Italian Stuffed Zucchini (Low Carb)

It's getting to be that time of year, when everybody is looking for ways to use up their overabundance of zucchini. I am not a gardener, so I don't have that problem, but I love zucchini and am therefore always looking for new ideas.  This is a great zucchini recipe I threw together for dinner last night.  

Italian Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
3 large zucchini
1 cup pizza or marinara sauce
2 tsp Italian seasoning (I use Tuscan Sunset)
1 cup shredded Italian cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. 

Brown ground beef in a skillet.  Drain off grease.

Meanwhile, slice each zucchini in half lengthwise; do not trim off the ends.  Using a grapefruit spoon, scoop out the insides, making them into boat shapes.  Dry them off with paper towels.  Place them on a baking sheet.

When the beef is browned and drained, stir in the pizza sauce and the Tuscan Sunset.  Fill the zucchini with the beef mixture.  Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Top with shredded cheese and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until zucchini has reached desired tenderness.

Makes 4-6 servings.

This makes for such an easy dinner.  I spent all afternoon in the kiddie pool in the backyard with my daughters. They could live in that thing!  We lose all track of time in the pool, so I sent Lena in to the house to see what time it was. Five til five. Oops, time to make dinner! I toweled off, got in the kitchen, and had this ready in about half an hour.  

A note about the number of servings: My husband and I ate two each.  We eat low carb, so this was all we ate.  If you are serving this as a main dish, with side dishes as well, probably one per person would be sufficient.  My girls aren't crazy about zucchini, so last night I only made 4 of these for my husband and myself, and I mixed the remaining meat mixture into some pasta for my daughters.

I use pizza sauce because it is the lowest carb tomato sauce I can find and my husband much prefers smooth sauces to chunky ones. But you can use whatever tomato/marinara sauce you like best.

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Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

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Improv: Baked Ham & Cheese Cauliflower Fritters

It's time for this month's Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it. 

This month's ingredients were ham and cheese.  Awesome!  My husband and I have been eating low carb for over 9 months now, so ham and cheese are pretty much staples in our diet. I had lots of things I could do this month. In fact, I have another post all ready to go that also involves ham and cheese.  

This is a new recipe I just tried last weekend.  It's basically chopped up cauliflower, ham, and a generous amount of cheese mounded together into patties and baked. My recipe is an adaption from All Day I Dream About Food.  

Baked Ham and Cheese Cauliflower Fritters

Ingredients:

Olive oil

2 (12 oz.) packages frozen riced cauliflower

2 cups finely diced ham

2 tsp Sunny Paris (or other onion-y salt-free seasoning)

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

½ cup grated Parmesan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.  Generously grease two baking sheets with olive oil. (I use stoneware.)

Place the cauliflower in a large microwavable bowl.  Break up big chunks, if necessary.  Microwave on high for 4 minutes.  Stir, break up chunks again.  Microwave on high another 4 minutes, or until cauliflower is warmed through and somewhat soft.  

Add the ham, Sunny Paris, eggs, shredded cheddar, and Parmesan.  Stir well.  Make 16 patties using a rounded ¼ cup of mixture for each one.  Place on the prepared baking sheet.  

Bake for 20 minutes or until browned on the bottom.  Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes before serving.  Carefully remove them from the baking sheet to a serving platter.

Makes 4 servings of 4 patties each.

I wasn't feeling too great the day I made these, so I took the easy way out and used frozen riced cauliflower instead of chopping fresh.  I got this stuff from Trader Joe's, but I know Walmart also sells bags of riced cauliflower in the fresh produce section.  If you can't find either of those handy products, you can finely chop a head of fresh cauliflower and either boil or steam it until it is softened.  Just be sure to drain it well before adding the other ingredients.

The other major thing I changed was that I baked these instead of pan frying.  I knew they would be too loose for me to successfully flip them in the skillet.  I've never had great luck with that.  So I baked them instead.  Easy peasy and worry-free.  I intended to flip them once during baking, but I couldn't do it without them falling apart, so I just cooked them on the one side.  I think that turned out just fine.  They got a nice caramelized crunch on the bottom that I found delightful.  I may have had better luck if I had mashed the cauliflower after cooking it in the microwave, but I am okay with the way they turned out.

My family LOVED these.  My husband raved about them.  I thought my carb-loving daughters might turn up their noses at them, but I was wrong. They both loved them too.  My eight-year-old had seconds.

I used Penzeys Sunny Paris as the seasoning in these.  If you don't have that. feel free to use anything else you like.  I would recommend a salt-free seasoning because the ham and cheeses provide plenty of salt.  Something with onion and/or shallots would be great.

