Zucchini & Quinoa Cakes

I got this recipe from my niece, who got it from her friend who is vegan and went to culinary school. I'm not vegan so I adapted this slightly (used eggs and chicken broth). She sent the recipe via text and there are few amounts given so just wing it on the spices and breadcrumbs. I served them with grilled chicken and a simple salad of halved cherry tomatoes and chopped avocado drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil. I'm also not sure what size the patties are meant to be so I made a few large ones and some smaller ones - Dave liked them small, I liked them both. They were a bit dry for me (but I'm a sauce person) so I put a bit of sour cream on top, D liked them plain. It made quite a few patties - I ate them for breakfast and lunch the next couple of days but my niece says you can put them in the freezer if you want to eat at a later date. I will definitely make these again!

Cook 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups veggie broth (or chicken broth, or water) according to package directions.

Shred 3 medium zucchini and squeeze out excess water.

Saute one onion and 1/2 head garlic with some red pepper flakes.

Toss everything together with 2 eggs (or use "flax" eggs if you want this vegan), salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley and then add enough bread crumbs to be able to form the mixture into patties. Bake at 375' for 15 minutes, flip and bake another ten until browned on both sides.

Zucchini Tots

I "zoodled" some zucchini (made noodles out of zucchini) for Dave to eat with grilled chicken while I was gone to my sissy's wedding but he ended up going out just about every night so he stuck the zoodles in the freezer...hmmm I wasn't sure what the texture was going to be of the thawed zucchini and sure enough, it's not great - super watery. So instead of trying to keep them as zoodles I saw this recipe for zucchini tots and thought they might be good for that if I really wring all of the excess water out of the zucchini and then chop in small pieces...and it worked! These are so good!

ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 1 packed cup grated zucchini
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 medium onion, minced
• 1/4 cup grated reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400'. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Grate the zucchini into a clean dish towel until you have 1 packed cup. Wring all of the excess water out of the zucchini, there will be a lot of water. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Spoon 1 T. of mixture in your hands and roll into small ovals. Place on the cookie sheet and bake for 16-18 minutes, turning halfway through cooking until golden. Makes 16.

Yield:  serving size 5 tots. Per serving: 108 calories, 4.3g fat, sodium 262mg, carb 11.5g, protein 7g. 

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Sweet Potato "Toast"

After Mickey got me hooked on "dippy" eggs and avocado on multi grain toast she then told me about having eggs and avocado on sweet potato "toast". I was confused when she told me how she does it - she said she runs the slices thru the toaster a few times to get it toasted enough...wait, she puts sweet potatoes in the toaster? What? Well that's exactly what she does - I looked online and sure enough this is a thing! Slice the sweet potatoes into about 1/4" slices (I like them peeled but you don't have to) then literally put them in the toaster. I don't have a regular toaster so used my toaster oven, Mickey uses her plain old pop-up toaster. You have to put them thru a few times to get them cooked thru, my toaster takes about 4 cycles but play with yours until the potatoes are a little browned and not crunchy anymore.  I'm surprised to say they don't make a mess at all - no drips or anything. Of course it doesn't taste like toast (since it's not bread haha) but it's a great toast substitute and my "dippy" eggs and avocado taste great on these sweet potatoes - another winner Mickey!

Quinoa Salad

I was home for lunch and starving, of course I couldn't find anything to eat that sounded good - about the only thing in the fridge was some leftover quinoa from making the spinach and beet salad the other night (click here for that post) so decided to throw together a quick salad. A can of garbanzo beans, some feta cheese, a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped sun dried tomatoes (told you I didn't have much on hand - I raided the pantry to see what sounded like it would go good!) and tossed with olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, salt and pepper. This turned out to be yummy and satisfying - Dave even liked it! Quinoa salad! I wouldn'ta thunk it hahaha. Sometimes throwing stuff together turns out great (and sometimes it doesn't, but that's a different story)!

Roasted Tomatoes, Zucchini, and White Beans

My cherry tomatoes are really starting to come in so I did my favorite thing and roasted them along with a couple zucchini and a can of white beans. It was so good Dave asked me to make it twice this week!

Simple - halve cherry tomatoes and slice small zucchini about 1/2" thick, put in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings (I used course salt and italian seasoning).   Bake in 400' oven for at least 30 -45 minutes stirring occasionally. When the veggies are done to your liking add one can of well-rinsed white beans and continue baking until the beans are heated thru. If it seems a little dry I add a bit of spaghetti sauce - it's fine without it though. I finished by sprinkling with parmesan.

We had this as a side to grilled chicken one night, then 2 nights later I made it again as a side with pork tenderloin.