Zucchini Parmesan

I tried eggplant parmesan for the first time last week. It was delicious! I had a bunch of extra zucchini laying around so I decided to try my hand at a zucchini based recreation. I was very pleased with the way that it turned out.  Add this dish to my zucchini-harvest repertoire.  

Zucchini Parmesan
Source: Adapted from Handle the Heat

Ingredients:
3 large zucchini, sliced into 1/3-inch coins
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated and divided in half
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs (I used panko bread crumbs with italian seasoning)
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 bottle marinara sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 package spaghetti linguine noodles, cooked & drained

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450. Coat a large baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Blot zucchini coins with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Place zucchini in a medium bowl and drizzle with olive oil, turning to coat each piece. In a separate bowl, combine half the parmesan, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Dip each zucchini coin into the parmesan mixture, turning to coat and pressing the breading slightly to ensure it sticks. Place breaded zucchini coins in one even layer on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes or until browned and crisp. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 400. Place noodles in bottom of a 9x13 baking dish and toss with half the marinara sauce. Place a layer of remaining marinara sauce over the top of the noodles. Layer one third of the crisp zucchini coins over marinara, overlapping if necessary. Sprinkle zucchini layer with mozzarella, cheddar and the remaining parmesan. Repeat the layers until the zucchini is gone, depending on the size of your baking dish, ending with a sprinkling of cheese.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling.

Stuffed Zucchini

I love zucchini, and this year our plants have actually produced more than one baby zucchini. I've been so excited about it and have been actively searching for yummy recipes that utilize our garden abundance. The tricky part is finding normal recipes that still fit in with our preferred food-tastes. Just because I want to use zucchini doesn't mean that I want to use feta or goat cheese.  David is tolerant of zucchini, but doesn't adore it, so recipes that somehow incorporate the zucchini while remaining fairly consistent with what we normally eat are best. I decided to take a chance on my own version of a stuffed zucchini, even though it's got a bigger presence than I would normally attempt. Again, most of the recipes I found were pretty outside of our normal scope of food taste - but I decided to just go for it. As I was making it, I totally chickened out and just made things up as I went instead of following the recipe in hopes that it would end up being something that we would actually eat and enjoy. It ended up turning out awesome and I would definitely make it again.

Stuffed Zucchini
Source: The Peaden Kitchen

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 bottle marinara sauce (we love Prego)
1 medium/large sized zucchini

Directions:
Slice zucchini in half end to end and use a spoon to scoop out the middle, creating a little boat. Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stick in a 350 oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, In a medium sized skillet, brown ground beef. When almost completely cooked through, add onion and bell pepper and cook until tender. Add about 1/2 cup of marinara sauce and stir to combine.  Place meat mixture in hollowed out portion of zucchini and top with additional sauce and remaining cheese. Increase oven temp to 375 and place pan back into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until zucchini is completely fork tender and cheese is melted. Slice into sections and serve. Enjoy!

Spaghetti Pepperoni Bake

When David and I were students at Utah State, we discovered that you could buy pepperoni at Sams Club in GIANT bags for super super cheap. Like eight pounds of pepperoni for under $10. (A regular package of pepperoni is like $3-4 for 7 oz.) We totally bought it, separated it into smaller bags, froze them, and had enough pepperoni to last us forever. We ate a lot of pizza during that time of our lives. (I'd leave rhodes rolls on the counter in the morning and then whip up some personal pizzas when we got home at night.) We also started exploring all of the other things that you could do with pepperoni. We found this recipe and it has become a much loved favorite. (I don't even know where to source it back to, because it was so long ago - but it's a simple recipe. I'm sure you can find them all over the web.) This is nice when you want something slightly nicer than spaghetti (read: having guests over but still want a simple meal) or when you have some leftover mozzarella in the fridge.

Spaghetti Pepperoni Bake

Ingredients: 

1 bottle Prego spaghetti sauce
1 (8 oz.) pkg. spaghetti, cooked al dente and drained
1 (4 oz.) pkg. pepperoni, thinly sliced
8 oz. Mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 2 c.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sauce and spaghetti. Arrange half of the spaghetti in bottom of 9x13 dish. Top with half the pepperoni and sprinkle with half the cheeses. Repeat layering with remaining spaghetti, pepperoni, and cheese. I also like to add a coating of parmesan cheese to the very top. (Can be prepared ahead to this point and refrigerated.) Bake until heated through, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 6 to 8.

*Note: this is an awesome meal for just making however much you want. I don't usually make a full 9x13 dish I usually make a 5x8 dish with leftover spaghetti, leftover sauce, and whatever extra cheese and pepperoni I have on hand. It's better with more cheese and pepperoni, but the other day I made it with 12 pieces of pepperoni and it was still delicious. So definitely a meal where you can adjust according to whatever you have on hand. 

Two Timin' Pasta

We love pasta. (Well, I love pasta and David likes it when I make dinner and so he eats a lot of it.) It seems like we always have a half bottle of marinara sauce or a half bottle of alfredo sauce open in our fridge. Oftentimes we have one of each. On the times that I want to use those bottles up - this recipe is perfect! Plus, it tastes like the "Five Cheese Penne" that you can get at Olive Garden. I also love that you don't need any chicken to make it a full meal. (You can add some in if you want, but it stands on it's own.) Pair it with a couple of pieces of french bread and you are good to go! 

Two Timin' Pasta

Source: Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour

Ingredients:
1 box penne pasta
1 (15 oz.) jar Alfredo sauce
1 (24oz.) jar Marinara sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook pasta according to directions and drain. Mix the sauces together in a large bowl. Add the mozzarella and stir to combine. Then add the penne and toss to coat. Pour pasta into 9x13 baking dish and cook on 350 for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese and bake for another 5 minutes.