at 350°F. Once the cheese on top has started to brown and the tomato sauce begins to bubble, they’re finished. Let sit for 3-5 minutes before serving.

One of my friends informed me that he was traumatized by Ricotta-only stuffed shells when he was growing up, but he said “I’d order those in a restaurant if they all tasted like that!” This really is a surprisingly fun and really easy meal that serves a crowd!

About four months ago, I came across a spicy tomato bisque recipe and decided to give it a try. I followed the directions fairly closely and the end result was a soup that was almost inedible because it was so heavily spiced. I definitely did not want to throw it out, so I figured I could try it out as the liquid and spice for a new chili. I had little hope of it being a game changing decision, but low and behold it was delicious! I have since tweaked the recipe and changed around the balance of ingredients a little bit, but I think we’ve got another winning chili recipe on our hands. Until the results are in, I will give you the modified version of the soup recipe and I would strongly recommend trying it out as a new way to add spice and bold flavor to chili.

Spicy Tomato Base for Chili

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 c Chopped Onion
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 c Celery
56 oz Tomatoes, crushed
3 c Vegetable Broth
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tbsp Dried Thyme
1 tsp Pepper, cracked
8-10 drops Tabasco
1/4 tsp Ground Cayenne

1. Heat a large pot over Medium-High heat.

2. Sauté the onion, garlic and celery until tender.

3. Stop cooking and puree the onion, garlic and celery mixture. Then move it back to the pan.

4. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt, thyme, pepper, Tabasco, and cayenne.

5. Reduce to low heat and simmer, covered, for approximately 30 minutes stirring frequently.

Once the primary ingredients for the chili are cooked and combined, add several cups of the tomato soup. Additional chili powder should be added to taste. This makes enough soup for several batches of chili, so after using it, I recommend dividing the remainder in to 2-4 cup servings and freezing them.

I like to serve my chili over cooked macaroni noodles and top it with diced onions and a little bit of Colby Jack cheese. Enjoy!

NOTE: For those of you involved in the contest of which I speak, I am taking it on good faith that this will not be used against me.