Zucchini Nachos

 A sarcastic comment made by my brother Brad a few weeks ago inspired this idea.  My mom and I were sitting around discussing new recipe ideas like taco sushi, when Brad piped in and said

" Geeze Kristen, why don't you just transform every food item into everything its not"

Well, I guess that's what I do.  Turning a vegetable that pares traditionally with Mediterranean flavors with Taco flavors. Transforming a healthy vegetable into a chip.  Sounds like fun!  





The best thing about eating Zucchini Nachos is that it feels like a guilty pleasure.  But it's not at all! 

If you are a reader of my blog, then you know that I consider zucchini, especially roasted zucchini somewhat of a vice.  Paring roasted zucchini slices with smokey salsa, spicy ground turkey and melty cheese was one of the best ideas I had in a long time.  ( well besides my Tuna melt on an apple slice, remember that?) 

I made Zucchini Nachos for lunch last Sunday afternoon, .  When I make a low carb recipe, and my husband doesn't reach for a bowl of cereal afterwards to " Fill himself up", I consider it to be a success.

When thinking about how I was going to make Zucchini Nachos, I considered cooking the zucchini two different ways. 

1) Roasting it in the oven with olive oil  and spices.  Have it be How zucchini should be. 
2) Making " Zucchini Chips".  Like These Zucchini Chips

Both would be fantastic. 

I decided that a " Zucchini Chip" might get a little soggy from all the toppings anyway, so I decided just to roast the zucchini in the oven the traditional way.  Perhaps I will try this with Zucchini Chips next time.

I always use ground Turkey instead of ground beef.  Its healthier and I am just not much of a beef eater anyway.  I added some dimension to my Zucchini Nachos by adding red pepper flakes to my ground beef. 

How to make Zucchini Nachos
Ingredients
3 Whole Large Zucchini, sliced
1 cup of your favorite salsa
1/4 cup of cheese. Whatever you prefer.
1/4 cup black beans
1 1lb ground turkey
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Other spicy or taco seasoning for the zucchini. Optional

1) Cut your zucchini up into small slices and bake in the oven at 425 F for 25 minutes
2) Saute groud beef. Add red pepper flakes or seasonings of your choice.

3) When the zucchini and grond turkey are done cooking, arrange them on a serving plate.
4) Top with cheese, black beans and salsa.
5) Eat. and with you had more.

I feel as though these photographs don't do this dish justice.  I am working from my old computer for a few days, as my lovely cat Max chewed through my computer power cord of my regular computer. Hopefully I will be back to normal next week.   

Butternut Squash Apple Sauce

Its still 90 degrees out.  But its after Labor Day.  When Labor day is over you're not supposed to wear white and you can start making Autumn butternut squash recipes.   I will also wait anxiously for Starbucks to start their "Pumpkin Spice Latte" season.

I have a 10 month old son.  I have been making homemade baby food for him since the spring.  Making my own baby food has given me a whole new appreciation for mixing vegetable and fruit flavors.  In our house, we mix zucchini with pears,  peas with pineapple, and cauliflower with apples.

Since I love butternut squash, and so does my son,  I decided to make a dessert we would both love!!

NO! I usually don't eat baby food!  My son is at the point in his development where he wants to eat
"Adult Human food"

I had heard of making applesauce in the crock pot before.  I decided to make my own crackpot applesauce, but to add my own twist, that being butternut squash.

Butternut Squash Applesauce 
Ingredients:
6 apples.  Use any kind of apple.  Its best to mix flavors.  I used 4 Gala and 2 Honey Crisp
1 small Butternut Squash.  This generates about 2 cups of 1/2 inch cubes 
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg 
1 tablespoon brown sugar 
1 cup water.  optional.  I used water to get my sauce the constancy I wanted.  

1) Peel and cut apples
2) Place in Crock pot along with cinnamon, lemon juice, nutmeg and sugar.
3) Peel and cube your butternut squash.

4) Steam your butternut squash cubes.  I used a microwavable vegetable steamer.  I wanted to make sure that the squash broke down enough.

5) After the squash is steamed. Use a spatula to mush it down before placing it in the crock pot.

6) Let your mixture cook on low for 6 hours

7) Puree your mixture to your desired consistency.  I wanted my applesauce to be chunky.

This applesauce was a big hit with my family.  My son and I are in Chicago visiting my folks this week while my husband is out of the country on business.  My parents and son all Loved this dessert.  It reminded me of fall ( with the air conditioning on it kind of feels like Fall inside).

