Great Tastes! (and healthy, too)

I love burgers. But not all burgers are created equal. In my younger days, I enjoyed Quarter Pounders and Whoppers, which is obviously one of the reasons I'm where I'm at today, weight-wise. Thanks to fellow bloggers and some good magazines, I've been trying some different burgers. Tonight's burger was a repeat from March, Turkey Burgers with Curry-Lime Mayo.






To go with it, I made some Zucchini Oven Chips. I "borrowed" the recipe from Joe of Culinary in the Country, and even used his tip of adding some cayenne to the breading. These were virtually non-fat, yet tasted just as good as the fried zucchini I love so much. We didn't need a dipping sauce with these since they were so flavorful, but I'm sure you could try some ranch dressing if you wanted.




Zucchini Oven Chips
from Joe of Culinary in the Country

¼ cup dry breadcrumbs
¼ cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese (I used Asiago)
¼ teaspoon seasoned salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2 ½ cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small)
*I added between 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of Cayenne
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. (Joe and I did these on a baking stone instead). Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

I've been given an award!

Teresa Cordero Cordell, who has a blog called Mexican-American Border Cooking, has bestowed on me the El Premio Arte y Pico award. Now I'm not totally sure what it's all about, but it's turned into a sort of meme, where each winner picks 5 more to give the award to. Teresa said she picked me because I'm a "woman of many talents. First, she’s a stickler for proper grammar, she loves to cook, and she loves to stitch. My cross stitching days are over (arthritis), but I still crotchet for short periods of time. So any cook who also has a passion for stitching is allright in my book." Cool!!!!!! And thanks so much for the honor, Teresa!

Now, I'm supposed to come up with 5 other bloggers to honor. I'll work on that for a day or two and come back and add it.

Home Again

We left Colorado Saturday morning, and spent Saturday night at the Richfield, Utah KOA. Sunday night we stayed at Whiskey Pete's in Primm, Nevada - it's a hotel/casino on the Nevada/California state line - cheap motel, average casino, good location for travelers who don't want to stay in Vegas, and a great steakhouse. We were home by 9 am on Monday.

Tuesday was the commissary trip to restock the pantry and refrigerator, Wednesday was Costco, and today was Trader Joe's. I'm back in business!

Cooking Resolution for Fall 2008: Limit potato side dishes to once a week. We really overdid the potatoes on our trip.

Tonight I tried an old recipe again plus a new one. The old one was Mahi Mahi with Jalapeño-Lime Butter, and in keeping with my new resolution, the new one was Tomatoes Florentine. Don really liked this (I did, too) and it was so easy that it'll be a repeat.

Tomatoes Florentine

6 medium tomatoes
salt
½ cup light cream
1 egg yolk
1 10 oz. pkg. frozen spinach, cooked, chopped, drained (I failed to read this part and squeezed the thawed spinach dry inside paper towels without cooking it. It still turned out wonderful.)
3 Tablespoons butter, melted

Cut top (1/4 in.) off each tomato. Scoop out insides. Sprinkle insides with salt. Combine cream and egg yolk; add spinach and 1 T of the butter. Salt to taste. Heat, stirring, just to simmering. Fill tomatoes with the creamed spinach. Place in baking dish. Top each with 1 t melted butter. Bake at 375˚ for 20 minutes. Serve hot.