Southwestern Corn Skillet - More yummy food!

Today is Sunday. I teach on Sundays. I love teaching. Despite this love, I come home pretty tired... no, I come home basically exhausted and in need of recharging. Cooking doesn't necessarily help me recharge when I feel completely spent. Nevertheless, I swore to be in control of my food this week. I am struggling to be in control, but I decided to keep struggling today. As I sit here rather bleary-eyed, I really am glad I decided to keep struggling. Another successful new recipe, and it's vegetarian!

Southwestern Corn Skillet
From Weight Watchers - 2 points per serving
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. corn oil (I used olive)
1 onion, chopped (I used both a yellow and 2 green onions)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped (I skipped this for the kids' palettes. I'm sure Aaron and I would like it)
10 ounces of corn kernels
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used peppers that were red and green at same time)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (I used grape 'maters, sort of quartered)
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
3/4 tsp. salt (skipped it)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper (didn't measure)

Instructions:
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, then add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño pepper. Saute until softened, 3-5 mins. Add the corn, zucchini, bell pepper, and cumin; saute until softened, 7-8 mins. Stir in the cherry tomatoes and saute until just warmed through, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro, salt and ground pepper.

1 cup = 1 serving

Notes from Jen:
I doubled the recipe. I added 2 cans of black beans to the doubled recipe. If you do a single recipe, just add 1 can. The cookbook suggests using this skillet for soft tacos by mixing in ground turkey breast, which I think sounds fantastic. Oh, and the original recipe suggests serving over rice, and we skipped it because I didn't bother to start the rice. We sprinkled shredded "Mexican" cheese on top (some kind of cheddar blend). Aaron described it as a dry chili. I thought it was like a dry salsa. It is surprisingly filling. Caleb had 2 good size servings. Ellie was tired and cranky, but she enjoyed the little bit she tried.

Lots of ingredients and lots of chopping, but definitely worth the effort!

Grilled Moroccan Chicken Kabobs

Yum yum yum!!

The above picture is what we had for dinner last night. It was fairly easy to make once I got past cutting the chicken. My kids loved the chicken. They were not as delighted with the zucchini or the onions. My son swears he only likes uncooked zucchini (what is wrong with him? *grin*), and my daughter likes to imitate. The only change I would make to the recipe would be to marinate the vegetables with the chicken.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 pound(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 Tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp table salt (I used kosher salt)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground (I didn't measure this)
2 sprays cooking spray (we skipped it on the grill)
1 large zucchini, cut into 1 inch thick half-moons
2 small red onions, quartered through the root

Instructions:
Mix the chicken, spices and orange juice together in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours (oops - I only let it sit about an hour because I didn't read ahead).

Off heat, coat grill with cooking spray (oops, we skipped it and it still worked). Prepare gas grill for direct high-heat grilling OR build a high-heat charcoal bed in the center of the coal grate on a charcoal grill.

Divide the chicken, zucchini and onions on 4 large skewers. Set skewers directly over the heat and grill for 16 minutes, turning about every 4 minutes so that all sides are evenly browned/cooked.

One skewer = one serving. We doubled the recipe for leftovers. Nom nom nom!

CSA!!

Yes my friends, CSA season has at last returned to our household! Today was the first pick up for our share of the Stillman's CSA. As I expected from the first box, we have loads of green leafy goodness. Here is a tally of what was included in our full share box. We share this box with our neighbors, so really I only keep half of what is on the list.

• 2 bunches of kale, 2 different varieties
• 1 quart(?) strawberries. What do you call the next box size up from a pint?
  
• 2 heads of lettuce, 2 different varieties - green and red
• 2 bunches of swiss chard, 2 varieties - "plain" and "rainbow"
• 2 bunches arugula
• 2 bunches of radishes
  
• beets, glorious beets. I *think* 2 bunches.

Tonight's dinner was lentil burgers with a side of carmelized onions and kale. The lentil burgers are a Weight Watchers recipe that we had to modify to make work. I'm not sure what the recipe author thought would bind the lentil mixture together, but the recipe had no egg or additional oil. Aaron saved the recipe by adding a few eggs. The kale recipe comes to me from RecipeZaar.

Yes, this is what I offered to my kids for dinner.

My kids actually ate the burgers!! Given that I thought they were a certain fail when I had to bring Aaron in to rescue the recipe, I am delighted they ate them. Caleb had a few bites of the kale, claimed to like it, but did not finish his small portion. Ellie wouldn't touch the kale. This didn't surprise me. Dark green leafy vegetables can be a really hard sell to kids, and this recipe doesn't make them LOOK appealing, even though they taste great. I have much higher hopes for the swiss chard (quiche is coming soon to a kitchen near me...*grin*).

Anyway, it is SO nice to return to our weekly CSA pickup. I love knowing that I have guaranteed good (quality, quantity, etc.) vegetables for the summer. I love knowing that I can bring back last year's favorite recipes and try out some new ones.

Dinner Success!

Tonight's dinner was definitely a success on a few fronts.

First and foremost, it was ready by the time Aaron walked in the door! I also managed to do some clean up from it before he arrived at 6pm. That dinner was ready to be served before he came home is truly a miracle as both kids were home today. Caleb was under the weather, clingy and needy. Ellie was your typical 17 month old - alternating between completely content and "I NEED YOU NOW!" Entirely too much television was watched today, but we made it through the day and a yummy healthy dinner was produced along the way.

Second, I managed to use up half of a very large butternut squash and the remainder of our swiss chard (rainbow chard). I made crustless swiss chard quiche and classic butternut squash soup. I served leftover buttermilk biscuits because I'm not so very motivated to bake bread when I'm dealing with sick kid + 17 month old + my own doctor appointment AND the downstairs is chilly because the *@!# thermostat has a low battery again after we changed the batteries within the last month.

Third, everyone enjoyed it and ate most of it. Aaron thanked me for making dinner. Caleb thanked me for making yummy dinner. Ellie ate and did not throw food. Yes, there are leftovers, but that is a good thing since I am out tomorrow night and Aaron will need to figure out dinner.

My next task - figure out what else to make with all of my squash, including lots and lots of pumpkin puree.