Turkey Cutlets with Dijon Sauce Recipe

A super-quick and easy recipe and if you have picky kids, just give them a piece without the sauce!

(Updated May 2012 with greatly-improved photos and step-by-step instructions.)  I've been getting so much satisfaction from the process of updating my very earliest recipes with new photos.  Not only does it give me a chance to cook some of my favorite recipes again, but I know that the new photos might entice someone to try a recipe that they probably wouldn't have been inspired to cook otherwise.  If you scroll down to the end of the step-by-step photos on this post, you'll see why I was especially happy to get new photos for this delicious recipe of quickly-sauteed turkey cutlets with Dijon sauce.  That first photo was from September 2005, when I'd barely entered the digital camera age with a little point-and-shoot camera, and in those days I had plenty of passion for cooking, but very little skill in photographing the food!

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Recipe for Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos with Spicy Slaw and Avocado

A beef roast is cooked in the slow cooker with Mexican flavors until it easily shreds apart and then it's made into tacos with whole wheat tortillas, spicy slaw, and avocado.

It only makes sense that with my new slow cooker blog, I'm paying more attention to how people use their slow cookers year round.  I'm finding lots of slow cooker recipes like these shredded beef tacos, which would taste just as good in the dead of winter as they did on a warm night last week. But one happy thing about cooking something like this when it's starting to get hot outside is that the slow cooker doesn't heat up the house for those hours that the meat is getting tender.  I love the spicy slaw that comes with fish tacos, so I couldn't resist adding some of that to my tacos, along with a little avocado, and two of these tacos made a perfect dinner for me.

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Recipe for Baby Kale and Mozzarella Quesadillas with Sriracha-Ranch Dipping Sauce

Quesadillas with baby kale and mozzarella, served with a spicy Sriracha-Ranch Dipping Sauce.

Some of you guys who haven't yet joined the Baby Kale Fan Club might think I've gone a little too far with this recipe for Baby Kale and Mozzarella Quesadillas with Sriracha-Ranch Dipping Sauce.  It was just an idea that popped into my head when baby kale had been on sale and I had an abundance of it in my fridge, and when Jake and I were making the first quesadilla I wasn't sure it was going to be anything special.  But oh my, the quesadillas were so amazingly good with the dipping sauce.  I don't know if this is something you could get a green-veggie phobic kid to eat, but it would certainly be easy enough to make a plain cheese quesadilla for the kids if you made this for a family dinner.  And if the adults in the family like leafy greens, I promise this will be a hit!

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How to Grill Zucchini - Perfect Every Time!

Perfect Grilled Zucchini, something I make as a side dish all summer long!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  This easy recipe for Grilled Zucchini is something I make several times a week all summer long!)

For most of my life I was kind of lukewarm about zucchini. When I was a kid, my mom would dip it in egg and fry it, something I liked ok, but didn't love. It wasn't until I discovered how great grilled zucchini can taste (and my mom started making "creamed" zucchini") that I really started appreciating the zucchini that sprout up overnight in the garden.

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Recipe for Sweet and Sour Broccoli Salad (Version 2.0)

This is a salad I've been making for years, but cutting the broccoli in smaller pieces is a big improvement!

(Updated June 2012 with better photos and a new way of chopping the broccoli that I think is a big improvement!)  This recipe for broccoli salad with red onion, bacon, cheese and a sweet and sour mayo-based dressing is something I've been making for years.  I've experimented with Splenda, Granulated Stevia, and Agave nectar in the dressing, used more or less bacon and cheese (depending on how diet-friendly I wanted to make it), and switched out the traditional raisins for chopped pecans, and no matter how I changed it up, the salad has always been a hit.  But recently I attended a baby christening party for my nephew Aaron and wife Amee's darling new baby girl and Amee's Aunt Lynette had a new twist on the salad that really wowed me.  Presenting Sweet and Sour Broccoli Salad Version 2.0, with the broccoli chopped into much smaller pieces!

