Vegetarian

Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

Some recipes are so easy they don’t need to be written up, but I love a new spin on any vegetable, and we have suddenly leapt from winter to summer it seems here in New England. While I will grill in the winter if the need for something grilled is strong, I typically save the grilling for this type of weather. Yay! Finally the days where we can think about eating outside have arrived…for the day anyway (who knows what the next day holds).Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

This recipe is adapted from Parmesan Potato Wedges all over the Pinterest. For zucchini, I selected slender, young looking zucchini, about a half-dollar size in circumference (1 1/2″-2″).

Slice into quarters, then into sticks about three inches long. Place zucchini in a plastic gallon sized bag or container and drizzle with oil. I used plain old vegetable oil, but you can use olive oil as well. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and then toss. Once the zucchini is coated, add 1/2 -1 Cup of grated parmesan cheese (I actually used grated pecorino Romano cheese). Coat the zucchini with all of that cheesey goodness!Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

Preheat your oven to 400* and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pop them in the oven. I set the timer for 15 minutes, but ended up cooking them longer, I wanted to see if I could get them to go from melty to golden. In total, the zucchini cooked for approx. 25 minutes but I would watch them. Nothing in this world smells like burned cheese, and that isn’t a good thing. I started the grill, started the zucchini, and magically everything was done at the same time.

This is a simple side dish, but they are tasty enough to be considered a main dish, especially if you are looking for a veggie that has a little extra.

Parmesan Zucchini SticksNow, the variables…you could mix up the cheese, add different spices (think smoked paprika, chili powder, dill, you see where I am going with this).

In a season where I am now working outside digging in the dirt and pulling up weeds and mowing lawns, I want simple. This delivers and your guests are never going to know (unless you tell them)!

As always, I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe!

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Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

Parmesan Zucchini Sticks
Print Recipe

Simple, baked zucchini sticks with a melty, crunchy parmesan coating. This side dish is sure to please!

  • Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale
  • 5 small zuchinni quartered and cut into approximately 3 inch lengths.
  • 2 Tablespoons of oil
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1/2–1 Cup Grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano Cheese (to taste)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400* and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Slice and cut zucchini.
  3. Place zucchini, oil, spices in ziplock bag or container and toss.
  4. Add grated cheese to bag and coat each piece of zucchini.
  5. Arrange zucchini on parchment lined paper and place in the oven.
  6. Bake initially for 15-20 minutes, additional time to make the cheese go from melty to golden.
  7. Serve!

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Balance in Life and Diet and Chopped Apple Salad

Chopped Apple Salad

Recently I went to a bounce place with one of my best friends (Erika from the Eggplant Rollatini Recipe), and our high school aged children. We bounced. As in, all of us. Me, my forty five year old body, workout clothes, and sock feet. We were maybe two of three adults in the place “bouncing,” total. Other adults were sitting in chairs along the sidelines on their cell phones and or guarding the “stuff.” You get a visual.

Now, I am a fledgling athlete, at best. I walk every day. I work like a pro digging dirt in my yard and edging borders like I’m a dude. I’m a single mom, so if stuff needs to get done, I find a way.

Ninja warrior? I am not.

That didn’t keep me from doing the Ninja Warrior Mazes at this bounce place. The easier one, and the harder one. I ricocheted off the wedges, I climbed rock walls, I fell off those monkey bar swings (many times), I managed the rope walls. BUT I ROCKED THE BALANCE LEDGE. You know, that tiny little strip of fabric you have to cross and not fall off to get to the next place? Yeah. This gal balanced the crap out of that thing. Did I mention I was slow at everything? Uh, there’s a time element? OK, so maybe I wasn’t as amazing as I felt in my head at the time…

Balance. Why is balance so hard?

Why is it I can be prepping a salad and the M&M’s that live in my daughter’s room down the hall call to me? Why is it when the stress of work and life in general should propel me to go to the gym I find myself wanting to curl up on the couch (I don’t) and eat Ben and Jerry’s (I eat Halo Top). Why is it when I am finally at an age where I know better and know more, I still struggle?

Balance. The balance of being kind to myself and yet being accountable. Of making good choices across the board and indulging once in a while. Ever. So. Careful. We. Balance.

Chopped Apple Salad

This recipe today is something I love to eat, and it packs up as a great lunch, side dish, or topper. It goes really well on a salad, on quinoa, on top of carnitas, wherever you feel the need for an apple-y crunch with a kick of coleslaw. Especially this time of year when the apples are ready for picking, you have another apple recipe in your arsenal.