I list four patties as a serving size, but that is going to vary greatly depending on who you are feeding.  Kids will definitely not eat four at once.  I did, but that was all I ate for dinner; I didn't feel well enough to make the salad I had planned to go with them.  We had some leftover, and my husband had a great idea: to serve fried eggs over them in the morning.

Like the plate? I painted it myself! :)

Yummo!  They made a great breakfast.

I used up some Easter ham for this; it was so good.  But it would be good with any kind of ham.

Be sure to check out all the other great ham and cheese recipes below!

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Taco Pie

This is the "pie" I made on Pi(e) Day, March 14th. My husband and I are eating low carb, so my pie options were of the savory sort, pretty much taco pie or cheeseburger pie. My husband loves the cheeseburger pie I tried once, but I was pretty "meh" about it. I was eager to try this taco pie recipe again though, because it didn't turn out so well the first time I made it. I got the recipe from All Day I Dream About Food.  The directions do not say to mix the meat with the egg mixture.  So the first time I made it, it ended up with only meat on the bottom and only fluffy eggs on top.  And the meat part was watery.  It was kind of weird; like a fluffy omelet on top of taco meat.  But I decided to try it again, making a few tweaks.  This time I found success.  Here's how I made it.

Taco Pie

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
2 tbsp taco seasoning
6 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1.5 oz. queso fresco, crumbled (optional)
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.  Coat a 9” pie plate with baking spray.

Brown ground beef in a medium skillet.  Drain, if necessary. Add taco seasoning and stir well.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the cream and mix well.  Add the queso fresco, if using.  When beef is done, stir it into the egg mixture.  Pour it into the pie plate and top with the shredded cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes.  Remove and let cool at least 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Mixing the meat into the egg mixture makes a huge difference.  And I did not add water to the taco meat; not sure what the point of that is.  I also added some queso fresco just because . . . why not?  :)

This was a huge hit with my family.  It's tasty on its own, but I love how you can add whatever your favorite Mexican condiments are.  Sour cream, guacamole, and some fresh salsa was my favorite.  My husband used taco sauce and sour cream.  My five-year-old just did sour cream.  Lots of sour cream.  I swear, that girl is making up for all the years she couldn't have dairy!

This is easy to throw together on a busy weeknight.  And the leftovers reheat well, if you have any.  

Even though this is low carb, the carb-eaters in your household will love it too.  You can serve it with rice or tortilla chips.

I will have to work on tweaking the cheeseburger pie recipe so I like it as much as this one.

I just remembered that I have some ground beef in the fridge that I need to use up.  Totally making this again for dinner tonight!

What I'm Reading Right Now

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

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Improv: Sausage, Squash, and Goat Cheese Skillet

It's time for this month's Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it. 

This month's assigned ingredients were squash and sage. Lovely fall ingredients.  It didn't take me long to decide what to make.  There was a sausage and butternut squash skillet recipe in an issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray that I had been wanting to try for a while.  Sausage, squash, and sage seems like a fantastic combo.  This was the perfect opportunity to try this dish.  I changed it up a little bit (of course!), the biggest change being the addition of goat cheese.  It just seemed to fit.  Here's how I made it.

Sausage, Squash, and Goat Cheese Skillet

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground sausage

4 cups butternut squash, ½” cubes (1 lb.)

2 tsp dried sage

½ cup beef broth

½ cup goat cheese crumbles

Directions:

Heat large skillet over medium heat.  Add sausage and break up with a spoon.  Cook until sausage is browned and fat has rendered.  Add butternut squash and dried sage.  Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the beef broth, cover, and reduce heat to low.  Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until squash is tender.  Uncover, stir, and let cook for just another minute or two.  Remove from heat and top with goat cheese crumbles.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Info

Per Serving

Calories:  444

Fat: 34

Sat. Fat: 12

Cholesterol: 112

Sodium: 906

Potassium: 282

Carbs (net): 8

Protein: 25

Vitamin A: 170%

Vitamin C: 28%

Calcium: 4%

Iron: 10%

Oh man, this was so yummy!  And besides cutting up the squash (which I always hate!), pretty easy. I wanted to buy the pre-cut squash in a bag, but my store didn't have it. I bought the smallest butternut squash they had, and it ended up being the exact perfect amount for this recipe.  Love it when that happens!

Any of you who are fans of the sweet and salty combo will love this dish.  The sweetness of the squash is so perfect with the saltiness of the sausage and the creaminess of the goat cheese.  Mmm.

