Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

One of the easiest, best biscuit recipes! You will not be able to eat just one!

2 c bisquick or baking mix
1/2 c cold water
3/4 c grated cheddar cheese

1/4 c butter, melted
1 t parsley flakes (I usually leave these out)
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t Italian seasoning

Mix first three ingredients and form into dough balls. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes. While baking, melt the butter, then mix in the spices. Brush on hot biscuits with a pastry brush. Mmmmm, mmmmm!

A Southern Living Christmas

I took nearly every recipe for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner out of these two Southern Living cookbooks this year. I tried some new things, and was happy with the way everything turned out.

For Christmas Eve Dinner this year, we decided not to do kabobs and fondue like we did last year, mainly because I threw out our crappy fondue pots and intended to buy elecric ones, and totally forgot that I didn't until it was too late. I hope to get back to that tradition again next year. I really like doing that, and face it, fondue is just too much trouble unless it's for a special occasion. Instead, I decided to do White Christmas Chicken Chili, Red Onion Salad, and homemade wheat bread. The Red Onion Salad was a recipe I got from a friend when we lived in Collierville after eating it at her house. The homemade dressing is what makes it. Even if you're not a red onion fan, I promise you will love this dressing. So, thanks, Shauna for sharing the recipe!

Mom's Red Onion Salad (Shauna Cameron)
2 bags pre-washed baby spinach
2 heads romaine lettuce
1 pound finely grated swiss cheese
1 pound bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 container sliced fresh mushrooms
1 red onion, cut in half (1/2 sliced thinly for salad, other half for dressing)

Dressing
1/2 red onion
1 1/2 T poppy seeds
3/4 c white vinegar
1 1/2 c oil (I used canola)
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 t salt
3/4 t dry mustard

Combine all dressing ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. You can marinate some of the mushrooms in the dressing if desired. Pour over the tossed salad just before serving.

White Christmas Chicken Chili (Southern Living Christmas Cookbook)(This is not my picture...mine don't ever look this good)

Ingredients
4 skinned and boned chicken breast halves
5 cups water
1 large onion, chopped and divided
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 celery ribs, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
3 (16-ounce) cans great Northern beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
3 (4.5-ounce) cans chopped green chiles
1 cup canned chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Toppings: tortilla chips, shredded Colby-Jack cheese, salsa, sour cream
Preparation
Place chicken, 5 cups water, and half of onion in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and cook 15 to 18 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken, reserving broth in Dutch oven. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces; set aside.

Melt butter in a skillet; add celery and remaining onion, and sauté until tender.

Stir chicken, celery mixture, 2 cans beans, and next 6 ingredients into broth in Dutch oven, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 1 hour, stirring frequently, until thickened.

Process remaining 1 can beans in a blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Stir bean pureé into chili.

Remove and discard bay leaf; stir in cilantro just before serving with desired toppings.

For Christmas day, we did our traditional spiral ham (for me) and lamb (for David).
Then we ate:

Bacon-Pecan Brussels Sprouts (Southern Living Christmas Cookbook)

1 pound fresh Brussels sprouts
5 slices bacon
1/4 c chopped pecans
2 green onions, sliced
1/8 t ground nutmeg
1/8 t salt
1/8 t pepper

Wash Brussels sprouts thoroughy; remove discolored leaves. Cut off stem ends; cut Brussels sprouts vertically into thin shreds. Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Remove bacon, reserving drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon and set aside. Add pecans to drippings; cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until golden. Add Brussels sprouts, green onions, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 18 minutes or until Brussels sprouts are tender; stirring often. Spoon into a serving dish; sprinkle with bacon. Yield: 4 servings.

Sweet Potato Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette (Southern Living Ultimate Christmas Cookbook)

Ingredients
4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4
1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
4 thick-cut bacon slices
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted these)
Preparation
Combine sweet potato, onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl; toss to coat. Arrange vegetables in a single layer on 2 lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 450° for 35 minutes or until browned, removing onion after 25 minutes, and stirring sweet potato.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat 12 minutes or until crisp. Drain bacon, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings in pan.

