It's zucchini-palooza around here these days! It seems like every other day I find a monster. You know the ones I'm talking about, somehow it wasn't visible yesterday and today it's the size of a baseball bat! I've been searching my yellow squash plant for the monsters as well, but it's funny how things work out sometimes. We have so many zucchini and haven't picked any yellow squash, yet my sister is the complete opposite with a lot of yellow squash and a dying zucchini plant.

For ease, we generally eat the zucchini grilled, roasted or stuffed, but that can only happen so many times before it becomes boring. Have no fear, since I haven't posted anything new in months, I figured I'd at least share with you my favorite savory and sweet zucchini/summer squash recipes to keep things far from boring!

Zucchini Cornbread

Shaved Summer Squash with Prosciutto and Goat Cheese

Zucchini Corn Fritters

Turkey Burger Pitas with Tzatziki

Harvest Muffins

Foil Packet Summer Squash

Here are some friends' recipes that I've made and recommend as well:

Chocolate Zucchini Bread from Alida's Kitchen

Pineapple Zucchini Bread from Sweet Beginnings

Pasta with Zucchini Cream Sauce from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Black Bean Roasted Zucchini Goat Cheese Enchiladas from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

If you don't get around to making these now, shred that zucchini and freeze it so you can make these yummy treats in the dead of winter!

There is nothing like a classic baked macaroni and cheese, except maybe a jazzed up version. This recipe came to be out of the need to use up leftover: smoked gruyere, turkey, peas and an excess of shredded cheddar to be exact. This is definitely an example of how to take leftovers from boring to exciting in no time!

• 8 oz. small to medium pasta
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 3/4 cup milk 
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp dried mustard powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 8 oz. shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 4 oz. shredded smoked gruyere cheese
• ~1 1/2 cup cubed cooked turkey
• ~handful of frozen peas
• ~8 Ritz crackers crumbled

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 9x13 baking dish and set aside.

Bring water to a boil in a large pot, add salt and pasta. Cook pasta partially through, removing from boiling water 2 minutes before instructions tell you to (you want the pasta undercooked since it will cook more in the oven). Drain and set aside.

In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour, stir and allow to cook 3-5 minutes until it becomes golden brown. The mixture will bubble and foam, stir to be sure it doesn't burn.

Slowly add milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Add Worcestershire, mustard and pepper, combine well. Add cheddar and American cheeses and stir until melted and smooth. Add cooked pasta, turkey and peas to cheese sauce and combine well.

Pour pasta into greased baking dish. Sprinkle top with cracker crumbs. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serves 6.

Source: Adapted from my Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe

While this recipe looks like a lot of work, this meal came together fairly quickly. I made the tzatziki and while it was chilling I made the burgers, cooked them and assembled dinner. You could also make the components the night before or morning of, which I love to do in order to make dinnertime more manageable.

The tzatziki really makes this meal great! The burgers were really juicy due to the zucchini, but I think next time I'll add some oregano and possibly feta to bump up their flavor a bit. If you like Greek food, these are well worth putting on your weekly meal plan!

For the Tzatziki:

• 1/2 English Cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
• 12 oz Greek yogurt
• 1 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer.

For the Burgers:

• 3/4 lb ground turkey
• 1 small zucchini, shredded
• 1/4 small onion, shredded
• 1 Tbsp cilantro
• salt pepper
• 2 tsp olive oil

• 2 pita with pockets, cut in half
• 1/2 English cucumber, sliced thinly
• 1 small tomato, sliced thinly
• 1/2 onion, sliced thinly

Place cucumber, tomato and onion slices in a pita half. Add 2 burgers and top with tzatziki.

Serves: 4, 2 mini burgers each

Source: Adapted from Weight Watchers as seen on A Taste of Home Cooking

I decided to keep this a simple meal with an Italian flair and poked around to see what I had on hand to do so.  I ended up with this cheesy meatloaf paired with Panzanella.  This quickly prepared meal not only satisfied JR's meatloaf craving, but it kept me from overheating the kitchen.  And hello, it's full of cheese which automatically makes it delicious!

As I've mentioned in other posts, you can substitute ground turkey here if that is your preference.

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 lbs. ground sirloin
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 oz. Fontina cheese, grated
• 4 basil leaves, chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Add all ingredients, reserving 1 Tbsp olive oil, to a mixing bowl and combine until thoroughly mixed.

Form into 3 small loaves and place on baking sheet.  Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over each loaf.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Top each loaf with 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.  Continue baking 10-15 minutes until cheese is browned and center of meat is cooked through.  Serves 3.