I used dried sage because I can never chop fresh sage small enough so that I don't feel like I'm eating bits of leaves.  Not palatable for me. I only use fresh sage for stuffing in a turkey cavity. :) But the dried was perfect for this recipe.  I know you can buy a sage variety of sausage; if you do that, you might want to cut down on the dried sage you add.  

I used beef broth because I happened to have an open container in the fridge. You can certainly use chicken or veggie broth instead. Water would even be fine if you didn't have any kind of broth.

My husband and I have been low carbing for a while now, and I have not allowed myself butternut squash yet this fall. :( So sad, I know! I love butternut squash, but it is a little carby.  But I was glad when this came out to 8 carbs per serving, because that is totally doable.  I consider any main dish recipe under 10 carbs/serving to be low carb, so this counts for me.  This dish kind of reminds me of one of my favorite pasta dishes: Roasted Squash and Sausage Pasta.  This is kind of the low carb version of that!

This will be my go-to dish whenever the butternut squash cravings get too much to bear.  Looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch today!

Be sure to check out all the other great squash and sage recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with cranberry and orange.

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Pork Egg Roll Skillet

This is a yummy dish I made earlier this week. I had already decided it would be the one I shared today, and so was pleasantly surprised to find my daily email from Punchbowl telling me that it's Chop Suey Day.

According to that definition, this recipe counts as Chop Suey!  It's basically a deconstructed pork egg roll, but also kind of like pork fried rice.  I got the idea from Mostly Homemade Mom, and switched it up a little, adding some extra veggies and seasonings.  Here's my version.

Pork Egg Roll Skillet

Ingredients:

1½ lbs. ground pork

14 oz. package cole slaw mix

1 cup sliced mushrooms

½ cup edamame, thawed

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Bangkok Blend

2 tsp powdered ginger

¼ cup soy sauce

Green onions, sliced

Sweet chili sauce, optional

Directions:

Brown the ground pork in a large skillet.  Add the mushrooms, cole slaw mix, mushrooms, and edamame, and cook over medium-high heat.  Stir in the garlic powder, Bangkok, and powdered ginger.  When vegetables are beginning to soften, add the soy sauce and stir well.  Taste for seasoning, adjusting if necessary.  When veggies are cooked to your preference, remove from heat and garnish with sliced green onions.  Drizzle each serving with sweet chili sauce, if desired.

Makes 6 servings.  

This is so super easy to throw together.  Love it!  And my family loved it too.  Of course, it is totally customizable to fit your family's preferences and works well with whatever you happen to have on hand at the moment.  You can chop regular cabbage instead of using the cole slaw mix, but I love the convenience of it, because it also adds carrots without having to get out your grater.

I used Penzeys Bangkok Blend, which is a salt-free Thai-style seasoning.  I happen to know that Penzeys is offering a 1/4 cup jar of it as a free gift with purchase right now on their website. (They are also offering free shipping with $30 order.)  I am not affiliated with Penzeys in any way (I wish!), and I don't benefit in any way from promoting them, I just thought I would pass that little tidbit along! I really love the Bangkok Blend. If Penzeys isn't an option for you, I found that Spice Islands has a Thai Blend.

This dish really does taste like an egg roll without the wrapper.  Perfect for my husband and I who are doing low carb.  According to my calculations, it comes out to just below 4 carbs per serving (without the chili sauce).  Very nice! Of course, that will vary depending on the veggies you choose.  I served it over brown rice for my kiddos.  If you are not low-carbing, you can just add cooked rice right into the skillet to make it like fried rice.  I splurged a little (carb-wise) and drizzled some sweet chili sauce on top of mine.  It's fine without, but that made it even better.

My whole family loved this, and I love having another super quick and easy recipe for dinner now that my kids are heading back to school next week.

What I'm Reading Right Now

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

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Improv: Grilled Caprese Chicken

It's time for this month's Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.   

This month's assigned ingredients were tomatoes and herbs.  Perfect for this time of year, when gardens are overflowing with both.  I don't garden, unfortunately, but I have a nice lady named Marge who plants some herbs in pots for me since she knows I like to cook.  The basil in the pic above came from my yard.  No tomatoes for us this year; need to make that more of a priority next year.

