Crustless Zucchini Pie

It's late summer. The time of year when it's sunny and warm during the day, but the night air feels crisp and cool. When apples taste amazing, and pumpkins are plump and ready for picking. When you start dreaming of hayrides, halloween and pumpkin cream cheese muffins—and every other pumpkin treat under the sun!

This zucchini pie is light, flavorful and healthy! It involves shallots, which is always a good sign. All you need is a little bit of cheese to add some great richness to the veggies. Serve it alongside a green salad for dinner or as a tasty addition to your brunch menu!

It looks like chic food, and very well may be, but my husband loved it! It's so easy, delicious AND nutritious, that it's totally in my weeknight dinner rotation.

Crustless Zucchini Pie

Adapted from Skinnytaste

Serves 6

Weight Watchers Points: 3

Calories: 125.3

Fat: 4.8 g

Protein: 8.1 g

Carbs: 12.1 g

Fiber: 2.0 g

Sugar: 2.5 g

Sodium: 420.1 mg

Ingredients:

• 10 oz shredded zucchini, squeezed of liquid
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1/4 chopped fresh chives
• 1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup fat free milk
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• fresh cracked pepper to taste
• cooking spray (I used my misto)

Start by prepping your ingredients. Shred your zucchini and cheese and chop your shallots and green onions.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a pie plate with cooking spray or your misto. Combine zucchini, shallots, green onions and mozzarella in a large bowl.

Mix flour and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Add milk, olive oil, beaten eggs, salt and fresh cracked pepper and blend well. Pour into zucchini mixture and mix until combined.

Pour the entire mixture into the pie plate and top with parmesan cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the center is set and the top is beginning to brown slightly. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  

Restaurant Style Loaded Baked Potatoes

In the fourth grade, I was recruited into a group called “HAMS.” It stood for “highly abled music students.” I was surprised and flattered since I didn't consider myself particularly music inclined. In HAMS, we sung a song about baked potatoes. It goes like this:

Come and get your baked potato, baked potato, baked potato

Come and get your baked potato

Careful, it may be hot.

Add some butter, salt and pepper, salt and pepper, salt and pepper

Add some butter, salt and pepper

Careful, it may be hot.

Really involved, challenging stuff right there.

Yet I still remember the song, and feel compelled to sing it each time I make baked potatoes. 

Call me silly, but you too may be finding yourself singing the praises of baked potatoes once you make these babies. They taste like they're straight of of your favorite steakhouse. And they're super easy!

Here's how you get perfect restaurant style baked potatoes every time.  

Restaurant Style Loaded Baked Potatoes

Adapted from: I Wash...You Dry

Ingredients

• medium sized russet potatoes
• sea salt
• olive oil
• toppings of Choice (I used grated cheese--montery jack & cheddar, chives, bacon, salt and pepper) Other ideas: sour cream, butter, chile, diced tomatoes, broccoli, etc.

Preheat your oven to 375 and scrub all of the dirt off of the potatoes. Then pat them dry. Poke each potato 4 or 5 times in different places with a fork. Then brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle a generous pinch of sea salt on each.

Place the potatoes directly on the oven racks and bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until a fork pierces the potato with little resistance.  

Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes or until you can handle them comfortably. Cut lengthwise across the top, leaving about ½ inch on each side. (Do not slice in half)

Now this is the part that makes the potato look plump and super cute—using both hands, pinch each side of the potato and push toward the center of the potato, forcing it to open up. Keep pushing and squeeze the insides up. It might take a couple of tries to master the technique.  

Mmm and now you have an adorable, crispy-skinned potato ready for all of the fixins!

I topped mine and Lover's with cheddar and montery jack cheese, bacon and chives. Then I popped it back in the oven for a few minutes to get the cheese nice and melty. The possibilities are endless!  

Easy Cheesy Bacon Biscuits

August 19th marked our two year anniversary of wedded bliss! As you may expect, part of the celebration involved an elaborate man-pleasing meal. You know the kind—with steak, fancy potatoes, an elegant vegetable and Pillsbury biscuits from a can.

Yes, you heard the last part right. I spent so much time and energy figuring out how to cook a perfect steak, piping duchess potatoes through my dessert decorator pro, and wrapping the asparagus in bacon, that when it came time to think about bread, it was all I could do to pop open a can of biscuits.

Ok ok, it's true that I fried up a little bacon and shredded some cheese to go along with it, but I really took it easy on the bread, I did. And you would have never known it. Because these bacon cheddar biscuits were super delish. I dare you to try them in a pinch!

Start with TA DA, some Pillsbury biscuits. I like the big and buttery kind. Please don't buy generic—we're already cheating as it is gals. And guys. Are there any guys reading this?

Anyway. Here's your cast of characters.

