Recipe Swap: Crispy Baked Zucchini Fries with Sriracha Lime Mayo

I belong on a cooking forum and have been there for about a year or so. I enjoy having a cooking blog although it's really not much compared to other blogs. I like to be in the kitchen and I'm excited to make Lauren's baby food in the next month or so.

One thing I love about the cooking forum is the group participation. There are recipe swaps a couple times a month. I have participated in these recipe swaps once before.  I really love the idea of the swaps.  Bloggers are "assigned" another blog A Taste of Home Cooking hosts these blogs each month and provides us with the link below so that you can check out all of the recipes.

I was given Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks as my blog for this swap. I seriously waited until the very last minute to make the recipe because I just could not decide what I wanted to make. I browsed through her desserts, appetizers, main dishes, chicken dishes, beef dishes etc.  I finally had to tell my Husband to browse her blog and pick a recipe. I knew he would pick one, without hesitating like I was doing.

Lately, my Husband is watching what he eats, counting calories, limiting carbs and trying to get more exercise in. So far, it's working! He's lost 9lbs.  While it makes for a challenging time when trying to meal plan, I'm proud of him for sticking with it.

This recipe is a great way to sneak some veggies in to your (or your kids'!) diet.  I really enjoy zucchini (tell that to my 10yr old self!) and usually only make it in a stir fry or on kabobs. This really didn't take any time at all to prepare and could easily be made for a crowd or for one. Make as little or as much as you like!

What I loved most about these is that I could definitely see myself replacing regular, potato french fries with these. They have a slight crunch to them, but the inside is soft, similar to the soft, potato inside of a regular french fry.

Crispy Baked Zucchini Fries with Sriracha Lime Mayo
Recipe adapted from: Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks 

Ingredients: 
4 heaping teaspoons of flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 medium zucchinis

Sriracha Sauce Ingredients: 
3 tablespoons mayo
1 1/2 tsp Sriracha
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 425. Cover a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Cut the ends of each zucchini and cut the zucchinis into "fry" shapes. You could even cut them in discs if you wanted zucchini chips, I suppose. 

 You'll want to set up a small station. The beaten eggs should be in one shallow dish and in another shallow dish, combine the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Gently mix together with a fork. 

Put the 4 teaspoons of flour into a ziploc bag. Place all of your cut zucchini in the bag. Zip the bag shut and gently shake the bag until all pieces are coated. 

Next, dip the floured zucchini pieces into the beaten egg, coating all sides. Then, you'll put them into the breadcrumb mixture and again, be sure to coat all sides. 

Place the breaded pieces onto your prepared cookie sheet.  Bake for about 25 minutes until they're golden brown and crispy. 

While the fries cook, whisk together the ingredients for the sriracha mayo. I chilled mine while the fries continued to cook. 

Serve the fries warm with the dipping sauce. Yum! 

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Chicken Tacos

This isn't your typical chicken taco recipe.  Have you ever had the Dorito Taco Salad recipe? I was thinking about that when I was making this recipe, but using ingredients that I had on hand. It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but it did turn out and it was quite tasty!

I don't even have exact measurements because I just kind of threw it together.  I ate mine with some shredded lettuce the first night, but then the next day, I made them as tacos for lunch.

Chicken Tacos
Recipe from: Amy's Kitchen Creations original recipe

Ingredients:
Cooked and shredded chicken breasts
15-30oz Black beans, rinsed and drained
15-30oz Canned corn, drained
~2 tblsp Catalina dressing, to drizzle on before serving
Roma Tomatoes, cut up
A couple tablespoons of taco seasonings

Toppings of your choice:
Sour cream
Guacamole
Shredded lettuce
Shredded cheese
Hard taco shells
Soft flour or corn tortillas for soft tacos 

Directions:
After cooking & shredding the chicken breast, sprinkle the taco seasoning onto the chicken while the chicken is still warm. {Have you ever used your kitchenaid mixer to shred chicken? It's genius!} 

Then, mix together the shredded chicken, corn, black beans. Add your dressing and combine. Add more or less dressing per your preference. Top with some toppings of your choice. 

See, it's easy! I feel a little silly for even posting a recipe because it's so easy. 

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars

When we have Holiday dinners at my Husband's Grandparent's house, I'm always asked to bring dessert.  I love it because I can try out new recipes and can always get some great feedback. Not to mention, it takes the guesswork out of wondering what to bring to a family gathering. 

I knew I wanted to bring a cheesecake because I had a lot of cream cheese in the refrigerator. I have never made a cheesecake before which shocks me now that I think of it.  