This is a recipe I made on a chilly evening in late June when we had some friends over for dinner.  We love grilling in the summertime, but it can get pretty boring always grilling the same things, so I like to get creative on the grill.  I put it all together and my husband mans the grill.  I have to say, he has been absolutely rocking the grill this summer.  Especially chicken.  I found some Caprese Grilled Chicken saved on my "On the Grill" Pinterest board from Add A Pinch.  It was plain chicken grilled, then topped with the mozzarella and tomato and drizzled with a balsamic reduction.  I twisted it up a bit and decided to marinate the chicken in balsamic instead of doing the reduction.  The results were fantastic.

Grilled Caprese Chicken

Ingredients:
½ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh basil, torn
4 chicken breast cutlets
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Fresh tomatoes

Directions:
In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, pour the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and torn basil.  Close bag and smoosh it around to evenly mix.  Open bag and add the chicken breast cutlets.  Close bag and refrigerate for 4 hours.

When ready to grill, remove chicken from the bag and give each cutlet a quick rinse with water to remove excess marinade.  Grill chicken over medium heat.  When you flip the chicken over to the second side, top each with a slice of mozzarella and a slice of tomato.  Grill until the chicken is cooked through and the mozzarella melts.  Remove from grill and garnish with additional basil, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

So the dark color of the chicken is not from grilling; it's from the balsamic marinade.  It's kind of the color of a cooked mushroom.  I did rinse off the excess marinade before grilling, but the chicken is kind of "stained" from it.  It didn't bother us or our guests; the marinade makes it so tender and flavorful you aren't going to give a rip what color it is.  Way better than a drizzle, in my opinion.  And topped with gooey melty mozzarella, the vibrant tomato, and fresh perfumy basil? Amazing!

This was a big hit with our friends and was so much better than the average "burgers and dogs" cookout.  And really, not that much more work!  I served it with an Italian pasta salad and my Broccoli Salad.  What a fun summer meal.

Be sure to check out all the other awesome tomato and herb recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with apples and oats.  Fall already? Oh man!

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Easy Dijon Baked Chicken

This is a great chicken recipe I have made a few times now.  Yummy chicken does not get much easier than this.  Just mix a few seasonings into Dijon mustard, slather it all over your favorite cut of chicken, and throw it in the oven.  Then you have 45 minutes to do whatever you want.  Easy peasy. It's an adaptation of a recipe I saw on ifoodreal.

Dijon Baked Chicken

Ingredients:
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp onion powder
4-5 chicken thighs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°.  

Combine mustard, salt, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Rub this mixture all over the chicken thighs, top and bottom.  Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet or in a baking dish.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Makes 4-5 servings.

So easy, but so good. The mustard mixture creates a kind of "crust" on the chicken skin.  You can use any cut of chicken you like; this would work well with drumsticks or bone-in, skin-on breasts too.  You may also be able to use boneless, skinless, but since they cook a lot faster, the mustard probably won't have enough time in the oven to get that crispy goldenness to it.

I served this with fresh green beans and whole wheat stuffing, but it would be good with pretty much any side dish you like.  It's very versatile.

My five-year-old ate one and a half of these all by herself last night.

The next time thighs and drumsticks go on sale at your grocery store, stock up and give this a try.

What I'm Reading Right Now

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

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Improv: Pretzel Dogs with Cheesy Mustard Dipping Sauce

It's time for this month's Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.  

This month's ingredients were pretzels and mustard.  Fun summertime ingredients!  Makes me think of baseball games.  I decided to try something I've never done before: make a pretzel dough from scratch.  I had seen lots of recipes for Pretzel Dogs around and thought that would be fun to try.  I went with the method from The Slow Roasted Italian, because hers just looked a lot simpler than the others and there was no rising time.  Instead of regular mustard, or even honey mustard, I got creative and made a cheesy mustard sauce to dip our dogs in.

Pretzel Dogs with Cheesy Mustard Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

12 oz. beer, warmed to 110°-120°

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp active dry yeast

1 tsp kosher salt

4+ cups flour

¼ cup baking soda

12 hot dogs, patted dry

1 egg

2 tbsp water

Coarse salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°.  Put a large pot of water on to boil.

Combine the beer, honey, and yeast in a large mixing bowl and stir well.  Wait a few minutes for the yeast to “bloom”, then add the salt and the flour.  Mix well.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes, adding more flour if necessary.  Dough should be somewhat tacky, but not so sticky that it sticks to your fingers.  Cut dough into 12 equal-sized portions.