Easy Cheesy Bacon Biscuits

Adapted from Picky Palate 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• One roll refrigerated biscuit dough, 8 count
• 6 thin slices fresh mozzarella
• Crumbled bacon (5-8 slices)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (please please shred yourself)

Rub some soften butter on the bottom of your cast iron skillet. Be generous! We're talking around 2 tablespoons-ish. Then pop open your can of biscuits and place them in the skillet. They should fit perfectly with a little room in between.

Preheat the oven to 350. Top with thin slices of fresh mozzarella (you can use shredded if needed), bacon crumbles and shredded cheddar. As always, buy it by the block and shred it yourself please. The difference is night and day! 

Then just stick them in your oven and bake for 15 or 20 minutes, until biscuits are cooked through and cheese is melted.

Since our anniversary fell on a Sunday, and we stay in on Sundays, Gradon whisked me away for a romantic dinner at the Ivy Inn on Saturday evening. I was so impressed that he found such an amazing place. We had a truly unforgettable night there! They really fussed over us—I couldn't believe how they mastered all of the tiny details. From customizing our menus to giving us complimentary appetizers and desserts, every little aspect was perfect. They even poured us complimentary champagne before we could tell them that we don't drink, and when we said so, our waiter mixed us up special non alcoholic strawberry daiquiris. My entree was a plate of humungous gnocchi with chicken and the most delectable sauce. Gradon got a monster steak, of course!

 

 

 

 

 

The whole dining experience was just over the top! I loved every minute. With full bellies, we wandered around the garden a bit and marveled at the huge rosemary and basil bushes. Then we headed home and watched the Hunger Games. Gradon got up early on Saturday and reserved it during the first couple of hours that it was available on Red Box. He knew I was dying to see it! We snagged it just before it went out of stock.

On Sunday, we broke out the china and had a lovely dinner. We opened presents too! Gradon got me some pretty Paula Deen oven to table bakeware that I've been wanting and I got him some UVA gear and compiled a photo book documenting our first year in Charlottesville. I always know I've succeeded in gift giving when he gets a little teary eyed. Oh boy, do I love that guy.

Freschetta

I am obsessed with this bread. Straight up obsessed.

I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of my life. One bite and you will find yourself marveling at the complex array of flavors that it delivers. Something about the combination of toasted cheesy, garlicky ciabatta bread and red ripe fresh roma tomatoes gets my heart singing. And that tiny hint of balsamic vinegar...oh boy, you just have to taste it to believe it.

Do yourself a favor and run out to the grocery store to pick up these few simple ingredients! Start with good quality ciabatta bread from the bakery section and you can't go wrong from there. This recipe is quick and easy, but delivers memorable results!

Make this for someone you love today. I served it to my parents when they came into town a couple of weekends back and it was a big hit with my dad! He dubbed it “Freschetta,” and I think it's the perfect name! It tastes both indulgent and fresh!

Freschetta

Ingredients:

• 5 firm Roma tomatoes, diced
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 10 large fresh basil leaves, stacked, rolled then thinly sliced (chiffonade)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 loaf Ciabatta bread
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon Lawry’s Garlic Salt
• 1- 1/2 cups mozzarella (buy a block and shred yourself)

Take a stick of unsalted butter out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for a half hour or so before you begin. Start by dicing your roma tomatoes, peeling and mincing the garlic and shredding the cheese. Be sure to buy an 8 oz block of mozzarella and shred a cup to a cup and a half yourself. It will make all the difference in the melty goodness! Preheat your broiler on the oven.

To prepare bruschetta topping, place diced tomatoes, garlic, sliced basil leaves, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl, stirring to combine. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.

Cut your bread in half and place cut side up on a large baking sheet. Spread with softened butter and season with garlic salt. Top evenly with mozzarella and then bruschetta mixture. 

Place under broiler for about 5 minutes or until bread is toasted and golden brown. Remove, cut diagonally into pizza-like slices and serve immediately. It tastes amazing warm!

Grades and I were lucky enough to tag along with my parents to Busch Gardens and Williamsburg a little while back. Unfortunately I haven't snagged the exciting theme park pictures off of my dad's camera yet, so we'll have to settle for some shots of our educational experience instead! You'll have to take my word for it that I rode the big scary roller coasters. At least until I got sick and had to sit the last couple of them out!

We were totally mesmerized by all of the colonial people, the girls dressed in heavy dresses with petticoats underneath, the men in stockings and pantaloons—in the heat of summer! They all acted perfectly in accordance with the time period and really gave us a sense of what it was like back in the day.

 

 

 

 

 We stayed in a marvelous hotel called the Crossings where there was a free breakfast and freshly baked cookies waiting for us each morning. We also took advantage of the game room and wandered around poolside a bit—although we didn't get to go in because it stormed. Which reminds me, by far the most memorable moment of our trip was getting caught in a torrential downpour just as we were wrapping up the day in Williamsburg. We tried to take shelter under a tree but got completely soaked anyway!