What to do with zucchini...

I love zucchini!  Celia, Charlie, and Andy- not as much.  However, it is my goal in life (while this seems like a strange goal, it's true!) to get my family to eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible.  I strictly stick to the 5 to 9 a day rule and try to sneak them in as many meals and dishes as possible.  Last night for dinner I made these Zucchini Pancakes as a side dish.  I loved them!  In fact I ate them cold for lunch the next 2 days.  Charlie and Celia did not like them as much, but Celia did eat the batter before I cooked them and Charlie was impressed that they were green.  I think in general, it is an adult recipe, at least for our family.  They would be great served with Tzatziki sauce.

Zucchini Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 Small to Medium Zucchini
1/2 Cup Cooked Oatmeal (I used plain, but I think Apple Cinnamon would taste okay too)
1 TBSP French Onion Dip I(if you don't have this, use salad dressing)
1 Egg
1/3 Cup Chopped Green Peppers
2/3 Cup Flour
1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
1/2 Tsp Curry Powder


1. Cook oatmeal in microwave following oatmeal directions.
2.. Chop Zucchini into large chunks.  Put into Magic Bullet, blender or food processor with dip, egg and green pepper.  Blend until at least semi-smooth.  Small bits of pepper or zucchini are okay.
3. In a bowl, mix together zucchini mixture, oatmeal, flour, sea salt and curry powder.
4. Heat a large skillet to med-high.  To cook mine, I used 2 TBSP of coconut oil, but olive oil would work as well.  When oil is hot, add scoops of batter to the pan.  Cook on each side 1 to 2 minutes until lightly browned.  Add more oil as needed.  Makes 10 - 12 pancakes.

What to do with Ricotta Cheese and French Onion Dip?

I think when you have children, your idea of relaxation changes.  At least this is what has happened to me.  Before children, to relax, I used to sleep in late, watch movies, get a pedicure, go out to eat, even go on vacation.  All of this has changed!  Today to relax, I'll drink a diet pepsi on the back porch while Andy gives the kids a bath.  Or, I'll go get the mail, BY MYSELF :)  I like to walk around my house and look at plants I never would have noticed before I had children.  Anything for five minutes of quiet.  Instead of watching movies, we now watch episodes of shows on Hulu.  They don't take as long.  This applies to my cooking too- I'm always thinking fast and easy.  But I also want my cooking to be delicious, economical and kid friendly.  That's quite a list to fulfill for every meal, however this recipe fits it to a T.  Creamy Sausage and Potato Supper.  It's a one pot meal that I served with a side of strawberries.  It's healthy and delicious.  I hope you and your family love it!

Creamy Sausage and Potato Supper
Ingredients:
8 Small to Medium Sized Potatoes (I used 4 red and 4 russet)
25 Thin Stalks of Asparagus
1/2 Large Yellow Onion
3/4 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1/3 Cup French Onion Dip
1/2 Package of Cream Cheese
1/8 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/3 Cup Vanilla Soymilk
1 Egg
1/8 Cup Flour
1 Package Smoked Sausage (I used turkey sausage)
1 TBSP Minced Garlic
3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Dried Basil

1. Wash and cut potatoes into medium sized chunks (the same size you would use for potato salad.  Do not peel.  Put into a large soup pot.

2. Cut the bottom, tough part of the asparagus off.  Chop each stalk into 4 to 5 pieces.  Put into soup pot.
3. Chop onion and throw into pot too.  Cover vegetables with water and boil for ten minutes uncovered.   Turn off heat on stove.  Drain vegetables and put back into soup pot.
4. Add to the pot the ricotta cheese, French onion dip, parmesan cheese, soymilk, cream cheese, egg and flour.  Stir until creamy and smooth.  Turn stove back on at medium heat. 
6.  Chop sausage and add to the pot.  Also add garlic, salt and basil.  Cook for 15 more minutes covered.  Stir frequently so the bottom won't burn.  Let cool 5 minutes and serve.

What to do with instant oatmeal?

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What's cooking What's for Leftovers readers?  This has been a great spring break week, but since we've been so busy, I haven't actually been doing a lot of cooking.  The other day I did make peanut butter cookies for our Community Group.  We did not bring a single one home, so I think everybody liked them.  For breakfast that morning, I had fed Celia and Charlie instant oatmeal.  This was my first time preparing it, but it is like a gold mine.  It is so easy to make and they loved it!  Well, I made Celia's great, but I think I got distracted with Charlie's and did something wrong (I know you're asking yourself, who messes up instant oatmeal!?).  To thicken it up, I had to open another packet.  Instead of making a huge amount of instant oatmeal, I saved the rest of it and added it to the peanut butter cookies.  According to Belinda, it made the cookies look healthy :)

Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
1 Cup Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Pecan Meal (Finely chop pecans in your food processor if you don't have pecan meal)
3/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP Instant Oatmeal (You can add a whole packet if you don't have one open already)
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Flour
M&M's (Optional)
Powdered Sugar (Optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together peanut butter, eggs, pecan meal, honey, instant oatmeal, baking powder and flour until dough forms into a large lump.
3. Place dough in freezer for fifteen minutes.
4. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Take cookie dough out and roll into small balls.  Place several M&Ms on top of balls (optional).  Put remaining dough back in freezer.
5.  Bake in oven for 11 to 13 minutes.  Cookies are finished when they puff up and start to turn light brown.  Take out of oven, sprinkle with powder sugar (optional) and let cool.  Repeat until dough is finished.

