Get Ready For Zucchini Season! Delicious Skillet Zucchini & Cheese

This is a flexible recipe in that you can add more or less zucchini and cheese as your garden and appetite permit. 

This easy, one skillet meal will be one your family will ask for again and again, it's one of our family favorites.

Skillet Zucchini & Cheese

3  medium (8 - 9 inch) zucchinis.  Cut zucchini in three pieces to accommodate the square on the Chop Wizard. Run all the pieces through the Wizard's large screen.

2 cups shredded Cabot Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 tsp. salt & pepper to taste.

1/2 cup chopped onion - use Wizard's small screen

1 lb. ground beef

splash of Worcestershire (optional)

2 tbsp. olive oil

Add olive oil to a  deep 5 quart non stick saute pan (a 12 inch cast iron skillet will also do nicely), saute the chopped onions.When the onions are transparent,

add the zucchini (mine came out the size of french fries). Season with salt and pepper. Cook until fork tender, do not overcook.

Remove from pan.

Cook the ground beef, using a fork to mash into the size pieces you enjoy eating.  I like my hamburger pieces tiny. Season with salt and pepper add Worcestershire if desired. Drain off any fat.

Add the cooked zucchini and onion mixture.

Add 1/2 the cheese and mix in.  Top with the remaining cheese, cover and let melt.

Serves 4

Gadgets used, Presto Salad shooter to grate cheese;
Vidalia Chop Wizard to chop the zucchini and onion.

Zucchini  & onions cooking away in the non stick saute pan.

Remove cooked zucchini & onion from pan.

Season & cook ground beef.  Drain.

Add zucchini & onion mixture to the ground beef.

Mix in half the cheese, then top mixture with remaining cheese,
cover just to melt, serve & eat!!

Chicken Marsala with Fettuccini. Lodge Cast Iron Skillet, Roasted Garlic & A Cotton Candy Gadget.

Three fun and delicious kitchen projects using some usual and unusual kitchen gadgets. Thrown in, just for fun, a skirt hanger that doubles a recipe holder.

Three topics today:

1.   Cotton Candy & Cotton Candy Machine
2.     Chicken Marsala with Fettuccini - recipe courtesy of Allrecipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Marsala/Detail.aspx
3.     One Minute Roasted Garlic

I bought this fun gadget for my niece, Nina & my nephew, Mike for Christmas.
During a recent visit, I thought I'd give it a try.

Machine is heating up. Heat for five minutes.
In the package: directions (not shown) the machine,
a measuring spoon for the sugar and some long picks for spinning the sugar.
The food coloring is not included. I was going to add it to the sugar, but
decided against it. I used plain white table sugar.

After five minutes have passed, using their spoon, add a measure of table sugar (1 1/2 tsp.) in
the center of that black ring. The sugar immediately flies out and around to the edge;
begin turning the stick around the outer edge of the machine while twirling the spun
sugar around the stick. See the little clump already forming above.
The process doesn't take long, but only produces a little bit more
than what you see above. To make another batch, you must shut
the machine off, wait until the extractor head (the black circle) comes to a complete stop,
 then you can pour another measure of sugar in the extractor head and begin again.
So much fun for kids or grown up kids like me!

Chicken Marsala recipe on a makeshift kitchen gadget: "recipe holder",
a/k/a skirt hanger!

Ingredients for the Chicken Marsala.  I did not have regular sherry,
a cooking site advised that Sweet Vermouth could be used in it's place.
Chefs recommend using real Marsala wine and real sherry and
 advise against using  the products sold in grocery stores for a
restaurant quality Chicken Marsala.

(Missing from photo: olive oil.)

Gadgets uses: Eight Inch Lodge Cast Iron Skillet;
pounding tool and mallet.

Place chicken breasts between wax paper or plastic wrap.
Pound until chicken is 1/2 inch thick.  Pound from the
center of the chicken towards the outside using
a sliding motion.
After using both, I prefer the mallet to the pounder.

For easy clean up, I used a Ziploc for my flour mixture.
I also doubled the recipe as I was cooking for six people
who just love Chicken Marsala.

With so much chicken to brown, I did it in small batches adding butter & oil if needed.  Be sure to bring
the butter/oil up to temperature before adding the next batch so it doesn't soak into
the chicken instead of frying it. The two cloves of garlic are about to be used in the gadget below.

After completing the recipe, I found that I had too much chicken to add
back into the cast iron skillet. I put the Marsala broth with the mushrooms
into a stock pot, then added the browned chicken.
In a smaller saucepan, I duplicated the broth recipe so we
could enjoy our Chicken Marsala over fettuccini pasta.

A cute gadget: Garlic Baker.
This gadget belongs to my sister in law, Gezilla.
Believe it or not, I don't own one but after trying this, it's
on my list of gadgets to get.

I used the microwave method. I didn't have anything else
to bake, and didn't want to heat the entire oven just for the garlic.
I did not use the pat of butter, but did put a scant sprinke of
Kosher salt on top of the garlic bulb.

Using Gezilla's Victorinox Chef Knife, I cut the top off the garlic bulb.

Place the bulb in the center of the baker, microwave for
35 seconds at a time so as not to overcook. The cloves
should look transparent when cooked thoroughly.
Pick or squeeze out; eat them as is or spread
the the cooked cloves on Italian bread or toasted
Italian bread. Delicious with bruschetta.
After I made this one, it was devoured and
I had to make two additional which also
were gobbled up in no time.
A fast easy way to use up bulbs that might be getting a little old.

Turkey & Black Bean Crock Pot Chili

This was my first attempt at making turkey chili. When I make traditional chili I sometimes use a shortcut and buy a packet of chili seasoning mix.  Today I was visiting my brother and sister in law. They had all the necessary ingredients for me to try making the chili from scratch.

Gadgets used: Lodge cast iron skillet, Crock Pot, Kitchenaid hand grater.

Ingredients:
One pound of ground turkey; cooked and drained.
three 15 oz. cans of black beans (they prefer black beans to kidney);
 two 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. ground celery seed
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 cup chili powder
Four cups of water

Add all the above to the crock pot, stir until the paste is dissolved. Cover and set on low for at least two hours to get all the flavors to incorporate into the meat and beans.  Serve with shredded jack or cheddar cheese; dollop of sour cream and tortilla chips.   Feel free to experiment with other ingredients such as hot sauce; cut carrots, kidney beans, lean hamburg - make it how you think your taste buds might like it.

If you have any leftover, it'll taste even better the next day!

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