A Surfeit of Squash

Well, the onslaught of eggplant has dwindled to just one small one for the week, but I now have two weeks' worth of summer squash and three weeks' worth of winter squash that I'd better figure out how to eat.

Five yellow squash, three bananas, one eggplant, one watermelon, one butternut squash, salad mix, six cucumbers and - hooray! - a bag of cherry tomatoes.

That's My Cue

Barbecued beef brisket, with purchased potato salad and cole slaw:

Almost Nicoise

Salad for dinner:

Salad greens, green beans, baby potatoes, white beans, hard-boiled eggs, Nicoise olives, capers, and vinaigrette.

Summery sandwich

Eating up the veggies:

Goat cheese, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, sauteed eggplant, sauteed yellow squash, marinated cucumbers on a crusty roll.

If It's Monday, This Must Be Eggplant

Veggie box:

Watermelon, acorn squash, green beans, arugula, baby salad mix, five cucumbers, two yellow squash, and an eggplant.

Sunday Night Pizza

Pizza time:

3 oz. prepared Publix pizza dough
2 oz. shredded part-skim mozzarella
Arugula, mushrooms, onions, and green olives
375 calories

B.A.T.

Not as scary as it sounds:

A bacon, arugula, and tomato sandwich.

It's Eggplantastic!

Eggplant stuffed with lamb, tomatoes, onions, and pinenuts:

2 large eggplants
1 pound ground lamb
Olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup pine nuts
Spices to taste
Tomato and pepper for garnish

Cut eggplants in half, salt the cut halves and let stand for an hour. Rinse and pat dry. Saute eggplants in olive oil for 10 minutes. Let eggplants cool. Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet and set aside. Add some olive oil to the skillet and cook onions over low heat until they are translucent. Raise the heat to medium and add lamb. When the lamb is browned add tomatoes, spices, and pine nuts. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until the mixture has thickened.

Scoop out a small amount of flesh from each eggplant half. Stuff with lamb mixture. Top with a tomato slice and a pepper slice. Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350, then remove cover and bake for 15 more minutes.

Served with carrot-yogurt salad and tomato, cucumber and feta salad.

Mac and cheese with a kick

Macaroni and cheese with green chiles:

1/2 pound dry macaroni, boiled and drained
1 can Campbell's condensed cheddar cheese soup
5 oz. milk
1 4 oz. can diced green chiles
Mix all ingredients together in a casserole, then top with
1 tbsp melted butter mixed with 2 tbsp bread crumbs
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and crumbs are brown

4 servings, 275 calories each

Veggie Box Day

Tasty treats from the farm:

A watermelon, a bunch of bananas, a bunch of arugula, an acorn squash, jalapeno peppers, squash blossoms, three cucumbers, two ears of corn, and two eggplants. When is eggplant season over?

Barbecue time

Pulled chicken (from barbecued chicken leg quarters) on a slider bun; potato salad; cole slaw:

Out to Dinner: The Old Key Lime House

The weather's finally getting nicer here, so we ventured to a place where we could sit outside and relax. The food was nothing fancy- a turkey club with fries:

But this was the real star of the show:

Indian style

Vegetable tawa, rice, paneer tikka masala:

Out to Lunch: Pholicious

It's great to know that when I'm craving a bowl of pho, it's as close as the food court at the local mall.

More eggplant

The veggie box this week was virtually identical to last week's, so no new picture. It's a challenge to use some vegetables, like eggplant, which I like but wouldn't ordinarily have two weeks in a row. This week's eggplant (served with chicken Italian sausage):

Eggplant rollatini with goat cheese and mozzarella

1 large eggplant
3 oz. goat cheese
3 oz. fresh mozzarella
Tomato sauce

Slice eggplant lengthwise into six pieces, approximately 1/3 inches wide. Spread out the slices on paper towels and salt both sides, let stand for 1 hour, then rinse and pat dry. Bake the eggplant slices for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Mix the cheeses together. When the eggplant slices have cooled, put 1 oz. cheese mixture at the wider end of the slice, then roll up and secure with toothpicks. Put the rolls in a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 25 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce.

Makes six rolls, 85 calories each.

Turkish delight

Eggplant braised with tomato, onion and olive oil; yogurt and cucumber sauce; olives; steak kebabs; pita bread; borek with arugula and feta cheese.

On the plate:

Fall Flavors

Even though the temperatures here are still in the 90s, October made me want a fall-type meal.

Roast chicken with fresh herbs, maple-glazed carrots, and spaghetti squash casserole.

Spaghetti squash casserole:
1 medium spaghetti squash
1/2 cup grated onion
4 oz. grated Cheddar cheese
6 oz. 2% plain Greek yogurt
10 oz. condensed cream of chicken soup (undiluted)

Cook squash for 10 minutes in microwave, then scrape strands with a fork into a large bowl. Mix in onion, 2 oz. cheese, yogurt, and soup. Put into a casserole and top with the remaining 2 oz. of cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Farm Fresh Fritatta

2 eggs
1/2 oz. goat cheese
1 cup sliced summer squash
1 big handful of arugula

225 calories