Showing posts with label squash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label squash. Show all posts

Monday, August 1, 2016

Summer Vegetable Tian Via Ilissa and Pinterest


                   

Our Lissa (Ilissa) as we call her is becoming a good cook in her own right.  She's a big girl now with her first job and living in the big city, she has started, as her traveling permits, to cook when inspiration or an event calls for it. Her recent Pinterest (www Pinterst.com) feed find resulted in this healthy dish.  Our family loves zucchini, squash, onions and potatoes, so this dish naturally marries the four. I think her picture below speaks for itself. She sent me the before and after.  
She now has the honor of making this when she come home for dinner during our county festival. Proud of you Ilissa!  Your family won't starve one day and you and Bethany can carry on the The Ranch Kitchen blog!!  Hugs! 
The recipe hails from the site Budget Bytes via Pinterest http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/08/summer-vegetable-tian/.  If you want to know exactly how much the approximate cost for a dish like this is, this site will spell it out for you.  

Summer Vegetable Tian 
By Budget Bytes

Ingredients
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion 
  • 1 tsp minced garlic 
  • 1 medium zucchini 
  • 1 medium yellow squash 
  • 1 medium potato 
  • 1 medium tomato 
  • 1 tsp dried thyme 
  • to taste salt & pepper 
  • 1 cup shredded Italian cheese 
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Saute both in a skillet with olive oil until softened (about five minutes).
  2. While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables.
  3. Spray the inside of an 8×8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and thyme.
  4. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.
Get cooking,

From Ilissa!









Sunday, May 22, 2016

The Ranch Kitchen's Dilly Dip

As spring turn into summer, our garden is starting to overflow with squash and all our other vegetables.  One thing I always insist on making sure we have plenty of is crookneck squash and zucchini as we love it!

Last summer to help be a little healthier, I began to cut the fresh squash and serve it with Hidden Valley Ranch Dip as an appetizer before our meal each night.



This year with the fresh dill from my garden I've starting making my own The Ranch Kitchen's Dilly Dip that my husband and I have become pretty addicted too.  We enjoy it nightly now this past week and I can't wait to make it for my health conscious older daughters when they come in for Memorial Day weekend!



This recipe literally takes under five minutes to make and you will love it just as much, if not even better than traditional ranch dips or salad dressings.

The trick is to this dip is to grow your own fresh dill.  Dill is super, simple to grow and will spread in huge clumps pretty rapidly.  However, I don't think it taking over our herb garden will be much of a problem with Scott and I making this Dilly Dip all the time.



I used a new seasoning in this dip by Tone's called Six Pepper Seasoning Blend as you can see in the picture below. Click on the link in the name in the last sentence and you can buy it off Amazon. It's fantastic in this dip and even better on top of homemade pizza from our grill.

So give it a try and let me know how you like it.  It would be even healthier with a good Greek Yogurt or light sour cream used instead.

Try this dip as a side for baked fish like salmon, cod or catfish too!

Enjoy!

Remember, no one said cooking had to be hard!

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen   

Friday, February 20, 2015

The Ranch Kitchen's Dinner for Two & Shrimp Parmesan

As our girls grow older and they are off to their own lives or activities, sometimes it's just my husband and I.  We realize that all too soon, it will just be us and 'dinner for two' will have a whole new meaning.  It's hard when you are used to cooking for a crowd or just for a family of five to begin to convert that cooking in to smaller batches. 


 

 
Last night while our youngest was at church, I quickly created this easy Shrimp Parmesan that we really enjoyed.  I used precooked shrimp that I thawed quickly in the sink in a colander and along with some squash cooked in 1/4 cup Zesty Italian Salad Dressing and water from last year's garden  we had a impressive looking dinner that didn't cause me to spend too much time in the kitchen.  On weeknights and especially when I get to spend some quality adult time with my husband, I would rather not be over a hot stove.

 
 
So whether you're cooking for one, two or even three because last minute Audrey just had to have some when she got in from church . . . this meal is a snap to throw together!  It's also easy enough for the newest cook to make to impress that boyfriend or husband! Hint, hint!

And remember, who said cooking had to be hard?

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

July Sure Champ VitaFerm Recipes From The Ranch Blog Entry




We are home!  Home sweet, Texas home!  Another Jr. National Hereford Expo is behind us and we  made memories to last a lifetime again!!