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Slow Cooker Recipe for Sriracha-Pineapple Barbecued Chicken Sandwiches with Easy Guacamole

Use the Sriracha-Pineapple Barbecued Chicken on a sandwich, inside a pita pocket, or on a salad.

I know some people think of the slow cooker as only being for cold-weather foods like soup and stew, but truthfully I love my slow cooker just as much in the summer for the way it lets me cook without heating up the house.  This recipe for Sriracha-Pineapple Barbecued Chicken only takes a few hours in the slow cooker, and it's something that would be perfect you're having guests and you'd like an easy main dish that can be eaten outdoors.  The Easy Guacamole is optional, but for me it was the perfect topping for the sandwich.  This would also taste great stuffed inside a pita, or served over greens for a salad.

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Recipe for Julienned Zucchini "Spaghetti" with Quick Sausage, Tomato, and Basil Sauce

Don't think of Zucchini "Spaghetti" as a replacement for pasta, think of it as a delicious zucchini dish!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  I made this julienned zucchini "spaghetti" over and over after I tried it last summer.)

Have you ever used a Julienne Cutter or a Mandoline Slicer to cut zucchini into thin "spaghetti-like" strands and then served it like pasta?  I have both those handy cooking tools and I certainly have an abundance of zucchini every summer, but I just tried doing that for the first time this week.  I ate my zucchini "spaghetti" with a very tasty quick sauce made from spicy hot Italian sausage, tomatoes, and lots of chopped basil, parsley, and oregano, and completely enjoyed it for a quick dinner.

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Recipe for Low-Sugar Fat-Free Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Strawberry frozen yogurt that's so delicious you'll never dream it's fat-free and has no added sugar.

A couple of weeks ago I was at Costco and they had a special on the Cuisinart 1-1/2-Quart Ice Cream Maker, and before you could say Low-Sugar Fat Free Strawberry Frozen Yogurt, one of the ice cream makers was in my cart.  I'm not a big ice cream eater, but for a few years now I've been thinking it might be fun to experiment with sugar-free or low-sugar frozen yogurt.  My first experiment with the new ice cream maker was not a keeper, but this time the frozen yogurt was so good that even my young nephews who were visiting gobbled it up.  Ethan (age 11) told me quite seriously, "You can even say on your blog that it's kid approved, and kids don't usually like ice cream that doesn't have sugar."

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Recipe for Cauliflower-Crust Vegetarian Pizza with Mushrooms and Olives (Low-carb, Gluten-free)

This low-carb and gluten-free Cauliflower-Crust Vegetarian Pizza can be cooked on the grill or in the oven.

Last year I started noticing cauliflower-crust pizza showing up on healthy cooking blogs, but I didn't pay much attention to the idea until a few readers wrote and said they were sure I would love it.   One person sent me a link to this recipe from Eat. Drink. Smile. and that's the one my nephew Jake and I used as our starting point when we decided to experiment with a cauliflower crust.  It took us three different tries and the addition of both almond meal and grated Parmesan cheese to get a crust that we thought was about as crispy and bread-like as you could get when the main ingredient was cauliflower, and we both loved how the final pizza turned out.  I'm not sure this will ever replace regular pizza for some people, but if you'd like to try a pizza crust that's low-carb, gluten-free, and more nutritious than regular crust made with flour, I think you'll be pleased with this version.

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Recipe for Meat, Tomato, and Mozzarella Stuffed Zucchini Cups

"Cups" made from giant zucchini slices and filled with a meat, tomato, and mozzarella mixture.

 
(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  It's monster zucchini season here and last Friday I spotlighted Monster Zucchini and Basil Strata.   This recipe for zucchini Meat, Tomato, and Mozzarella Stuffed Zucchini Cups uses "cups" created from slices of overly-large zucchini, and this is another of my very favorite things to make when the zucchini gets out of control.  Enjoy!)