Add remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar, mustard, and pepper to drippings in skillet. Stir well. Transfer vinaigrette to a large bowl. Add roasted sweet potato, onion, pecans, and raisins, tossing gently to coat. Cool.

Note: If you have only one oven, place 1 baking sheet on the lower oven rack and 1 on the upper rack; switch positions after 25 minutes. Bake 5 to 10 more minutes or until potatoes are browned.

Oven Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans, and Onions (Southern Living Christmas Cookbook)
1/4 c oil
1 crushed garlic clove
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
3 medium onions, quartered
2 pounds small red potatoes, cut into 1/4" slices
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, untrimmed

Stir together first four ingredients; set aside 1 T of oil mixture. Place onion wedges and potato slices in a greased roasting pan, and drizzle with remaining oil mixture. Stir gently.

Roast at 450 degrees on top rack of oven 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasiionally.

Add green beans to pan; drizzle reserved 1 T of oil mixture over beans, stirring gently. Roast 15 to 20 minutes more or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Strawberry Congealed Salad (Cooks.com) 3/4 c. butter, melted
3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 1/2 c. crushed pretzels
1 c. sugar
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 (9 oz.) carton Cool Whip
1 lg. pkg. strawberry Jello
1 pkg. frozen strawberries, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine crushed pretzels, brown sugar, and melted butter. Spread in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake 10 minutes. Remove and let cool thoroughly. Cream together sugar and cream cheese. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over cooled crust. Mix Jello (using about 1 cup less water than called for on box), add strawberries, and chill until thickened. Spread over cream cheese mixture and chill several hours or overnight before serving. Serves 12 to 15.

And for dessert, David requested Pecan Pie (Southern Living Christmas Cookbook)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups pecan pieces
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup light or dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9-inch) deep-dish frozen unbaked pie shell
Preparation
1. Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet.

2. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted.

3. Stir together eggs and next 5 ingredients; stir in pecans. Pour filling into pie shell.

4. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until set, shielding pie with aluminum foil after 20 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Serve warm or cold. My mom made homemade whipped cream to go with it

And I made an Italian Cream Cake (Southern Living Christmas Cookbook)

It was labor intensive, but oh, so worth it.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup flaked coconut
Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)
Garnishes: toasted pecan halves, chopped pecans
Preparation
Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla, beating until blended.

Combine flour and soda; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in coconut.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, and fold into batter. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cakepans.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Spread Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish, if desired.

Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or i margarine, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
Preparation
Bake chopped pecans in a shallow baking pan at 350°, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes or until toasted. Cool.

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Beat frosting at high speed until smooth; stir in pecans.

We also had Rhodes Texas rolls. Tasted like homemade. Good enough for me!

Also, for Christmas morning breakfast, I made a breakfast casserole. I've used several recipes in the past, but this was by far my favorite. Then I made super easy mini cinnamon rolls.

Breakfast Casserole (www.momswhothink.com)

Ingredients:

7 eggs
1 cup milk
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6-8 slices bacon - chopped
8 frozen hash browns (patties)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard


Directions:

1. Place hash browns in a single layer in a greased 9X13 baking dish. Cook bacon and slice.

2. Sprinkle with cheese and bacon.

3. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, salt and mustard. Pour over bacon.

4. Cover and bake at 350'F for 1 hour.

5. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer or until edges are golden brown and knife inserted near the center comes out clean.


Tiny Cinnamon Rolls (Southern Living Christmas Cookbook)

1 8 oz can refrigerated crescent rolls
1 T sugar
1 t ground cinnamon
2/3 c sifted powder sugar
2 t milk
2 drops of vanilla

Unroll crescent roll dough, and separate into four rectangles; pinch perforations within rectangles to seal. Stir together granulated sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle mixture evenly over rectangles. Roll up, jellyroll fashion, starting with a long side; pinch edges to seal. Gently cut each log into five slices, and place, cut sides down, in a lightly greased 8 or 9 inch round cake pan.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla, stirring until smooth; drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls. Yield: 20 rolls

Christmas goodies!