My mom thinks that we need to use the leftover Butternut squash applesauce with pork chops later on in the week.

Kiwi Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches

I had two kiwi in my fridge to use up.  I thought about making a Kiwi vinaigrette.  Unfortunately, I don't have any ( non wilted)  lettuce in the house.

I decided to make some dessert.  We rarely eat desserts in our house. Unless Greg can convince me to get a McFlurry with him. He tries to convince me to eat McFlurries with him more then he would admit.   I finally had to put my foot down and tell him that I will never get into the shape I want if we keep doing that.

We just happened to have Mango-Peach frozen yogurt. Has been in the freezer for a while.  I decided to make a Kiwi Frozen yogurt sandwich.  A nice mini dessert!

I used a cookie scoop to scoop the frozen yogurt onto the kiwi. You only need a little bit to make this mini sandwich.

After these were done, I popped them into the freezer.  I took them out about 10 minutes before It was time for dessert.

This was a great way to celebrate our Monday evening:) 

Bell Pepper Scoop Chips

I know that on my Facebook page I  have mentioned that We LOVE The Chicago White Sox in our house.  Sometimes on game night ( game night is almost every night during the summer).  We will make a " snacky" dinner and just eat it as we watch the baseball game.

My son is 8 months old, so we can get away with not eating around the table some nights.   I have a feeling next year will be different.

The other night for dinner I made a few " skinny dips"   I wanted our " snacky" dinner to still be healthy, so I created Bell Pepper Scoop chips!

It was a great way to scoop up all of our yummy dip without all those calories ( or carbs)

The best part about this dinner is that it took barely any time to make it!

Here are two recipes I used for Healthier dips.

Skinny Salsa Dip 
Ingredients 
* 2 Chicken breasts
* 1 Jar of Salsa
* 1 handful of non fat shredded cheese. ( almost any cheese will work) 

Directions
1) Cut the chicken into small pieces
2) Saute chicken in a saucepan
3) Once the chicken is cooked.  Add a jar of salsa and simmer for 5-10 minutes. 
4) When your chicken and salsa are nicely mixed, take off the heat
5) Add the cheese and stir. 

Pea and avocado Hummus
Ingredients
* 1 can of mushy green peas
* 1 avocado
* I clove of garlic
* 1 tablespoon of lime juice. or the juice from 1 lime 
* salt and pepper 
* hot sauce to taste, if you please.  

Directions
Place all the ingredients into a food processor and mix to the consistency you prefer! 


Okay, back to my scoop peppers.

I purchased some Locally grown organic bell peppers. Are these not the prettiest peppers?

In order to turn these bell peppers into " Scoop" chips.  Try to cut them up in order to make each piece as " scoopy" as possible.  Some will be " Scoopier" then others.

When I ate this for dinner.  I was surprised on how fast these peppers filled me up.  These peppers are crunchy and crisp.  The scoops fit a nice amount of dip.  This is also a nice light snack or dinner for a hot summer evening.  Also, I think that Bell Pepper Scoop Chips work well with Mexican themed dips.

I really enjoyed these, and I will most defiantly be eating these again.  This was a great " light" dinner.

Well the White Sox lost to the Red Sox that particular evening.  At least I had a great dinner to eat while I was watching the game!!

Like?  Check out my Chicken Salad on a Stick!

Cucumber Subs

I am always experimenting with new low carb recipes.  Please "like" Make the best of everything on Facebook for new low carb updates!!

Here is another installment in my " eating lighter" campaign.  And I should just state that I am NOT anti bread!  I LOVE bread!  I am just trying to be pro vegetable!

Do you peel your cucumbers?  I sometimes do.  If the skin tastes bitter I will defiantly peel it.  If the cucumber is organic, I will always leave it on.  There is so much nutrients in the skin, that I like to keep the skin on if possible.

And I must say, that after a hard morning workout during this hot summer season, this was an extremely refreshing lunch.  I have always loved cucumbers.  They are so crisp and refreshing.  Have you ever had a cucumber slice on a Triscut cracker?  Now THATS something!

These are the ingredients I chose to use in my cucumber subs.  These are the items I prefer on a sandwich.  Guess what? you don't have to follow my recipe.  Make something you will enjoy!  I happen to be a HUGE fan of both dijon mustard and laughing cow cheese.

Cut your cucumber to make it appropriate for a sub sandwich and scoop out the seeds.  The sandwich fillings will go there!

This was a great lunch.  However, I am not sure I will make them exactly like this next time.  I will either cut the sandwich into smaller pieces before eating it, or I will make this open faced.