Despite the rather messy plating job, I'm excited about this new way of making stuffed zucchini by slicing an overly-large zucchini into two-inch slices, then hollowing out the slices to make zucchini "cups." Normally I'm a fan of round 8-ball squash for Stuffed Zucchini, but this year my 8-Ball squash hardly produced anything. Meanwhile, my regular zucchini plant kept producing zucchinis that were too big, causing me to get creative. Don't you think hollowing out a zucchini cup like this and filling it with meat and cheese sounds like a delicious way to use zucchini? Zucchini is definitely on surplus status around here, so there may be some other zucchini recipes coming up this week as well.

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Chicken Souvlaki Recipe

Chicken Souvlaki plus a tomato and cucumber salad is a perfect summer meal!

(Updated with new photos and better instructions, August 2012.)   Souvlaki is a dish that's so classic it's part of Wikipedia, which defines it as small pieces of meat grilled on a skewer. If I were writing the definition, I'd add that the Greek cooking trinity of lemon, garlic, and oregano would have to be included, and since I was using chicken this time I also added a touch of thyme to the marinade.   I like traditional Souvlaki made from pork, as well as Lamb Souvlaki, but for a light summer meal I don't think you can beat the combination of Chicken Souvlaki and a salad with cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden.  I made that this week when my sister Pam and brother-in-law Kelly came for dinner and took a few photos to update this favorite recipe. 

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Recipe for Braised Green Beans with Garlic, Tomatoes, Olives, and Capers

Delicious fresh green beans braised with garlic, tomatoes, olives, and capers.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  When the garden starts exploding with green beans, this is one of my favorite ways to use them.)

Although I love having a garden where I can grow a lot of my own vegetables, keeping up with garden vegetables can be a challenge, and if you're not diligent vegetables quickly grow too big. Green beans are the plant I have the hardest time with; they come on so quickly that often when I pick them I find a bunch of over-sized green beans. If you have garden where the beans sometimes get a little too big, this recipe for beans are braised with garlic, tomatoes, olives, capers, and a little water is a good method for making larger beans tender. (I'm mentioning that as a public service announcement, since I tried this recipe before I even had beans in my garden and the pictures in these photos are thin green beans from Costco!)

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Recipe for Lemony Green Beans (Green Beans with Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest)

Super easy and delicious Green Beans with Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest.

 
(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  Right now my garden is producing more green beans than I can keep up with, and these lemony green beans are one of my favorite ways to use them.)

If you have a garden that's producing green beans, I enthusiastically advise that you bookmark this recipe and make it over and over again. I didn't even have garden beans when I first tried the recipe, but I made it three times with the French green beans that come from Costco. In fact, the first time I made it, I ended up eating a whole pound of green beans myself and calling it lunch! Thanks to Cheap Healthy Good for inspiring me to buy Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, which is where I found this idea for my new favorite way to cook green beans!

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Recipe for "Creamed" Zucchini (a Denny Family secret!)

The secret Denny Family "Creamed" Zucchini!

(Updated with better photos and more complete instructions, August 2012.)  Every family has their secrets, don't they?  My family is actually amazingly wholesome, but we do have this secret recipe for "Creamed" Zucchini, using an ingredient that's maybe slightly embarrassing for those of us who try to be healthy eaters.  If you're greatly concerned with not using processed foods, you may turn up your nose at our favorite zucchini recipe, featuring a humble ingredient like powdered coffee creamer. But I can tell you, everyone I've ever made this for has loved it!  And in a family where there are very few coffee drinkers, every one of my siblings has a bottle of Coffee-Mate in the cupboard just to make this recipe. And although powdered coffee creamer could hardly be considered a "healthy" food, when you make this you're eating mostly zucchini and the small amount of creamer that sticks to the squash.  Most of the "juice" containing the dissolved creamer stays in the pan or on your plate.

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Grilled Curried Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce

These Grilled Curried Chicken Skewers are great with the Spicy Peanut Sauce!

(Updated August 2012 with better photos and instructions.)  I love having a grill that's on a covered deck, so even when summer is kind of winding down I can make things like these Grilled Curried Chicken Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce for a few more months.  The chicken skewers were adapted from a recipe in, Fine Cooking Annual, a cookbook where I've loved every recipe I tried.  In the book they were appetizer-sized chicken satays, but I cut the chicken bigger, marinated it longer, and made them for an entree.  I've made these several times since I first posted the recipe in April 2007 (obviously cooking under a covered deck then as well, although it was on the front porch in those days.)  I finally got organized and took a new photo, which really shows off how tasty this recipe is!