Here are the recipes from some of the cookies from my cookie swap the other night, as well as one of my new favorite goodies to make and hand out..homeade moose munch! Thanks to my friend Amy for firstly giving it to me and secondly, for sharing her recipe!

Homemade Moose Munch

2 boxes Toffee Crunch 'n' Munch
1.5 c. mini marshmallows (you can't tell in this picture, but I used snowman shaped marshmallows
2 c. pretzels (I used holiday shaped pretzels, but if you don't have those, use mini twists)
1 c. peanuts
1 c. holiday-colored M&M's
3 squares Almond Bark white melt
2 squares Almond Bark chocolate melt


Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Melt white squares in microwave. Mix in with dry ingredients. Spread on a cookie sheet. Melt chocolate squares and drizzle over top. Let chocolate harden (15-20 mins). Enjoy!


Maraschino-Cherry Cookies1 1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 egg whites
1 tsp. almond
3/4 c. maraschino cherries, chopped (1 jar, 10 oz.)
2 c. granola (without raisins)

Mix and cook at 375 for 8-10 minutes.
Watch carefully - do not let them brown too much - will finish baking on cooling rack - you want them to be soft. (These were SO YUM! And I don't even like maraschino cherries!)

Cranberry-Orange Cookies
Ingredients
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped cashews (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg until well blended. Mix in 2 teaspoons orange zest and 2 tablespoons orange juice. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the orange mixture. Mix in cranberries and if using, cashews, until evenly distributed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Cookies should be spaced at least 2 inches apart.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Flourless Peanut Butter Granola Balls

1/3 c honey
1/4 natural peanut butter
2 T unsalted butter
1 c rice crispies
1 c old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking oats)
1/3 c dried craisins, cherries, or raisins (there were craisins in this and they were sooo good!)

1. Heat honey, peanut butter, and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until warmed through and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in cereal, oats, and dried fruit.
2. Drop mixture by the tablespoon into mini paper cupcake or candy liners. Placce on a rimmed baking sheet and chill until set, about 15 minutes. Balls can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Ingredients
48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar (I used colored sugar, red and green)

Directions

1 Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2 Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3 Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4 Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t salt
4 ripe bananas
2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 c mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and bananas. In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients and add to first bowl. Grease pans well and fill 2/3 pull. Bkae for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Makes two loaves.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I bake literally dozens of these during the fall season. (These are pre-oven, but they look pretty much the same when they come out!) My last double batch went to teachers, the ladies I visit teach, David, the kids and me! I've had a couple requests for the recipe, so figured I'd post it here since it needed to wind up here anyway. My sister-in-law loves them, and I have promised her a batch at Thanksgiving!

Yummy! So glad for fall and the food that comes with it!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Everyday Food Magazine

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t salt
1/2 c (1 stick)butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin puree
1 cup (or more if you're me) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice, and salt; set aside.

Beat together butter and sugar until light and flufy. Add egg; beat until smooth. With mixer on low speed, alterately add flour m ixture in two parts and pumpkin puree in one, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips. (The mini chocolate chips are good too!)

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto two baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and edges are golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Immediately transfer to wire racks and cool completely.

**I can rarely find pumpkin pie spice, so I make my own. For 1 teaspoon, you mix 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ginger, 1/8 t allspice, 1/8 t nutmeg. If you're just making 1 batch of these cookies, you would need to half these measurements since the above makes 1 t of pumpkin pie spice and the recipe calls for 1/2 t, but I always double this recipe, so I use the amounts as written for 1 t of pumpkin pie spice.

