Best. Summer. Dinner. Ever.

Every once in awhile, nirvana is achieved.  Tonight was that moment.  It may not have been a flashy meal, but it was awesome, if I do say so myself.  Per our weekly menu, we had burgers, zucchini patties (not to be confused with Sponge Bob's crabby patties), sweet corn and salad.  In Food Network fashion, let me describe it to you.  (FYI: thinking about describing it has me actually salivating...weird.)

The Burgers: Hold your laughter -  I actually learned how to grill this summer. We also found that BJ's sells organic hamburgers so we buy in bulk and we make sure that not a single bite goes wasted since, while cheaper than the grocery store, they still cost us a bundle.  I was pretty proud of myself for grilling these and Muggle especially liked them, as evidenced by the fact that she stole and ate half of Will's burger while he was stunned and then screaming.

The Salad: Caesar Salad with organic greens from our CSA and my new obsession, Marie's Caesar Dressing (found in the refrigerated case):

Light dressing, it is not, but it is worth every.last.calorie.  It is delicious and tastes like restaurant dressing.  I justify it by saying that it encourages me to eat greens.  This is the "Nutella" argument. Have you seen those commercials?  The ones where the mom tries to get other moms to buy Nutella by saying that she puts it on all sorts of healthy things, like whole grain bread.  As if bathing fruit and bread in chocolate hazelnut spread is healthy!  It's a running joke in our house, as in:

Me: Will won't eat his broccoli.
Steve (in commercial voice): I love Nutella! I put it on all sorts of healthy things, like broccoli.
Me: Mmmm...Nutella.

But I digress.  I am consuming a jar of Marie's Caesar dressing a week, and I'm happier for it.

The Sweet Corn: Last year we only got corn from our CSA for one week and it was THE BEST corn I've ever had.  We got three ears this week and I am praying to God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, that we get more next week.  It is so sweet and delicious that it doesn't need anything on it and it's perfect. 

Finally, the Zucchini Patties: Here's the recipe. I made one critical substitution.  Steve went to the farm to pick up our goods, he came home with this eyesore squash:

Doesn't it look like a Nickelodeon slime/frisbee hybrid?  Steve "claims" that he made it last summer and it was awesome.  I asked what variety it was and he told me: summer squash.  Ha!  But I was stuck with it. In the end, it tasted just like zucchini.  We probably got duped and ended up with a deformed zucchini that they sold to us as some sort of a "gourmet" or "heirloom" variety and we fell for it.  I've been meaning to make the zucchini patties for a week or so, and I'm sorry I waited because they were awesome! The moral of this story is: you can use any summer squash.

I followed the recipe exactly (minus the tiny squash issue), and when I make them again, I will probably saute the onion in a little butter just to sweeten it a little since butter is delicious I have a raw onion diversion.  In all honestly, I think I love these because they taste like the zucchini blossoms that my Nonna makes.  I haven't a clue what is in hers, but these were a pretty good substitution.  I served them with warmed marinara on top, but they would have been fine alone.  Also, they would be a fabulous appetizer if you made them in miniature size.

Dinner was pure summer and was even puntuated by an early evening thunderstorm just as we sat down to eat.  Best of all, it was healthy so I'm not going to feel one ounce of guilt over eating my other obsession, Halo Farm Coffee Heath Bar ice cream, while watching Real Housewives of NYC tonight. 

Tomorrow night: Chicken Fajitas!

Adios!

The Planet Zucchini

First of all, let me explain the title - anyone who has children knows that on Sesame Street whenever there is a skit about space, there is always a character from the planet Zucchini.  For whatever reason, (ok I'm a loser), I think this is hilarious.  Will actually thinks that Zucchini is a real planet, and I don't correct him!

This week is all about zucchini & squash. We also have to eat our CSA take: 4 heads of lettuce, one head of broccoli, 3 ears of sweet corn, 1 zucchini, 1 weird squash (that's the technical term) that Steve took without asking me - don't get me started, 2 quarts of string beans (I'll probably freeze them for winter) and one bunch basil.

Here's our meal plan for the week:
Tonight (Tuesday): Couscous Casserole - more about that later
Wednesday: Couscous Casserole Leftovers
Thursday: Burgers with Zucchini Patties and Sweet Corn
Friday: Chicken Fajitas
Saturday: My sister's Bachelorette Party!  Sayonara Zucchini!  Hell-o Continental Midtown!
Sunday: Grilled Pizzas with Peppers, Onions & Broccoli
Monday: More Leftovers :(

We are also having salad every night with dinner and later this week I'm going to make pesto with the basil.

As for tonight, I made a Couscous Casserole, a recipe my friend M gave me.  Seriously, it was SO good!  Steve had thirds, Will exclaimed "Mmmm!" when he tried it! Here's the recipe with my changes:

Couscous Casserole

Adapted from Parents Magazine

• 2 T. Olive Oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. garlic
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 large zucchini, cut into thin slices
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 4 cups pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup couscous - this is the one thing I totally changed from the recipe. I think this is far too little. I used one box of Near East Whole Wheat couscous. It was about 1 1/3 cups dried couscous.
• salt and pepper
• grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the zucchini and put it on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt & pepper.  Bake for 8 minutes or so, then take them out & set aside. Set oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a skillet over medium-high heat, saute onions and garlic in 2 T. olive oil. After about five minutes, add the meat and stir; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, then set aside.

4. Heat the stock and the pasta sauce over medium heat. Bring to a gentle bubble, then add couscous. Stir well, cover, turn off heat; let sit 10 minutes.

5. Spoon a layer of couscous into bottom a 1.5-2 quart casserole dish. Top couscous with a layer of zucchini, then with a layer of meat. Repeat until you have used up all ingredients, ending with a top layer of couscous. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

6. Cook for 25 minutes or until heated through.

The best part of the recipe is that you can basically throw whatever vegetables you have in the house in it and it would taste great.  I think the one change that I might make would be to use Israeli couscous since it would add some more texture.  I served it with homemade focaccia (Pillsbury pizza crust brushed with olive oil and garlic, salt, pepper and italian seasoning then baked according to package directions) and of course, salad.

We all enjoyed and since Will has speech on Tuesdays, I am now on the hunt for casseroles that I can make ahead and Steve can throw in the oven.  This is going in the rotation- thanks M! So far, it has been a successful trip to the planet Zucchini!

Tomorrow since we aren't having a new recipe, I have LOTS of topics to blog about including (but not limited to): the lunatics on Extreme Couponers, The Bachelorette, and my borderline obsession with the last Harry Potter movie. See you then!