In-the-Zone Zucchini Crisps

My favorite summer side dish!

PRODUCE
3-4 medium sized zucchini (cut into chips)


SEASONING
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper (or to taste)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

OTHER
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup panko
1 cup of olive oil (or you can substitute with milk)

DIARY
1/3 cup of parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Cut your zucchini into small slices. The thinner you cut the slices the more like chips they will be!

2. Mix all of the bread crumbs, parmesan, and seasoning together in a large bowl or on a plate.

3. Put a few TBS of olive oil into a large ziplock bag. Put your zucchini in your bag and shake it to cover the vegetable in the oil.

4. Roll your zucchini slices in the bread crumb mixture.

5. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

6. Place the crumb-covered zucchini slices onto the baking sheet-- do not layer.

7. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the desired crispiness.


Ninja-Body Options: Use milk instead of olive oil and use less breadcrumbs.

Notes: I cut my veggies with a special blade-- the reason for the crinkle-look.

Locked and Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

This is an easy-to-make casserole which tastes much like a loaded baked potato! 

INGREDIENTS

Produce
1 medium sweet onion
3 small chives
1.5 lbs of red potatoes (or 6 fairly large baking potatoes) julienned or just diced
2-4 garlic (or sub 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

Kraft Fresh Take Savory Four Cheese Recipe Pack

Seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Dairy
2 cups of shredded Mexican Cheese Blend  (or mild cheddar)
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
12 oz of sour cream

Other
Bacon (fried and broken into bits)

Prep Work: dice or julienne potatoes, dice garlic, onions, and chives.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Oil the bottom and sides of your casserole dish.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the Kraft Savory Recipe Packet, chives, and bacon.  Blend the ingredients.

Next, open the cheese side of your Kraft Packet (only the cheese side-- do NOT mix the two sides), and stir the cheese into your potato mixture.

Spread the potato mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle it with 1/2 of the breadcrumbs from the Kraft Packet and 1/2 of your bacon bits.

Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, check for softness of potatoes. Then, cover with aluminum foil and bake another 10-20 minutes (depending on thickness of the potatoes).

When finished, sprinkle with 1/2 bacon bits and the chives.

Go Bananas! and Chocolate Chip Smoothie

Here is the perfect summer smoothie recipe!  Feel free to mix it up, add to it, etc.

Ingredients

Produce
1 Ripe Banana (freeze it)

Dairy
2-3 Tbs of Vanilla Low-Fat yogurt
3/4 cup of skim milk (or whatever type you like-- maybe almond?)

Other
1 Tbs of chocolate chips (dark chocolate chips are amazing!)
1 Tbs of chocolate syrup (or sub 2 tsp of cocoa)
1/4 tsp of cinnamon
Ice


Prep Work
Cut your banana into small pieces. Weapon of choice: a big blade!

Directions
Add all of the above into your blender. Add 1-2 cups of ice depending on how thick or thin you prefer your smoothie!


In the Mix: try using a dash of cayenne or a spoonful of honey!
Ninja Body Options: use low fat everything! Remove the chocolate chips and sub more cocoa and yogurt to sweeten.

Knock-Out Tuscan Tuna Sauce and Pasta

I was introduced to this dish by one of my professors while studying in Italy last summer.  It is a delicious Italian pasta dish with a sauce that I describe as Tuscan (not American) Italian. :)   I actually don't like fish very much, but this tuna dish doesn't taste fishy!

This recipe is really just method, and I change it a bit each time I make it.  There are really no definite measurements-- just try it.  

Ingredients

Produce
3 smaller zucchini
3/4 a box of cherry tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
Onion (chopped or diced)

Canned/Jar
A large can of solid white albacore tuna (in Siena, we used a jar of Filetti di Tonno from Conad)

Other
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
A box of penne pasta
Tuscan Italian Herbs (a grocery store blend will work fine)
Red wine (if you have it open)


1. Pour a few tablespoons of olive oil into a frying pan on low-medium heat.
2. Fry onion and garlic in oil (I let mine caramelize a bit)
3. Cut up zucchini-- either lengthwise or into small pieces.
4. Put zucchini into the pan with the onion.  Sprinkle it with salt (to help sweat) and cover the pan for a few minutes.
5. Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves and place in pan.  After cooking for a minute, squish them. This liquid will help create the sauce.
6. Sprinkle the mixture with your Tuscan herbs.  I am pretty generous with these.  
7. While your sauce is cooking, put your pasta to boil-- follow the directions on the package.
8. Keep the heat on your sauce low so that you do not evaporate your liquid too quickly.  Check the veggies every few minutes to be sure you have enough liquid. If not, add a little more olive oil or even a few tablespoons of water.
9. When your veggies are done to your liking, place the drained tuna into the mixture and stir.
10. Add a tablespoon (or more if you like) of Balsamic Vinegar and a few tablespoons of red wine.
11. Drain the pasta and cover it in your tuna sauce.
12. If you want to kick Italian custom to the side, feel free to sprinkle your pasta with some parmigiano cheese.