A twist on Chicken Salad

I have been absent from my cooking blog lately. Almost immediately following my last post, Ethan started kindergarten, then my sweet granny passed away. I spent a week in Alabama for that. Then Sara Katherine started preschool. Then I have to dial 911 on my wife-beating next door neighbor (and consequently, have to be a witness for the prosection in his preliminary hearing tomorrow). Then we spend two days dealing with the Ethan-rock-up-his-nose fiasco. Ethan starting kindergarten has absolutely rocked my world. For some silly reason, I thought I'd have more time once kids were in school. Wrong. I haven't quite gotten my groove down yet, but I feel like I'm close. Ethan is in Tae Kwan Do, Sara Katherine is in ballet, and in a matter of weeks, I feel like I'm living a whole new life. Needless to say, this hasn't given way to many opportunities for experimenting or baking. I have done enough to feed my family, but little that is blog-worthy. I did make some yummy bruschetta using tomatoes from our garden, but failed to take a picture, and a food blog is no fun without pictures. If someone is just dying to have that recipe, then just leave me a comment. Anyhow, with fall coming, the cooking blog will be nicely resurrected. Now until December is my favorite time of year for just about everything; baking and cooking included. I already have a list of things I want to make and blog about. And now that my synthroid has kicked in, I actually have a lot of energy again. So I'm excited.

Anyway, back to the point. I'm fortunate to have some really fun friends here in Clovis. On Tuesday, the (very brave) bishop's wife opened the doors to her home for a drop-in crafting day. Everyone could bring their current crafting projects (mine included hairbows and a do-it-yourself Scentsy warmer) and bring a treat to share and craft and visit and eat. It was seriously so much fun. All the kids who weren't in school played with each other and relatively stayed out of the way of the glue guns. Debbie set up big tables all over the kitchen and living room and covered them with protective vinyl covering, and we ate and crafted to our hearts content. Some people didn't even come with crafting projects, but just to visit and eat.

And boy, did we eat.

Debbie made this to-die-for chicken salad. I am a big chicken salad fan anyway, so I was thrilled to get a different way to prepare it and eat it. It was so good that I made it tonight for my family. If you love chicken salad, get ready. You're going to want to eat this all.day.long. Yum!

Debbie's Chicken Salad

(As a warning, this is one of the "approximated" recipes)

For the salad:

Torn romaine lettuce (I actually had a coupon for a free big bag of lettuce, so I used the larger size bagged romaine. Otherwise, I would have chopped my own because I think it tastes better and it's cheaper, and I would probably use an entire head of romaine).
Shredded swiss cheese, about one cup
Chopped Tomatoes (I used three)
Chopped Red Onion (I used 1/2)
Chopped Pecans (I used about 1 cup, measured before they were chopped)
Chopped cooked chicken (I used about 3 cups)

For the dressing:

1 cup mayo
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Fresh cracked black pepper to your taste
about 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, added 1 T at a time until you get the consistency and tang you like.

Toss salad ingredients in the dressing until fully coated. This is one of those salads where you really do need to toss the whole thing. It won't be as good if you just pour the dressing on top.

We ate this on crossaints (but you could also use pitas or tortillas) and even my children gobbled it up. A perfect paper plate kind of meal. Dang. Just typing this post makes me want to go eat some, now, at 11pm.

Also, Debbie gave me a good tip. She said if you happen to have leftovers for this, the lettuce will get a little wilty-like from being coated in the dressing. She said before you eat it the next day, just toss it again with some fresh romaine, and you won't even be able to taste the wilty stuff. Awesome. We had just enough left for David and me to have lunch tomorrow. I.can't.wait.

Zucchini Bread

This is the week of zucchini posts! I made zucchini bread yesterday (along with a million other things! A cake for a baby shower, mini cupcakes and bacon cheese mini appetizers for the same baby shower, and a chicken vegetable crockpot meal for my family's dinner. Long day in the kitchen!).

Anyway, I love zucchini bread, banana bread, and any of those other breads that should really be called cake. Sara Katherine keeps asking me for a piece of cake while pointing to the zucchini bread. I'm not sure why we even call them breads.

I love to put chocolate chips in my zucchini bread (about 1 cup's worth), and the only reason I didn't yesterday is I just forgot. Too much going on.