**Makes 2 and 1/2 dozen cookies** 

What to do with leftover mashed sweet potatoes?

Good evening What's for Leftovers readers!  We have had a whirlwind weekend, traveling to visit Andy's family.  As always, we had a great time hanging out with all our loved ones.  Lucky for us, that side of Missouri got 6 to 8 inches of snow.  It was beautiful!  Hopefully it's the last snow of the season since it's officially Spring.  I am ready for flip flops and tank tops!  Since it was so chilly this weekend, we ate a lot of cozy, comfort foods.  For dinner on Friday, I prepared mashed sweet potatoes and acorn squash.  We ate all of it, except a cup and a half.  On Saturday morning, I took the leftovers and created muffins.  They were fabulous, very moist and flavorful.  In fact, I had to hide the two in the picture in the freezer to keep them from being eaten by all the little ones in the house. 

Sweet Potato Muffins
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Mashed Sweet Potatoes
2 Eggs
1/2 Stick Butter- Softened
1/2 Cups White Sugar
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Vanilla
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cups Flour
Cinnamon and Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together sweet potatoes, eggs and butter until creamy and smooth.  Next, add white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and baking powder.  Mix until smooth.
3. Slowly add flour, mixing it in as you pour.
4. Line muffin tins with paper liners.  Pour batter into muffin cups, filling them 3/4 of the way full.
5. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with cinnamon and sugar.  Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.  Makes 12 to 18 muffins.

What to do with leftover bbq chicken and milk?

I gave Celia and Charlie a cup of milk this morning with their breakfast.  A little while later Celia comes up to me and says, "Mommy, there's something wrong with this milk, it's going to make me throw up."  I started to laugh at her and asked Andy to try the milk (He's our official taster of things that might have turned bad).  He said the milk wasn't bad, it just needed to be used today or tomorrow.  So voila, Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings.  It was a perfect homestye soup for this rainy, cloudy Sunday.  It also used up the rest of the chicken that we grilled last night.  Thanks to my Mama for helping me figure out the homemade dumplings.  I had only made them with Bisquick up until now.  They ended up being really easy to make.

Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings
Ingredients for Soup:
2 Cups Cooked, Chopped, Chicken
2 Carrots
1 Small Yellow Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 TBSP Garlic
6 Cups Water
1 Tsp Salt

1. Chop carrots, onion, and green pepper.
2. Put chicken, carrots, onion and green pepper in a large soup pot.  Add garlic, water and salt.
3. Cook on high so soup will boil.  Cook until carrots are finished and onions are translucent. 
4. Start to add spoon size dumplings to soup.  Let soup continue boiling.  After the last dumpling is dropped in the pot, cover and cook for 7 to 8 more minutes.  Dumplings will plump up and expand.

Ingredients for Dumplings:
2 Cups Flour 
1 1/4 Cups Milk
1 Egg
Pinch of Salt

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  This will be a wet dough.  After finished mixing, drop into soup pot by spoonfuls 

What to do with leftover kabob veggies?

Good Morning What's for Leftovers readers!  I hope you all remembered to change your time.  For the first time in a long time, Celia and Charlie slept in until 8:30- woohoo!

Last week, if you remember, I made some Asian Kabobs, that were delicious and tender.  Check out the recipe if you're in the mood to bbq kabobs today.  We ate all the meat kabobs, but I had a couple of vegetable kabobs left.  Last night I made them into a sweet, little corn dish that was really easy.  It paired great with the pork steaks we had for dinner.

Sweet Corn and Veggies
Ingredients:
1 Package Frozen Corn
2 Cups Chopped Kabob Veggies
1 1/2 Cups Water
2 TSP Brown Sugar
1 TSP Flour

1. Chop up leftover vegetables into small bits.
2. Put corn, veggies, water, brown sugar, and flour into a medium-sized soup pot and stir.
3. Cook over medium heat until a significant amount of liquid evaporates and thickens up a bit.

What to do with leftover ham?

Whenever we buy a pack of lunchmeat ham, there's always a slice or two left at the end of the pack.  It's not enough to make a sandwich with or really use in any recipe.  Celia and Charlie will gladly eat what's left by itself, but I also like to cook with it.  Here's a really easy pea recipe for you to use with your leftover bit of ham. We had it for dinner tonight.  Celia told me even the juice from the peas was delicious.  Good thing, since my meat surprised us by not being done when we started eating: the peas ended up being our main dish!

Easy Peasies
Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Chopped Ham
1 Can Sweet Peas
1 TBSP Dried Chopped Onion
1 TBSP Flour

Do not drain peas.  Add ham, peas and dried onion to a pan.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in flour to make peas a little bit creamier.  Continue cooking until juice thickens up a bit.