Simply grate or chop your apples, throw in some shredded carrots, and shredded cabbage. While I find the art of chopping and dicing to be therapeutic, for this recipe, I just purchased the pre-shredded carrots and the pre-shredded cabbage, making this super easy to prepare.

I whipped up a quick vinaigrette, but if you wanted to make it even easier on yourself…you could use poppy seed dressing or coleslaw dressing that is bottled. This is supposed to be a quick, easy, healthy option for the table.

Now, if you want to amp this recipe up with walnuts, pecans, raisins, Craisins, go for it! Be empowered to change this recipe and do your thing!

If I make this recipe, it is almost always my lunch the next day, because apples get brownish even in the acids, and veggies never hold up with dressing the next day. They just don’t look the same. However, no mom ever turned her nose up at a pre made, grab quickly and enjoy lunch, whether the apples looked sad or not. At least, this mom doesn’t. There’s that balance again, you take it where you can!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe!

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Chopped Apple Salad

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A quick and easy side dish that pairs apples and cabbage with a light vinaigrette!

  • Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

Salad:

  • two red apples (Macoun or Gala)
  • 1–2 Granny Smith Apples
  • 1 Cup Shredded Carrots
  • 1 Cup Shredded Cabbage

Vinaigrette:

  • 1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/4 Cup Olive Oil (I found a Grapefruit Infused Olive Oil at Mainely Drizzle I love)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 Tsp Poppy Seeds (if desired)
  • (If you want it to be more creamy in texture – add 1/3 Cup Miracle Whip)
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar (if desired)

Instructions

  1. Chop apples into bite sized chunks.
  2. Mix apples, carrots, and cabbage together.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine dressing ingredients (or used pre-bottled dressing of choice)
  4. Combine and refrigerate.

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Buffalo Cauliflower

Buffalo Cauliflower

“Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education” – Mark Twain.

Ok, true confession. I love this vegetable. Raw, steamed, riced, and my personal favorite, buffalo style. It’s a stinky veggie, but it is a good one. I love how the florets are a creamy white and solid, how they crunch when raw, and have a meaty texture when cooked, and how they rice up or mash-up and fake out the potato lovers in all of us. Does my house smell like a locker room after the team ate chili? Well, there is always the trade-off. Open a window and cook this precious vegetable.

This recipe is quick to prepare and easy to make. Simply cut the cauliflower head into florets, marinate in a hot sauce, then roast in the oven. I use a basic hot sauce – you can up the ante for this recipe and add cayenne, hot pepper seeds, whatever you’ve got in your spice arsenal. I like to not breathe fire when I eat, typically. But these are still hot in the spicy sense. Thus the name.

Marinated Buffalo Cauliflower

This is a weekly recipe in my house. I do a lot of meal prep for the week on Sunday, so come fall, when the cauliflower is abundant, you will find me roasting this very recipe for my lunches for the week.

I have seen recipes where you put a breading on the cauliflower, then fry or bake it, but I have found that the simplicity of this recipe and the fact that it is essentially a marinated roasted vegetable make it a

healthy and versatile option.  I will put this over a salad, serve it as a side dish, eat it instead of wings when I order them for the kids, and just all around enjoy it. It’s got kick, it opens the sinuses when you make it, hey…all things good.

I let the cauliflower marinate over night, then roast in a 375* oven until it is browned and cooked through, approximately 50 minutes. Half way through the cooking time , I pull the sheet pan out of the oven and toss the cauliflower so it roasts equally on all sides.

Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower

This is delicious right out of the oven, or as a cold topper for salad. It gives that “Meatless Monday” a fun twist, and I got my anti-vegetable eater in my life (you know who you are) to try it…and even like it. That’s a win-win.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always…thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click Below for a Printable Recipe

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Buffalo Cauliflower

Print Recipe
  • 1-2 Heads of Cauliflower, Cleaned and Cut into Florets
  • 1/2-3/4 Cup Frank’s Red Hot (or hot sauce of your choice- I mix in Siracha, various hot sauces – a dash of this and that, etc.)
  • 1/2 Cup oil (I use regular canola oil or olive oil)
    • (I do have a cayenne infused olive oil I splash in here if I have it)
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
  • Salt and Pepper to Taste

 

  • Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

  1. Cut Cauliflower into florets and set aside
  2. Mix marinade ingredients, pour over cauliflower. (I do all of this in a gallon sized ziplock baggie)
  3. Coat Cauliflower evenly, and refrigerate for several hours to overnight.
  4. Remove Cauliflower, straining the excess marinade away if possible.
  5. Place Cauliflower on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven at 375*
  6. Halfway through the cooking time, (25 minutes) turn Cauliflower over to cook evenly.
  7. Remove from the oven when Cauliflower is browned and cooked through.

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