I serve this with some Tuscan Boule bread and dipping sauce.  To make the dipping sauce, put olive oil on a plate and then drizzle in some Balsamic Vinegar.  Next, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and some of your Tuscan herbs. Delish!

Ninja-Body Options--Ah, who cares! It's Italian! :)

"Pinned to the Ground" Beef Spread

This is a family recipe that we've made forever!  It sounds strange when you first consider the ingredients, but I promise that it is delicious! My Nana calls this Saturday Night Spread and my roomie calls it Saturday Night Special.  It's really just a sloppy joe.

Ingredients

Protein
1 lb of ground beef

Produce
1/4 of a medium onion

Seasoning
3 Tbs of ketchup
2 Tbs of mustard
1 tsp of olive oil

Canned
1 can of Chicken Gumbo Soup

Other
Onion rolls (or your favorite type of bread)

Prep Work
Dice up that onion with your weapon of choice!


1. Saute the diced onion in the olive oil in a frying pan
2. Add beef and cook thoroughly
3. After the beef finishes cooking, add the soup, ketchup, and mustard and cook for five minutes or until the consistency of the mixture has thickened.
4. Put the mixture on your bread.

Ninja-Body Options: use ground turkey in place of the beef, use a small dollop of fat free butter substitute in place of the olive oil, and try eating your spread on a slice of whole wheat toast.

Collected and Cool Ranch Chicken Tostadas-- Crockpot

The easiest Mexican-ish Chicken Recipe ever.  I found this online and wanted to share; the chicken has a bit of that Cool Ranch Doritos taste. You can cut this recipe in half for a small serving, but cook time will need to be almost the same.

Cook Time: 5 hours on low in the crockpot
Prep Time:  2 minutes


Ingredients


Protein
Chicken- 4 boneless skinless breasts

Seasoning
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch dressing mix

Other
14 oz of chicken broth
1 package of tostadas
Shredded Mexican Mix Cheese

1. Put seasonings and chicken broth in the crock and mix. Weapon of Choice: a whisk!
2. Put in chicken breasts.
3. Cook for around 5-6 hours (depending on chicken breast size and thickness)
4. Shred chicken!
5. Cook chicken another 30 minutes.
6. Put tostadas in the oven for five minutes (or according to directions)
6. Pile chicken on tostada and sprinkle with cheese
7. Bake your tostadas in oven for 3-5 minutes to melt cheese.





*serve with favorite toppings: tomatoes, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, etc.

Hint of advice: poor some of the extra liquid out of the chicken before serving.

Ninja-Body Options: use low sodium chicken broth and find a low-calorie cheese option. Also, pick a non-fat sour cream if you like.

Be Real-Bad Options: serve with a delicious sweet corn cake.

Beef-Up Italian Stew-- Crockpot

This is an easy beef stew, not much chopping or assembly required.

Cook time: 8 hours in crockpot on low
Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients


Protein
2 lb of beef stew

Produce
1 medium onion
1/2 bag of carrots
8 oz of baby carrots
4 garlic cloves (I used around 3 tsp of minced garlic)
1 cup of chopped spinach
1/4 cup of chopped basil leaves

Seasoning, etc.
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp of rosemary
1 tsp of thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Canned
14.5 oz of chicken broth
6 oz of tomato paste

Fun Stuff
1 cup of red wine

Prep Work
Cut all of the vegetables into bite size chunks.
Tear up the spinach and basil. Weapon of choice: bare hands!

1. put everything in the crockpot
2. cook on low for 8 hours

If you'd like a thicker stew,  remove around 1/4 cup of the liquid and whisk 2 tbs of cornstarch until smooth.  Add this back into the crock and cook for 20 minutes.  I didn't thicken the stew and found it to be perfectly thick.

Nina-Body Options: this isn't too unhealthy of a recipe; however, you could leave the potatoes out. :) Even ninjas need some carbs.