This recipe was so easy to make and it received great feedback! We came home with about 3/4 of the pan left so I sent most all of it to work with Matt. One of his coworkers shared some with his Wife when he got home and his Wife questioned where he stopped after work to pick up some cheesecake. 

The only thing that I would change is that I baked the crust before putting the cheesecake filling layer in. After thinking about it, I probably didn't have to and that's probably why the crust separated a little bit from the cheesecake layer when you would cut into it with your fork. I think if you only baked the crust the one time once you had the filling poured on top, it would be much better. 

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars

Cheesecake recipe adapted from: Taste of Home

Graham cracker crust recipe adapted from: All Recipes

Ingredients for the crust:

3 cups graham cracker crumbs

2/3 cup white sugar

12 tablespoons of melted butter

Ingredients for the cheesecake layer:

4 packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp lemon extract

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (21oz) blueberry pie filling

Directions for the crust:

1. Mix together the crumbs, sugar and butter until well blended. Press mixture into 9x13 pan.**

2. Bake at 375 for 7 minutes. 

**{If you're using this crust in a recipe that calls for the finished product to be baked, you could probably hold off on baking the crust separately. If you're making a pudding pie or something that does not need to be baked, you probably will want to follow step 2.}

Directions for the cheesecake layer:

1. Mix the cream cheese, sugar and lemon extract until smooth.
2. Add the eggs and beat until just combined.
3. Pour into the graham cracker crust
4. Drop blueberry pie filling onto cheesecake layer by tablespoons.
5. Using a butter knife, swirl the filling throughout the cheesecake layer. Dropping more filling as needed.
6. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until center is almost set.
7. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour and then refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
8. Top with remaining pie filling, if desired at the time of serving.

Pea Salad

I'd never had pea salad until I met Matt's family.  His Grandma serves it at some of the family Holidays.  There isn't much of a recipe for it and it's really not much of a dish but it is pretty tasty. Plus, you're getting a serving of veggies, right? :-)

I wasn't there for the year that Matt's Grandma served them frozen pea salad, but they definitely reminisce about it each time we have pea salad. Oops!! 

Pea Salad
Recipe from: Family Recipe

Ingredients:
Bag of frozen peas, thawed
Mayonnaise
Roasted peanuts for topping, optional
Salt & pepper, to taste

There isn't much of a recipe as I said.  You use as much or as little mayonnaise as you'd like.  Mix together the mayonnaise and peas. Top with the peanuts.  Serve.

You could prepare this a day ahead of time, keeping the peas frozen and allowing them to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.  Maybe that's how she accidentally served them frozen pea salad?!  If you use this method, make sure your peas are thawed by taking a little taste test before serving!

Chicken & Pea Alfredo

This is one of the first recipes I made in my 'return to the kitchen'.  All of my pregnancy, I've never had any desire to be in the kitchen cooking.  Nothing ever sounded good when it was time to eat, but nothing ever sounded bad either.  It was pretty annoying and made things a little bit difficult! 

I'm so happy that it finally subsided, although I wish that would have happened much earlier! 

Matt and I both really enjoyed this recipe.  It came together pretty quickly which made it even tastier!  When I originally saw this recipe on Cassie's blog, I immediately knew I wanted to make it.  Then, I realized that carbonara meant a raw egg and decided that I would just make an alfredo sauce instead. I looked around for an alfredo sauce recipe using what I had on hand and finally settled on Annie's recipe. 

Chicken & Pea Alfredo
Recipe inspired from: Cassie Craves, Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
16oz of your choice of pasta
1 cup frozen peas
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced 
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked & cubed

For the alfredo sauce:
2 tblsp butter
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook your pasta according to the package directions. During the last two minutes of cooking, add the peas. Drain the pasta and peas. Add your cooked & cubed chicken, set aside.

Check out yesterday's post to see my favorite way to cook chicken breasts!

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-heat. Add the garlic and cream and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. (Mine seem to take forever to thicken, but be patient, it will thicken!) Mix in the Parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Stir the hot alfredo sauce into the pasta, chicken & pea mixture.  Serve warm.

Kitchen Tip: Cooking plain Chicken Breasts

In my opinion, there is nothing worse than a dry chicken breast. This is my favorite way to cook a plain chicken breast.  It's easy, hands-off and always produces great results! I really think the key here is that the chicken needs to be completely thawed.  It might work just as well with frozen chicken breasts, I'm just not sure, I haven't tried it yet.

The other night I threw the chicken breasts into the oven to cook up quick so that I could add them to the pasta.  In 30 minutes, I had juicy, thoroughly cooked chicken breasts.