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Recipe for Low-Sugar and Fat-Free Fresh Peach Frozen Yogurt

Creamy and flavorful low-sugar and fat-free fresh peach frozen yogurt!

Food blogging is different from ordinary cooking in an important way, because if you cook something amazing but you don't have photos that make it look good, you can't share that recipe on your blog.  When I set out to record the deliciousness of this Low-Sugar and Fat-Free Fresh Peach Frozen Yogurt, the first time I overestimated the recipe and the ice cream freezer overflowed, and the second time I accidentally deleted the process photos before I saved them on my computer.  The third time was the charm though, and now I have a bunch of little containers of this frozen yogurt in the freezer, in a size that guarantees portion control!  I got my peaches from the fabulous Trina, and I heard over the weekend from a reliable source that fresh peaches are still abundant, so I hope you'll try this before they're gone for the year.

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Grilled Zucchini "Lasagna" Recipe with Italian Sausage, Tomato, and Basil Sauce

Low-Carb and Gluten-Free "Lasagna" with grilled zucchini replacing the noodles!

(Updated with new photos and better instructions, September 2012.)  This recipe is for vegetable gardeners in the northern hemisphere who might be wondering how to use one of those huge zucchinis that suddenly appear overnight. For years I've been making "lasagna" using zucchini in place of the lasagna noodles, and this is one of my favorite uses for those monster zucchinis that are inevitable if you have a garden.  Grilling the zucchini removes some of the liquid that might otherwise make the zucchini too watery, and if you don't have an outdoor grill you could certainly do this on a stove-top grill pan. Of course, using zucchini instead of pasta makes a version of lasagna that's low-carb, gluten-free, and South Beach Diet friendly, (and could easily be vegetarian without the sausage in the sauce) but it's delicious as well!

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Recipe for Spicy Slow Cooker Rice with Green Chiles, Green Onions, and Cheese

This Green Chile and Cheese Rice cooks in the slow cooker while you're making the rest of the meal.

I wasn't going to post this recipe for Slow Cooker Green Chile and Cheese rice for a few more weeks, but when I published the updated recipe for Hamburger Kebabs, a reader named Amanda asked for the recipe for the rice dish on the plate, and I promised I would post it this week.   So for Amanda, and anyone else who'd like an absolutely fantastic side dish made from leftover cooked rice and a few other ingredients you probably always have in the fridge, here's my new favorite recipe featuring rice.  

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Slow Cooker Recipe for Spicy Shredded Chicken Lettuce Wrap Tacos (or Tostadas) with Avocado Salsa

Spicy Shredded Chicken cooked in the slow cooker and then made into lettuce wrap tacos or tostadas!

These Spicy Shredded Chicken Lettuce Wrap Tacos are one of those recipes that every slow cooker fan will appreciate because once you've made the spicy shredded chicken, there are endless ways to use it.  I experimented a few times with the slow cooker part of the recipe to get the chicken flavored just like I wanted it, and we made lettuce wrap tacos and tasty chicken tostadas, but you could also use this shredded chicken to make regular tacos, nachos, burritos, or even enchiladas.  And don't skip the avocado salsa, which was the perfect thing to go with the spicy meat.

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Recipe for Val's Easy and Amazing Yellow Squash with Tomatoes and Parmesan

If you're like me and still have garden squash, this recipe is a Must Try!

When my sister Val called last week and told me she'd come up with a new way to cook yellow squash that was becoming her new favorite, I couldn't wait to try it, and I loved this combination of yellow squash sauteed with onion and a generous amount of garlic, barely warmed tomatoes, and Parmesan.  I made it again with Val's son Jake to take photos, and he agreed it was definitely a keeper.  I know that Fall has officially arrived, but my garden doesn't seem to have gotten that memo, so if you still have garden squash like I do, you need to put this on your "Must Try" list!

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