Grilled Red Bell Pepper Wrapped Scallops

INGREDIENTS
1 pound large sea scallops
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon, zested
Cajun seasoning
2 large roasted red bell peppers

DIRECTIONS
1. In a bowl, combine the scallops, olive oil, lemon zest, and Cajun seasoning.
2. Cut the peppers lengthwise into ¾ inch strips. Wrap a pepper strip around each scallop to cover completely, overlapping the pepper ends. Secure the strips by running a 10-inch metal skewer through the scallop and pepper. Add scallops to each skewer until filled.
3. Grill skewers over a medium-hot fire, turning once, about 2 minutes on each side.

Sorry No Pictures...

My camera broke somehow this weekend and is on the fritz. Hopefully it will be back to operational soon, because I have some awesome recipe ideas coming this week. I can't get ANOTHER camera people! Hmmm....maybe my husband did it. It conveniently stopped working as soon as dinner was done. And he always makes fun of me when I take a picture of the food before serving him.

Zucchini Bread

INGREDIENTS
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice.
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.
5. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Zucchini Rounds

INGREDIENTS
1 large zucchini
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup garlic herb bread crumbs
olive oil
salt
pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Slice the zucchini into 1/4-inch thick rounds. In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini with olive oil. 3. Combine the Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Dip each round into the breading mixture, coating it evenly on both sides.
4. Place zucchini rounds in a single layer on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake the zucchini until browned and crisp, about 10-15 minutes on each side.
5. Serve with marinara.

Quick Marinara

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
1 teaspoons basil, dried
olive oil
salt
pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, sauté for 3 to 5 minutes until the onions turn translucent.
2. Stir in the tomatoes. Add in the oregano, basil, salt and pepper.
3. Lower the heat and continue to simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Too Much Zucchini??????

Are you overloaded with zucchini from your garden and wondering what it is you are supposed to do with it all? Keep an eye out, I will be posting some yummy zucchini recipes!

Good Receipes Gone Bad (alternative Title: Cooking Disasters)

Today I'm going to post something a little different. Most of the recipes on this blog are posted after we have tested them and actually come up with a recipe that works. Admittedly, some of these things work out the first time we try them, others do not. We never show you the dirty side of being a true cook. We never talk about when things...well...just don't work out. I'll be the first to admit that I am much more of a baker than I am a cook. Don't get me wrong, I can pull together a great meal, but I bake and create works of sweetness with much more ease and comfort. I made perfect Chocolate Souffles the first time I tried, on a whim, one night, with nothing but a recipe from a chocolate cookbook I have on hand and some leftover chocolate. I'm always a little uneasy when I am cooking something for the first time, and I will NEVER cook something big for the first time for other people. I always try out my dishes first. For those of you that read my other blog (That Kind of Girl), the dish that I first made when Memphis came over, I tried out the night before. So yes, that means I bought enough for 2 separate versions of the dish, and yes, it means I actually had leftovers from my first attempt (which worked out quite well) in the fridge while I was cooking the second attempt for him. I even do this with new recipes because I've found, that sometimes, every once in a while, even if you follow a recipe to a tee, it just doesn't work out. This is what happened the other night and I thought I would share with you home cooks out there my disaster because I want you to all know, messing up is half the fun. And sometimes, messing up means creating a whole new piece of art in the kitchen. Other times it means throwing away a whole lot of food because things just did not work out. I realize, especially being on a budget, that can be a hard thing to face. And I have, on occasion (like with this attempt) ate it anyways. But never in a million years would have fed it to someone else.

A few days (weeks?) ago, I was at Shannon's house getting my fix of the Food Network (I am cable-tv-less and get my fix of cable tv at her house). Paula Dean in all her magic was on tv and was making this receipe for Squash and Zucchini Cakes and I thought that those looked like an awesome way for me to incorporate 2 vegetable that I could otherwise care less for into my life (you know the rule "fry it, therefore it is good"). Only I thought I could make it with a Chipotle Ranch dip...because Ranch makes everything better. Hey, I never said I was a healthy cook most of the time all of the time. One of the things that they don't tell you in the recipe is to squeeze the shredded squash and zucchini in between paper towels to remove a lot of the moisture before cooking. Paula did however mention this on the show. APPARENTLY I did not squeeze enough of the moisture out because my cakes did not look like hers (go look at the Food Network picture)....nope, mine looked like this:

Ok, so besides the greasiness factor, you can't really get the full affect of my 'cakes'. They looked kind of crispy on the outside, but no, they were a mushy mess that was barely held together by the egg/breadcrumb mixture you add. They did taste quite good, if you could get over the baby-food texture. And then I threw away the other half of the mixture because I couldn't face it. It was 11 pm and I was just eating my 'dinner'. And as a side note, the whole 'Chipotle Ranch dip" idea didn't work out so well either. I am going to attempt to make them again, but have decided to try baking them first to remove some of the moisture, then frying them for the crispiness factor.

However, I did manage to throw this together in about 5 minutes (with 20 minutes of cooking):

Summer Fruit Crisp with Flaxseed and Pecan Crust

So needless to say, THIS is what I really ate for dinner that night. And THIS is what my kitchen looked like at the end of the night:

Hey, I never said anything about being a tidy chef! My motto has always been "A messy kitchen is the sign of a successful meal" (even if it was only half true this night!).