Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Lunch Time

I seem to be getting stuck in a rut. So far this week for lunch I've had some kind of cucurbit mixed with tomatoes and cheese with freshly made pan bread as side dish. I hope this rut lasts a while as I'm quite fond of it.

Monday I made cucumber salad with cucumbers, onions, and dried dill from the garden. I let it sit for a while in the fridge. Then for Monday and Tuesday lunch, I added some cubed Jarlsburg and cherry tomatoes to it. I used the Principe Borghese tomatoes. Yummy. I gave all the Sungold F3s to Caroline my townhouse mate. She thought they were quite good. I was telling her we kept the really yummy ones for ourselves, but she thought I was crazy. She likes that tangy taste of them this year. I think I can keep her supplied for quite some time. I wonder when she will get sick of them.

Then Wednesday I made a Tomato Zucchini Casserole. I was trying to find Granny's recipe with hamburger, but I couldn't figure out where it was so I just looked up one in Allrecipes. I picked one without hamburger though and as normal for me I didn't follow it too well. Nothing was measured. The onions were minced and not precooked. I used about 1/2c of fresh basil chopped up since it was just sitting there in glasses on my counter. And I wasn't in the mood for breadcrumb toppings so I just grated some more Parmesan for the top and the onions got mixed into the cheese mixture. From the garden: zucchini, paste tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil, dried oregano. I really do love eating the summer bounty.

16 comments:

  1. Oh I cannot wait for my cucumbers to be ready! I adore cucumber salads and yours looks particularly tasty. I am swimming in zucchini at the moment though and will be working on clever recipes to make good use of it while the bounty lasts.

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  2. Here's her recipe!
    Zucchini Pizza Casserole
    4 cups shreadded unpeeled zucchini
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 eggs
    1/2 cup grated Parmesean cheese
    2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
    1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
    1 pound ground beef
    1/2 cup chopped onion
    1 can (15 oz) Italian tomato sauce

    Place zucchini in strainer; sprinkle with salt. Let stand for ten minutes. Squeeze out moisture.

    Combine zucchini with eggs, parmesan and half of the other cheeses and press into greased 13x9 inch dish

    Bake uncovered at 400 for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

    Add tomato sauce; spoon over zucchini mixture.

    sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through.

    IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. I used a bit of a tangy and spicy pasta sauce and it was superb.



    It was just fantastic. Can't say enough about it.

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  3. I've been eating tomatoes, corn, yellow crookneck squash and home made bread for lunch every day this week, but the tomatoes are coming on really slow. I need to try my own recipe...it's not really mine, I found it on line and copied it down for future use. Ribbit tried it, I think.

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  4. All of those dishes look like just the types of eats I like. Yum!

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  5. Drool... anything covered in melty cheese is good in my book. Sometimes looking at recipes is kind of scary for me, as in "there's THAT much cheese/butter/oil in that dish??" Oh but I do love the finished product.

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  6. I like your lunch time.
    Could you share your recipe for pan bread?

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  7. Oooh, that casserole looks scrumptious.

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  8. kitsapFG, I look forward to my cucumber salads every year too. A lot of my zucchini every year just goes into zucchini bread. It seems boring but I love it so much.

    Ribbit, thanks! Now I should be able to find it forever. I always hate when I see a recipe and want to try it but then can't find it anymore.

    Annie's Granny, See now you are smarter than I am. You copy the recipes down. I always think I'll remember, but really I know myself. I won't remember a thing about anything.

    foodgardenkitchen, thanks

    thyme2garden, I know what you mean. This one has so much cheese too. I left out the buttery top, but I think I added even more cheese than they called for. Its filled with tomatoes and zucchini so must be good for me anyway. Right?

    elizabeth, sure it is really simple. I don't even really knead it and eat from the same dough all week long.

    2c warm water
    1 packet of yeast
    dissolve yeast in water
    2c white flour
    2c whole wheat flour
    1 T salt
    Mix flours and salt together than add the water yeast mixture. Toss on the table and knead until uniform (usually about a minute). Put back in bowl and cover. Let rise for about 2 hours then put it in the fridge. This keeps in the fridge for about two weeks. I just pull off parts of the dough whenever I want to make pan bread. Take a bit of dough and flatten into a disk about a quarter inch thick. I brush it lightly with olive oil on both sides and cook on a cast iron skillet on both sides. Turn when one side gets lightly browned. I used to grill the bread when I had a Jenn-Air stove. I miss my old stove, but pan bread is a good second. Either way it means fresh hot bread in about five minutes as long as the dough is in the fridge. You can use it as pizza dough too.

    meemsnyc, thanks

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  9. Oh, yum. That all looks so good. Thanks for reminding me about keeping bread dough in the fridge. I've never cooked it in an iron pan before. What a great alternative to baking on hot summer days. Thank you.

    I'll have to pass on the zucchini, though. The one crop which grows in such abundance anyone can grow it failed for me. (Some kind of pest got it.)

    But I'm not complaining! I've got tomatoes and jalapenos and green beans and green peppers which are forming and herbs from here half-way to China. The fall peas are in and second planting of beets as well. Life's golden.

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  10. I've been eating the exact same lunch! I wish there was more time in the day to come up with something fancier.

    I've been freezing most of our zucchini to use in soups during the winter. That casserole sure looks yummy though.

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  11. Thank you Daphne! Do you cook it on medium heat in the skillet?

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  12. We're eating like that! I just made tomato bread with last year's dried Principe Borghese's. It was quite nice, if I do say so myself. Probably not nice enough to make me wish I'd dried more, but a good thing to know.

    Nothing quite like cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, oil and salt and pepper. Maybe a little vinegar. I was thinking yesterday, "If we only had an olive grove and a grain field, I'd be set!"

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  13. I've got my pan bread dough ready to go for lunch time. Can't wait! Sadly, I don't have tomatoes and cucumbers in my garden here in Montana. Will have to settle for salad with roasted beets and herbs.

    Is it 1 Tablespoon salt you add to the dough? Kosher or fine grain? I used sea salt, but reduced it to around 2 teaspoons, as I thought 1 T might be to salty for me.

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  14. Martha, In the summer my stovetop gets used more than the stove itself. I much prefer it. I just got a good toaster oven though which doesn't heat things up as much. I'm hoping to bake more in the summer with it.

    Thomas, I don't mind the simple as long as it is good. Fancy is fun too but I tend to do more fancy things in the fall and winter when heating up the house isn't an issue. I save heating up the house for canning in the summer.

    elizabeth, I cook it on medium high - high (high if I don't preheat). My range has numbers 1-6. 6 is if I don't preheat and am only doing one. 4 is about what I do for longer times. It is a new stove and I hate it. I'm slowly getting used to it but I wish I had my old Jenn-Air.
    Yes. 1 Tablespoon of salt. I like a salty bread. I use sea salt too. You can reduce the amount but I wouldn't go below 1 teaspoon as salt helps control the growth of the yeast. You can do it but you have to watch it closer.

    Stefaneener, Well except for the feta I'm with you. I've never been a feta fan. I go for most of the other cheeses though.

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  15. The casserole looks really good. If our temps stay in the low I just might have to turn my stove on and give it a try. I hope it will work with cherry tomatoes because that's all that's ripening in my little garden.

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  16. We really liked the bread. Thank you Daphne!

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