Stuffed Tomatoes

The Saucy household is overflowing with fresh veggies! I have been loving all the cucumbers, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes that we've gotten from our garden and the gardens of family and friends.

This past weekend was filled with grilled deliciousness and these stuffed tomatoes are the perfect side for such meals.

Ingredients:

3 tomatoes
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup green onions, chopped

Prep:

Hollow out the tomatoes, much like you would a pumpkin. Make sure to leave a little bit of tomato "meat" around the edges.

Combine cheese, mayo and green onion.

Fill tomatoes with the cheese mixture, filling to the top.

Grill or broil until cheese is melty.


Special thanks to the Berndt family for supplying this weekend's tomatoes.

Creamy Asparagus Pasta - by The Big Cheese

This month I was so excited to use asparagus as my "Iron Chef" ingredient!



Ingredients

1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pint light cream
1 pound linguine pasta
1 lemon, juiced

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Boil asparagus for 3 to 4 minutes; drain.
In a large saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Saute garlic and asparagus for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add linguine and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and transfer to a serving dish.
Stir lemon juice into asparagus mixture; pour mixture over pasta.

Until the next dinner...

Marinated Steak Kabobs (from Saucy Diva)

[This is a repost of a previous recipe...it was so good we had to have it again!]

This was my contribution for the April DTD meeting. The weather is starting to get nice and these are perfect noms for the grill!
* thanks to www.tasteofhome.com for the great picture!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1/8 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper seasoning
2 oz lemon lime soda
1 pound beef sirloin steak cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
a variety of veggies and things to "kabob" (I used mushrooms, green peppers, onion, cherry tomatoes, and pineapple)

PREP:
1. Place meat in a large ziploc bag. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, seasoned salt, garlic pepper, and soda in the same bag. Refrigerate overnight.

2. Chop veggies into big pieces.

3. Preheat grill for high heat

4. Assemble kabobs by threading steak and veggies onto a skewer.

5. Lightly oil the grill grate. Cook kabobs on the prepped grill for 10 minutes
or to desired doneness.

Goes great with a cold beer!!

Making Amends with Jamie Oliver - Macaroni and Cauliflower Cheese Bake (from Saucy Diva)

I don't claim to be the most health conscious person on the planet. I mean, have you seen some of the recipes I've posted on here?? But even I was embarrassed by the snack I purchased for students taking ISTEP at school. Sugar wafers that were loaded with calories, fat, and trans fat. I feared that someone would report me to Jamie Oliver and I would be featured on the next episode of Food Revolution. So I decided that to make amends, I would prepare something from his cookbook "Jamie's Food Revolution" tonight. I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand for this ooey gooey bake. It was delish!

Ingredients:
1/2 head of cauliflower
8 oz of cheddar cheese (use the real stuff!)
4 oz of Parmesan cheese (again, use the real stuff...save the green bottle for spaghetti night)
parsley (to taste)
sea salt
1 lb dried macaroni (the book suggests elbow, I used penne)
1 cup of sour cream

Prep:
1. Chop 1/2 head of cauliflower into small florets and grate the cheddar and the parm.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and the cauliflower and cook according to the directions on the macaroni.
3. In a separate sauce pan, combine the cheese and the sour cream and cook over medium low
heat until melty. Add the parsley and a dash of sea salt to the cheese.
4. When the macaroni is fully cooked, drain and return to the pot.
5. Pour the cheesy goodness over the pasta and cauliflower and mix well.
6. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish and put under a broiler until golden and bubbly.


I know what you're thinking..."Hey Saucy, there's no picture!"

Delicious isn't always pretty people. Trust me on this one, its gooooood.

A Veggie Trick (from Dessert Diva)

We love veggies at our house, especially in the summer when you can get them fresh from the farmer's market. Well, I recently came across a box of frozen chopped broccoli while I was cleaning out the freezer. I have no idea where it came from, as I typically never buy frozen vegetables unless they are specifically called for in a recipe. Anyways, I decided to make the broccoli last night to go along with the Mexican Chicken Meatballs I was making. The only problem was I didn't have anything to put on top.

Now, I mentioned that we like vegetables, and my husband will eat them, but he prefers to have some kind of sauce on top to mask the taste. I started rummaging through the fridge and came across this...

Now, I love this stuff. I put it on everything...crackers, sourdough bread, raw veggies and now...cooked broccoli. I threw 2 wedges into the steamed broccoli and voila...deliciousness! Plus, each wedge is only 4 g of fat and 50 calories so it's a fairly healthy way to give veggies that cheesy flavor that kids (and husbands) love.

As you can probably tell, I am super excited about this little trick. It's healthy, easy and delicious...what more can you ask for?