Meatloaf is not on the top of my favorite foods list.  Not at all.  Actually, I have a long standing joke with my Gram.  When I ask her "what's for dinner?", if she replies, "your favorite", that means meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  I know, I'm not normal.

This meatloaf, however, I will eat.  Probably because I have so much stuff going on in it, it doesn't remind me of traditional meatloaf.  I also use ground turkey which has a different texture and flavor than ground beef.  I'm sure this would work well with ground beef if that's your preference.

Here is what you'll need:

• 20 oz. ground turkey
• 1 small onion, dice
• 1 small green pepper, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup, plus 4 Tbsp, BBQ sauce, separated
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and combine until thoroughly mixed.

Form into 4 small loaves and place on baking sheet.  Top each loaf with 1 Tbsp BBQ sauce.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until cooked through.  Serves 4.

Growing up, and until very recently, I always knew stuffed peppers as part of a stuffed cabbage meal.  We'd have stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers and potatoes in a tomato-y sauce.  While I do have a good go-to stuffed cabbage/stuffed pepper recipe, this is not it.  You see, I don't have time on a weeknight to make such a labor intense meal. 

So recently I decided that stuffed peppers needed to be an easy weeknight meal.  I realized there are endless possibilities and they can be a whole different experience from the combination I mentioned above.  So I set out to create a new version that I'm sharing with you here.

Here is what you need:

• 3 large peppers, I used 2 red and 1 green
• 1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more to drizzle
• 1 lb ground chicken(or any ground meat you choose)
• 2 tsp minced garlic 
• 8 oz. corn
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 15 oz.. can stewed tomatoes
• shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut peppers in half lengthwise, remove stem, seeds and membrane.  Place skin side up on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in oven and bake until filling is finished, approximately 10 minutes.

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to nonstick skillet and bring to medium-high heat.  Add chicken and onion, season with salt and pepper, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until chicken is no longer pink.  Add garlic, corn and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes.  Add stewed tomatoes, stir and allow to heat through.

Remove baking sheet from oven.  Fill pepper halves with meat filling.  Return baking sheet to the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove baking sheet from the oven, and place shredded cheddar cheese on top of peppers.  Return to the oven and allow to melt and/or brown for about 5 minutes.

Serves 3 as a meal, or serves 4-6 when served with a side of rice.

JR's coworker gives us homemade perogies every once in a while and I was told this latest batch were mushroom.   I wasn't really sure what else was in the filling, but thankfully I had given my sister a few and she cooked them before I got around to it.  She informed me that they were plain, "just mushroom", but after eating them I don't believe her.  There is more in the filling, but I can't pick up the flavoring and it was too finely chopped to recognize.  Anyhow, "just mushrooms" got my mind churning and I came up with this dish.

How do you make brown food look good in a photo?  Anyone?  Well, despite how the photo looks, this was really good!  That is if you like mushrooms.  If not, well, that's a shame!  I'm secretly, well maybe not so secretly, hoping we get another batch of mushroom perogies very soon!

Here is my recipe:

• 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 large Spanish onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 sherry cooking wine
• 1/2 chicken stock
• 9 perogies (I used mushroom filled)
• 12 mini turkey meatballs (recipe below)
• 1 Tbsp butter
• salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in saute pan over high heat.  Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until browned.  Turn heat down to medium-high, add onion, salt and pepper.  Cook until these begin to brown.  Add garlic and thyme, and cook until fragrant.

Add sherry and stir to deglaze the pan.  Add chicken stock and stir all together.

Carefully place perogies in pan on top of the vegetables.  Turn heat to medium-low, and salt and pepper again.  Cover and let cook/steam, 6-8 minutes.  Uncover and gently turn over perogies.  Add meatballs and cover, cooking for another 6-8 minutes.

Turn off heat.  Add butter and allow to melt.  Gently stir one last time and serve.  Serves 3.

Turkey Meatballs:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 lb ground turkey
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• 1/2 bread crumbs (I use day old bread, but you can use store bought)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brush a baking sheet with olive oil.

Place remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Mix together just until incorporated (you want to be careful not to over mix).  Roll approximately 1 Tbsp of meat into a ball (just a bit smaller than a golf ball), and place on baking sheet.  Continue doing this will the remainder of the meat, making sure to leave space between each meatball on the baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.  Use immediately or freeze for future use.  Makes approximately 24 meatballs, 6 servings.