Like?  Check out my

 Zucchini Pizza Cups!           or my    Bell Pepper Scoop chips!

Star Tortilla Chips

If you read my blog, then you know that I might have gone overboard with the "Homemade tortilla chip"

Last fall I made a simple " Homemade tortilla chip" recipe.

Then around Valentines Day, I made Heart shaped tortilla chips.

This past spring I taught my readers how to make a Tortilla cup that looks like a rose.

Naturally, I decided to be redundant yet again, and made some Tortilla chip stars in honor of the 4th of July.

I did switch up the recipe a little bit.  I added cinnamon and sugar to these chips instead of salting them.

My original plan was to find blue tortilla's at my local Mexican grocery store, but I live in a town of 30,000 people.  It can be hard to find specially items.

I settled with white tortillas and took out a set of star cookie cutters that I received at a baby shower.

I used the cookie cutters to cut out stars.  I then brushed each star with a mixture of canola oil, sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Or until you think your chips are crispy to your satisfaction.

You may desire to sprinkle some extra cinnamon and sugar on these chips.

My smaller stars were a little well done.  either way, they were tasty.  These are a healthier alternative to all those patriotic cakes out there.  

Zucchini pizza cups

These are Zucchini pizza cups.  These cute little cups might just be the same thing that I always make for dinner, but transformed into a new shape.  If you are a reader of this blog, then you know I LOVE zucchini.

Just in a last month or so I have also made Zucchini Pizza  and Zucchini egg roll wrapper calzones.

When this idea popped into my head, I couldn't resist.

How to make Zucchini Pizza cups

1) Cut zucchini into 2 inch segments. 
2) use a melon baller to scoop out each zucchini piece, making them into cups. 
3) drizzle each cup with olive oil and some pepper. 
4) Roast in the oven at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. 

You should pull something that looks like these zucchini cups out of the oven.  Don't use as much olive oil as I did.  I tend to use too much.

5) Prepare your pizza toppings.  

My pizza toppings of choice almost ALWAYS include Italian sausage, as I am ( part) Italian and from the Chicago area.  Italian sausage is part of my family's culture.

I sautéed the Italian sausage and added the zucchini that I had scooped from the cups.  I don't like to waste food.

When cooking with Italian Sausage REMEMBER TO DRAIN the sausage after cooking.  This makes your dish much less greasy and cuts out some of the fat. 

6) Assemble your pizza cups.  Place your toppings in the cups, sprinkle with cheese and bake just until the cheese is melted. 

7) Serve with pizza sauce on the side and enjoy!

I will be making these again!  Roasting the zucchini in the oven caramelized the bottom of the zucchini cup, and it just tasted suburb! 

Salsa Shrimp Salad

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I have been trying to eat healthier.  I have been attempting new recipes and trying to eat more vegetables.  I think I might try posting more of these recipes I am attempting. ( well I guess it depends on how they turn out. sometimes my lack of following directions can come back to haunt my dinner plans!) 

Last week I made " Salsa shrimp salad".  " Salsa shrimp salad was so full of flavor, that you Don't need any salad dressing with it!

I got the idea of marinating cooked shrimp in salsa from Hungry girl.  She has a shrimp taco recipe. 

My mother and father in law live on a 6 acre lot in Iowa where they grow every organic vegetable you can think of, including several types of lettuce.  Last weekend, when they came to visit, they brought us a large bag of lettuce.  This inspired me to make lettuce wraps and a few new salads for dinners.

Organic lettuce from my in law's garden requires more time for washing then ready made grocery store lettuce, but its worth it!

How to Make "Salsa shrimp Salad"


Ingredients
-  lettuce
-  1 cucumber
-  1 carrot
-  1 avocado
-  2 cups of frozen cooked shrimp with the tail off
-  1 jar of salsa
-  cheese, if desired

Procedure
1) defrost the frozen shrimp
2) Marinate the shrimp in the jar of salsa for an afternoon in the fridge

For some reason, I LOVE great value salsa.

3) Clean and cut the lettuce and all the vegetables. ( Just use the vegetables that you happen to have around, I am sure your salad will still turn out great!)

4) Assemble the salad, leaving the bowl of Salsa shrimp on the side. As you can see I also have a bowl of cheese on the side.  I usually don't put cheese on my salads, but since I am using no salad dressing, I decided to splurge on some cheese.

Leave the shrimp salsa mixture cold when you take it out of the fridge.

Salsa marinated shrimp is AMAZING! Salsa is a great low calorie condiment to use if you are trying to eat healthier.

This is a salad I will be making again!