Zucchini Moussaka

Ingredients:

11/2 pounds zucchini, scrubbed and cut lengthwise in 1/3-inch-thick slices

FILLING

1/2 pound ground lean lamb or beef

1 cup chopped onion

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, dried oregano leaves and salt

1 cup chicken broth

2/3 cup uncooked converted white rice

box frozen chopped spinach (cut frozen block in half)

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

TOPPING

2 tablespoons stick butter or margarine

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

11/2 cups milk

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch of ground nutmeg

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Lightly grease a shallow 2-quart baking dish.

Bring 3 cups water to boil in a large nonstick skillet. Add zucchini, cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove to paper towels to drain.

Filling: Wipe skillet. Add lamb, onion and garlic. Cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink. Stir in cinnamon, oregano and salt, then remaining filling ingredients. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times as spinach thaws. Stir in tomato sauce. Remove from heat.

Topping: Melt butter in a 2-quart saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring 1 to 2 minutes without letting mixture brown. Gradually whisk in milk. Cook, whisking constantly, 4 to 5 minutes until thickened and smooth. Whisk about 1/3 the hot mixture into beaten eggs, then whisk egg mixture into remaining sauce. Remove from heat; stir in nutmeg.

Heat oven to 350°F.

To assemble: Cover bottom of prepared baking dish with half the zucchini slices. Spoon on all the Filling, then cover with remaining zucchini. Pour on Topping and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly and top is lightly golden.

Honey Wheat Bread

Ok so this recipe yields a 1-lbs loaf for a bread machine. I'm sure there's a way to do it by hand, but I LOVE my bread machine, it takes 3 hours instead of a whole day ^_^

When I made this I set my crust on light because my breadmaker tends to burn the crust when it's on medium.

Ingredients:

1-1/8 cup luke warm water (between 80 & 90 degrees)

1/4 cup of honey(I'm not exactly sure how much I squeeze the honey for 5-10sec right into the water)

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup bread flour

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1.5 tsp dry active yeast

Directions:

Add all ingredients, in order, into bread machine. Select settings and let it bake away!

Chicken Divan

Made this last night, it was very tasty and super filling! It makes at least 2 servings.

Ingredients:

2- Skinless Chicken Breast, pounded to about an inch thick

1-can Campbell's Broccoli Cheese Soup

1/2- can water or fat free milk

1.5 cups - Broccoli and Cauliflower mix(or just Broccoli)

1/2 cup - bread crumbs, I did a mixture of plain and Italian

1 cup - mixed shredded cheese, I used a mexican blend

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Salt and peper both sides of chicken breast. Place chicken in a glass baking dish.

Pour/spread broccoli cheese soup over chicken and then pour the water over.

Sprinkle half the bread crumbs over chicken.

Bake chicken for 15 mins. Remove chicken from oven.

Pour broccoli and cauliflower over top. Sprinkle with rest of bread crumbs and cover with shredded cheese. Return to oven for an additional 10 mins or until chicken is cooke all the way through.

Served over white rice and enjoy!

Okra Fries

This is one of my own little concoctions, I got the idea from Iron Chef, they did wedges and deep fried them. I've been trying to go a little more healthy so here are some healthy fries ^_^

Ingredients:

1-bag of frozen/fresh okra or however much you want (I've done with both, fresh is a little more slimy but still very tasty)

1/2 cup egg whites or 2+ eggs + milk

1 cup(enough for dredging) whole wheat flour

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cut okra into 4's length wise. Combine flour, salt and pepper, and cayenne in bowl.

Dredge fries through egg whites and then flour mixture. (You can double dredge them if you like, but they come out good if dredged once)

Place fries on a foil lined cookie sheet.

Once all fries are dredged and on cookie sheet spray a lightly with cooking spray.

Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until fries have reached desired crispness

I baked these once at 350 and once at 400, I liked how crispy they came out at 400. I baked them at the same time I was baking something else. At 350 I used frozen okra (that had been thawed slightly) and they took about 20 - 30 minutes to cook.