Yellow Squash Fritters

The early fall take-home from our food co-op has included some beautiful yellow squash. I have no trouble using up this veggie and have lots of favorite things to do with it, like sauteing and adding Italian spices and Parmesan cheese, or simply using it in spaghetti sauce or in a lasagna. However, I'd seen this recipe made on a cooking show and wanted to try it. As usual, I started with a base recipe and made a number of changes to suit us. You should do the same!

Here are the ingredients:

1 medium yellow squash, soft/seedy parts removed, and chopped into small cubes - you will need 1 C of mashed squash in the end, or if you have more than that, just adjust the other ingredients
1 Tbs. dried onion flakes
1/4 C chicken broth
1 egg
1/3 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 C cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
oil for frying - 1/4 to 1/3 C

Instructions:
Cook the squash with the dried onions in the chicken broth, until tender. I used a microwave vegetable bowl for this step. I also added salt and pepper to the squash, but you can suit your own taste here - in fact if you like spicier food, a touch of cayenne would be good. Once this mixture is tender, mash it, using a potato masher, or if you are lucky enough to have a hand blender, use that until it looks about like this consistency:

Beat the egg into the squash mixture until well blended. Next, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the squash mixture to the flour mixture, stirring well but not over beating.

Heat the oil in your skillet - I used about 1/3 C for frying these. Drop batter into the oil by the tablespoonful. Don't over crowd the skillet- you may need to do these in a couple of batches. Flip over to cook the other side. Drain on a paper towel. I got about 12 fritters out of this batch.

We enjoyed these along side a nice steak and the next morning they were great with sunny-side-up eggs!

Citrus Tarragon Chicken Kabobs

I used a marinade recipe from The Food Network website as the base for this shish kabob dish. It is so tangy and full of flavor - really good and the marinade tastes don't disappear even after grilling. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Do note that this is a do-ahead recipe.

Marinade ingredients:
1 orange, zested, then juiced
1 lemon, zested, then juiced
1 lime, zested, then juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Kabob ingredients:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
assorted vegetables, like zucchini, bell peppers, onions and mushrooms, cut into approximately 2 inch pieces (leave the mushrooms whole unless they're huge!)

Mix together all the marinade ingredients in a large zip lock baggie. Drop in the chicken cubes and marinate at least 4 hours - I almost always marinate meats overnight. After marinating time is up, thread the vegetables and chicken on skewers. I will often do this part well ahead of time, and if I'm using bamboo skewers I find that stringing them ahead eliminates the need to soak the skewers. (Of course the kabobs should go back into the fridge until time to grill.) Grill slowly, turning every so often, to prevent burning, and ensure thorough cooking of the chicken.
***A tip for well cooked shish kabob is to soften crisper types of vegetables, like peppers and onions, by microwaving them briefly. This helps to get them totally cooked on the grill, instead of having the problem of cooked meat and slightly raw veggies, which I don't care for!

Stuffed Zucchini

This stuff is fabulous! This is a shot taken just before they went in the oven. I have an old photocopied collection of recipes for zucchini, from the Colorado State University Extension Dept., and the stuffed zucchini has remained a favorite of mine for about 25 years. Jeesh I'm feeling old!

This is one of those do-your-own-thing kinds of recipes for the most part. But here are the basic steps and ingredient suggestions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray your baking dish, the size depends on how many zucchini you're filling of course. This works with either smaller zucchini or even overgrown zucchini.
3. Wash and trim the zucchini, cut them in half lengthwise, and scoop out the pulpy centers. Some people par boil the zucchini, but I just microwave them for a couple of minutes to begin cooking them. Place the zucchini cut side up in the baking dish. If they won't sit flat, trim a strip down the center of the undersides of the zucchini to help stabilize them.
**It helps to steam the zucchini if you put a little water or plain tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish before you place the zucchini in the pan.
4. Prepare your favorite meat sauce - mine usually includes a large can of ground tomatoes, one can of tomato paste, either Italian sausage or ground beef, onion, basil, garlic, vinegar, dry Italian seasoning, a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper. To thin it down I either use stock, wine, or water. For this dish, the sauce should not be too thick since the liquid will help to cook the zucchini. In a crush, you could use a jarred sauce of course. Try to add a little bit of extra spice, garlic, basil, etc., to wake up the flavor of the jarred sauce.
5. You can stretch the sauce with cooked rice or other grains you have leftovers. You could actually leave out the meat if you prefer.
6. Spoon the meat sauce into the centers of the zucchini, top with a little grated cheese of your choice, and pop into the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, or until the zucchini are tender and the sauce is bubbly. If the cheese starts browning too much, tent the pan with a piece of foil.