I got this recipe out of a Taste of Home magazine and really like it.

3 eggs
2 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
2 t vanilla
1 t grated lemon peel
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
2 c shredded zucchini (about 2 medium ones)
1/2 c chopped nuts, optional

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Beat in oil, vanilla and lemon peel. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into TWO greased 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes before removing from pans to a wire rack.

I love that it makes two loaves. One to eat; one to share. :)

Stuffed Grilled Zucchini

Tonight I had this great dinner planned out. A great dinner that included my husband at the grill. He's good with the grill. We just have a cheap charcoal grill that I wouldn't feel comfortable operating unless my family was starving and that's the only way we could eat, but he's good at it. I wanted to grill Jamaican Jerk pork chops, have a nice green salad, and then my friend Kelly sent me the link to a recipe for Stuffed Grilled Zucchini. We're eating something from our garden (or our neighbor's garden) every night, and I'm getting kind of tired of fried and baked, fried and baked. So she graciously sent me several recipes that use summer produce in different ways.

Only it got to be 6pm and my husband still wasn't home from work. Hmmm. Where could he be? They're in the middle of a base-wide readiness exercise in which he's working even crazier hours than he was previously. And he's previously been working 12-14 hour days with no lunch breaks, but this time they can do crazy things like call him in out of a dead sleep at 12:30 am . They have to make sure if there is some horrible disaster somewhere that they can process their troops here and get them out within 48 hours. It's a worthy exercise, it's just unfortunate that it's falling now at this time when David's office is five attorneys short and the two that are there are being worked, literally, to death. I assure you I complain about much more than he does, and I try to keep mine to a minimum. It just gets lonely not having him around. A taste of what is to come, I suppose, when he deploys.

So I call him at 6pm. He's with a client. At 6pm. They rotate doing night legal assistance for people who work the night shift once a month, and it's his turn to do it. He'd been so busy today that he hasn't eaten or even had time to call and tell me he won't be home until probably after the kids are in bed. And you know that's late.

So, hungry, sad, and tired of whining, hungry kids under me (and rightfully so, I guess. It was 6pm and I hadn't let them have snacks since about 4), I took matters into my own hands.

If you haven't invested in a grill pan for your stovetop like this one, then you should. I use mine a lot, and even more so during the winter when it's too cold to grill outside. This one, of course, is a Pampered Chef grill pan, but I'm sure there are other good ones out there. I just love the way the nonstick Pampered Chef pots and pans clean up. It's a snap.

So I grilled our porkchops on the grill pan inside (and even managed to get the criss-cross-apple-sauce grill marks!), made a salad, and then made the stuffed "grilled" zucchini. Only I had to adapt it a bit.

We all cleaned our plates, and possibly because we didn't eat until 6:45 and we were all starving, but it was good.

Stuffed Grilled Zucchini

4 medium zucchini
5 t olive oil, divided
1/2 c finely chopped onion. (I used red onion because I needed to use it up, but the recipe said vidalia was really good in this recipe.)
1 t minced garlic
1/2 c dry bread crumbs
1/4 c + 3 T shredded parmesan cheese
2 T minced fresh basil (I just sprinkled some dried basil over the top because despite my fresh herbs being literally right in front of me multiple times during the day while standing at the sink, I forgot to water them and they died. Sad.)
1/2 t salt

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp, leaving a 1/4" thick shell. Brush with 2t of oil; set aside. Chop pulp. In a large skillet, saute pulp and onion in remaining oil. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add bread crumbs; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the heat. Stir in 1/4 c parmesan cheese, basil, and salt. Spoon into zucchini shells.
Sprinkle with 3 T parmeasan cheese. Grill, covered with foil, over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until zucchini is tender.*

*So because I didn't have the grill fired up, I did things a bit differently. I assembled them according to the recipe, but them put them on a baking sheet and roasted them for about 20 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Then I took them out and added them to the hot grill pan after I took the pork chops out and put my grill press over the top and grilled them for about 10 minutes.