Roll each portion out like a snake, about 10” long.  Slightly flatten it.  Starting at one end, carefully wrap the dough around the hot dog, making sure the edges touch as it goes around.  You can leave the ends of the hot dog peeking out, though.  Pinch the ends of the dough to the rest of the dough to keep it in place.  Take the pretzel dog and roll it a few times in between your palms to smooth out the dough.  This just makes them slightly prettier.  Repeat this process with the remaining dough and hot dogs.

When water is boiling, carefully add the baking soda.  Be careful; it will bubble up!  Add two pretzel dogs at a time to the boiling water.  Boil for 30 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon (I used a spider).  

Once all the pretzel dogs have been boiled, place them on a baking sheet.  Whisk together the egg and the water and brush this mixture over the top of each pretzel dog.  Sprinkle generously with coarse salt.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until they are dark golden brown.  (Make dipping sauce while they are baking.)  Serve with dipping sauce.

Cheesy Mustard Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

4 tbsp butter

¼ cup flour

½ tsp smoked paprika

1-2 tbsp whole grain mustard

1¼ cups 2% milk

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated

Directions:

In a small saucepan, melt butter.  Add flour and cook a couple of minutes.  Stir in smoked paprika and mustard.  Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly.  Increase heat to a simmer.  When it starts to thicken, decrease heat to low and stir in the cheese.  Taste for seasoning, adding more mustard or cheese if desired. 

Makes 6 servings, 2 pretzel dogs each.

Yum! These were so good!  My husband and 5- and 7-year-old daughters loved them.  And the sauce was perfect!  Cheese and mustard work really well together.  I just used 1 tbsp of mustard because I didn't want it too spicy for my kids.  But if you are a mustard lover, you might want to use more.

Be sure to check out all the other great pretzel and mustard recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with tomatoes and herbs.

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Smoked Sausage and Veggie Grilled Foil Packs

Have you been grilling a lot now that it's finally summertime?  We sure have.  It's one of my favorite things about summer.  One of my favorite food companies, fellow Hoosiers Red Gold Tomatoes is hosting their third annual Summer Grilling Giveaway now through July 22.  During this time, Red Gold is giving away a Large Big Green Egg each week, as well as 800 insulated tote bags.  Wow!  To get in all that prize-winning action, head over to their Facebook page to enter.

You may think it's odd for a canned tomato company to be hosting a grilling promotion.  Canned tomatoes on the grill?  Sounds weird, huh?  It's not!  Canned tomatoes can be used in multiple ways on the grill.  Red Gold asked me if I would like to create a recipe showing people how versatile their tomatoes are.  Of course!  I love experimenting and finding a way to use canned tomatoes on the grill was a challenge I was definitely up for.  Last summer I made Ranch BLT Grilled Chicken Burgers that had the tomatoes inside the burger.  This time I went in a totally different direction.  I threw some smoked sausage, potatoes, my family's favorite veggies, and some Red Gold diced tomatoes inside a foil pack and put it on the grill.  Everything cooks together; it's like the grill version of a one-pot meal!  The other great thing about these is that since each person has their own pack, it's completely customizable.  Awesome!  Here's how I made them.

Smoked Sausage and Veggie Foil Packs

Ingredients:

4-6 red potatoes

8 oz. baby carrots

1 head broccoli

1 medium zucchini

4 oz. sliced mushrooms

1 (14 oz.) can Red Gold diced tomatoes

Your choice of seasoning

14 oz. smoked sausage

Olive oil

Fresh Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat grill to medium heat.

First, prepare your ingredients.  Slice the smoked sausage and cut up all veggies.  Make sure the potato cubes and carrots are smaller than softer veggies like zucchini.  If you want to do it make-your-own style, lay out all ingredients on plates or in bowls.

Lay out a piece of heavy-duty foil about 18" square.  Spray with cooking spray.  Pile the veggies of your choice on one half of the foil.  Sprinkle generously with seasoning.  Lay some smoked sausage slices on top and drizzle all with olive oil.  Fold the other half of the foil over the food and crimp the three open edges.  If desired, use a Sharpie to write a name or initial on the top of the foil for easy identification after cooking.  Repeat this process with as many packs as you like.

Turn the grill down to medium-low and place the packs on it.  Close the lid and cook for 10-15 minutes.  Flip each pack over and also rotate them on the grill.  Cook another 10-15 minutes.  Open one of the packs and test a potato or a carrot for doneness.  If not quite done, cook another few minutes.  When done, remove the packs from the grill and cut them open.  You can eat them out of the foil, or transfer the contents to a serving bowl.  Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

These are all the veggies I used for my family, but I didn't put each veggie in each pack.  My girls don't care for mushrooms or zucchini, so I left those out of theirs and put more broccoli and carrots in.  The baby carrots I had were somewhat skinny, so I left them whole.  If you have the fatter kind, you might want to slice them length-wise.  I used paper plates because I didn't want to dirty up that many dishes!