Our Audrey thrilled us all with her Reserve Champion in Jr. Showmanship and loves her belt buckle prize and new halter!  Her heifer About Time helped her achieve this huge honor and we couldn't be more proud of her!  It's every showman's secret desire to place in showmanship on the national scale!

Our Audrey and her buckle she won for winning Reserve Jr. Showmanship.  Showmanship contest in cattle shows judge the showman and how they handle their heifer in the ring.


We are so proud of her! 


A special thank you to Live Auction TV for broadcasting this contest so our big sister at home could watch her win! Thank you also to Sullivan's Show Supply for once again sponsoring this great contest!

Also a HUGE than you to the American Hereford Association, National Jr. Hereford Association and Amy Cowan their Youth Director, and the National Hereford Women for once again putting together another great show. To the Delegations from the eastern states and especially Pennsylvania, the Howe and Firestine families, thank you from the bottom of our hearts and stomachs. The meal plans, barn facilities and your beautiful area of the country are forever etched in our memories as a Jr. Nationals and cowcation we will never forget!  And to Diane Johnson for manning our HYFA Club!  You all deserve a standing ovation!

And last and certainly not least a special thank you to the team at Sure Champ VitaFerm for once again helping sponsor the Jr. National Hereford Expo and therefore enabling our future generations as you do!  It's an honor and a privilege to say I get to share recipes on your site, but most importantly the you impact so many families in such a positive way!  Rest Team Sure Champ....your summer has been a busy one!


Check out my newest blog recipe entries for Sure Champ VitaFerm at Recipes From The Ranch!  You'll find my linked recipes here (just click on colored name link in this sentence) for Sure Champ Pico de Gallo, our new Sure Winner Peach Ice Cream and The Ranch Kitchen's Garden Squash and Zucchini all with a Sure Champ theme!

Enjoy your summer and for those of you now officially off the show road for a small break...rest, and remember the reason we do this show thing is that while spending the quality time and funds that it takes, ultimately raises hard working, self sufficient kids and allow us to continually advocate agriculture.




 Its takes a lot of time in the barn and time in the trim shoot to get our heifer 'NH About Time' ready for the show ring!  A special thank you to the crew at Rainbow Cattle Company, Mark, Jade, and Chad for their care of our cattle and working so well with especially our Audrey and our family on this long trip to Pennsylvania and our first time to let someone else haul our Hereford cattle!  This allowed for some much needed family time and sightseeing!  





This final shot was on our last day of showing thanks to my friend and supporter Stephanie Keahey of Texas! She captured a sweet, sweet moment between our daughter and her dad. 
A picture I like to think that puts what we do as a family all in perspective!


I will always cherish this photo! Thanks Stephanie!

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen





Sunday, April 27, 2014

My Girls Favorite Squash


 
At least once while my girls are in, I MUST make this easy squash side vegetable dish that is always their most requested healthy dish.  Thank goodness they are calorie conscious, and I am getting more so with age.  This recipe can be seasoned with any seasoning really, but we prefer Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, or occasionally lemon pepper and garlic salt.  With 1/4 cup Canola oil and a chopped onion, these zucchini and yellow squash are an excellent side that sometimes gets a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese as an added bonus!
 
 
My Girls Favorite Squash
 
 
4 yellow squash. sliced in 1/4 inch circles
4 zucchini squash, sliced in 1/4 inch circles
1 onion, chopped in large chunks
1/4 cup Canola Oil, vegetable, grapeseed, or olive oil
2 teaspoons Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning or you can use 1 teaspoon garlic salt with 1 teaspoon lemon pepper instead.  Truly - season to your liking.
 
 
Prepare squash and onions.  Pour 1/4 cup oil in a Teflon coated pan with stove top turned to medium high heat.  Add squash and onions cooking for five minutes while stirring occasionally.  Add seasoning and continue cooking on medium and then low heat as your vegetables start to cook through. I usually cook this uncovered, but when I am in a hurry covering your pan with it's lid will speed up the process!
 
***We love, love this simple, low calorie squash dish probably once a week in the summer when it's in overabundance in our garden!  It is great to make in large batches and have for leftovers for the next days meals.  I usually cook this in my large Teflon coated wok.
 
Alise  
 
 
 
 
 
 ***This was lunch today for my girls that consisted of my Stuffed Jalapeno and Cheese Chicken and pasta.  I used nacho jalapeno's for this chicken dish as I was out of my usual favorite of pickled jalapenos, carrots, and onions.  When you live in the country...you don't just run to town!

Enjoy!