You could even cook up your chicken ahead of time if you're needing chicken for a cold pasta or cold salad.  Cook the chicken, let it cool and cut/dice as needed.  You'll still have flavorful, moist chicken! This would work great on a busy weeknight, too.  While your chicken is cooking, prepare some veggies or a salad for a quick and delicious dinner.

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400*.  Cover a rimmed baking sheet with two sheets of foil.  Place your chicken breasts on the foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with whatever seasonings you desire on your chicken.  Place a piece of foil over the top of the breasts, crimping around the edges of the pan so that you have created a completely covered baking sheet.  Put the baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes, check to make sure your chicken is done.  If needed, cover with the foil again and cook an additional 15-20 minutes or however long you need until it's done.

Crockpot Freezer Meals!

With Baby coming in less than two weeks, my mind has been on freezer meals!  I want to be sure that we have quick, easy meals & foods on hand because I have NO idea what our life will be like with a newborn. The only thing that I DO know is that we still need to eat! :-)

So far in the freezer we have:
Waffles
Banana Crumb Muffins
Chicken Taquitos
Chicken Burritos
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Frozen pizzas
Steaks

I wanted to add a couple crock pot freezer meals and when I found this post on Six Sister's Stuff I thought it would be perfect.  We purchased the ingredients from Aldi since they're pretty cheap and we were running errands near one.

I've now added Hearty Beef Stew, Taco Soup & Chicken Cacciatore to our freezer stash and to be honest, we're really excited to cook them up! I'll be sure to update this blog post or create a new post with our feedback on each dish.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Recently, Matt wanted soup for dinner.  It was a cold, snowy day and I figured that I could make us a homemade soup rather than buying a pre-packaged soup that you just add water to.  We make those soups occasionally but they're so full of sodium! 

I've seen this recipe on Josie's blog before but have just never made it.  I was somewhat intimidated by having to make a roux, but I was successful and am no longer intimidated!  The soup came together in about 30 minutes which makes it a great option for a weeknight meal.  This even included chopping up the carrot and broccoli! 

Overall, we were slightly disappointed by this soup.  I think I would reduce the amount of broccoli next time, probably going with 3-4 cups instead of the recommended 4-5. I used my immersion blender as Josie suggested and it just felt too chunky and I'd prefer a creamier soup.  Or maybe I need to blend it more next time? I'm not sure but I'd definitely make this again. 

It was filling, quick and served with fresh from the oven bread, made a perfect weeknight meal!

Broccoli-Cheddar Soup

Recipe from: Pink Parsley

Originally from: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

6 tblsp butter, divided

3/4 cup onion, chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and shredded (I used a small handful of baby carrots that we had)

4-5 cups small broccoli florets

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth (I used chicken)

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

pinch of red pepper flakes

4 Tblsp flour

1 cup milk

1 cup half-and-half or heavy ream

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion and carrots to the pan and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Stir in the broccoli, chicken broth, onion powder, red pepper flakes and garlic powder. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmering. 

As the broccoli simmers, melt the remaining butter in a medium saucepan.  Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown, whisking continuously.  Whisk in the milk and cream and cook until the mixture thickens and bubbles.  This will take about 5-7 minutes.  I felt like it would never thicken and just when I was planning to give up, it started to thicken! Remove from the heat, stir in the shredded cheese until its melted and season with salt and pepper. It's going to look so cheesy, gooey and good you're going to have to resist eating it with a spoon!

If you want, use an immersion blender to puree most of the broccoli mixture.  Stir the cheese and milk mixture into the broccoli and cook, stirring occasionally until heated through.  Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.  Serve warm. 

Ranch Mushrooms

This is a recipe from my Husband's coworker.  It's not a recipe that I absolutely love, but they are good.  I'm not a lover of mushrooms in plain form.  I'd much rather have my mushrooms sliced and cooked IN a dish than eat them plain.

This is a nice crockpot recipe that you can quick throw together before needing to head out to a party or event, or let cook while you get other dishes prepared for a dinner party or gathering.

Ranch Mushrooms
Recipe from: friend/coworker
2 pkgs whole mushrooms
1/2 stick of butter, cut into tablespoon chunks
1 pkt dry ranch mix

Place the mushrooms, butter pieces and then the ranch dressing into your crockpot.  You can definitely use more mushrooms if you're needing to feed a crowd, just adjust the ingredients accordingly. Cook on low until the mushrooms are fully cooked and butter is melted, approximately 1-2 hrs.

Serve & enjoy!