 Since the smoked sausage is already seasoned, I put the veggies down first and seasoned them before adding the sausage.  I know it all gets jumbled up anyway, but I think this helps the seasonings stick to the veggies better.

 Smoked sausage and tomatoes go on last.  I forgot to get a pic of the packs after I assembled them, but you've probably seen a foil pack before, right?

 Fresh off the grill.  We cooked them for about half an hour and my husband's and my kids' packs were totally perfect.  Unfortunately, mine was totally overcooked.  That's why I put in the recipe to rotate the packs because mine must have been sitting over a hot spot on the grill.

This was mine.  You can see that the zucchini was total mush, but the everything else was okay, save for a few slices of sausage that burned.  It's hard cooking food you can't see!  But I think if we had rotated the packs, they all would have been perfect.

While you can certainly use any veggies you like in these packs, I do highly recommend using the canned tomatoes as well.  Not only do they provide a nice acidity to balance out the fat, but they also add moisture and keep the packs from drying out as they cook.  

So now that you know you can use canned tomatoes on the grill, head over to Red Gold's Facebook page  for your change to win a Big Green Egg in their Summer Grilling Giveaway.

What I'm Reading Right Now

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

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Improv: Grilled Salmon Sliders with Dill Avocado Sauce

It's time for this month's Improv Challenge.  The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it. 

This month's assigned ingredients were fish and avocado.  I said that "fish" could be anything that came from the sea.  I had planned to make some kind of tuna and avocado rice bowl that I had pinned on Pinterest a while ago, but then I saw something new a couple of weeks ago that I just could not resist trying.  Salmon sliders with an avocado sauce on Rachel Schultz.  I had never thought to do salmon sliders and that avocado sauce sounded amazing.  I changed a few things; here's my adaptation.

 Grilled Salmon Sliders with Dill Avocado Sauce

Ingredients:

8 small salmon filets

Seasoning of choice (Lemon pepper is good)

1 avocado, cubed

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

¼ cup fresh dill

Salt, to taste

8 slider rolls

Tomato slices

Green leaf lettuce

Directions:

Preheat grill to medium heat.  

Season the salmon however you like.  Grill salmon for a couple of minutes on each side.  (I recommend using a grill pan.)  Remove from grill and set aside.

Meanwhile, combine the avocado, vinegar, honey, and dill. Blend using a small food processor or a stick blender.  Taste for seasoning, adding salt if desired.

To assemble sliders: Cut slider rolls and place a salmon filet on each one.  Top with lettuce and tomato.  Slather the top bun with the avocado sauce and place on top.

Makes 4 servings, 2 sliders each.

I decided to grill the salmon because 'tis the season!  My husband has been rocking the grilled salmon lately, so that was a no-brainer for me.  If grilling is not an option for you for whatever reason, you can still certainly make these by either baking or pan-searing the salmon.  But the grilled flavor goes so well with the summery tomato and avocado that grilling would always be my preference here.  

About the seasoning: You can definitely season the salmon any way you like.  Lemon pepper would have been my first choice, but my kids don't like it (too peppery for them), so I used Penzeys Mural of Flavor and some salt.  Mural of Flavor is so great on salmon because it has lemon in it.  So yummy on all kinds of seafood.  So it worked really well here.

It's hard to measure fresh dill, so here's a pic of how much I used.  The original recipe called for lemon juice, and even though I only used half of what was called for, the lemon was way overpowering to me.  I added more honey to balance it out.  So that's why I left the lemon out of my recipe.  I think the white wine vinegar gives it all the acidity it needs.  It also called for red pepper flakes, but I left that out.

These little sandwiches were so good!  The salmon was flaky and the sauce was cool and creamy.  I can never cut even slices of tomato, so mine was a little messy because it was lopsided, but I didn't care!  Sometimes messy things taste the best.  My five-year-old was leery of the sauce because she saw me putting the dill in it and she thought it was cilantro, which she claims she doesn't like.  But my seven-year-old absolutely loved it.

I can see this avocado sauce being good and in infinite number of sandwiches.  Grilled chicken sandwiches, BLTs, hamburgers, etc.  Any sandwich that is good with fresh avocado would be even better with this sauce.  And it's really easy to whip up.  

Be sure to check out all the other great fish and avocado recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with pretzels and mustard!

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