I was on an nice vacation last week an left my garden tasks to my teenager. I came back to monsterous zucchini.
I don’t have many recipes that I use zucchini in, but this is one of my kids favorites. Since these happened to be sooo big, I did end up taking the skin off of most of the slices I made. I don’t like to make “boats” with zucchini because I feel like I just destroy it when I cut it into portions to serve. I like to make 1/2 inch slices like you would for acorn squash.
I don’t eat this recipe because of the tomatoes, and I used sausage that has peppers., but I am hoping to make some of my own sausage and try using pumpkin for the sauce. This recipe makes a good amount of stuffing which make great leftovers and can be used over pasta (or zucchini noodles) the next day.
Zucchini (if stuffing try to get medium to large zucchini) – approx. 4
Olive oil
1/2 pound Italian Sausage
1 teaspoon Minced Garlic
1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
1 cup Dairy-Free Cheese (I used Aldi’s)
24 ounce jar Pasta Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Coconut Oil spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 375℉.
If making zucchini boats, slice the zucchini lengthwise and take out seeds. I decided to make 1/2 inch rounds and took the skin off and scooped the seeds out.
Brush with olive oil and place on a foil lined cookie sheet.
Place in oven for 15 minutes
Brown sausage in pan.
Add the garlic, breadcrumbs, cheese and pasta sauce to sausage and mix in pan.
Scoop sausage mixture into zucchini
Any extra mixture spoon into a dish sprayed with coconut oil
One of my food preparation tips is to make extra chicken whenever you are baking chicken. And then make chicken salad. Every week I try to make a sandwich salad (ham, chicken, tuna). Often I eat these on a bed of garden greens instead of bread. I have so much lettuce growing right now and am on the second sewing of mustard greens in my garden so I have been eating a ton of greens. I have chard that I need to harvest and am looking for ideas of what to do with it since this is the first year I have had a good harvest of chard.
When I saw cherries on sale at my favorite fruit stand I knew this would be this weeks sandwich salad. If you really like citrus add some orange zest to this recipe, but I feel it is overpowering and you loose the cherries. I used two types of chives (regular and garlic) instead of onions, but you could use whatever allium you have on hand.
I often make sandwich salads. The kind of salad you put on a sandwich, tuna salad, ham salad, and chicken salad. It helps to have something prepped to have for lunch or a snack for when days get busy. I like this salad by itself, with some salad greens from the garden, or on a slice of gluten-free bread.
If you are nightshade-free make sure to check your mayonnaise. I make my own mayonnaise using sunflower oil, eggs, and lemon juice. If you are using store bought lok for one without paprika.
It is finally feeling like summer. As I plant more seeds and thin out the rouge dill/fennel/borage/mustard/cilantro I am adding some minutes of self care and hygge to today’s gardening. I’m hygging in the shade with some coffee cake, coffee, beach playlist, and flowers thinned from the garden.
I enjoyed my winter holiday hygge challenge and have been tying to make my breaks a little more special.
Organizing wise I am washing and packing away the rest of the winter coats. I had packed away the boots and snow pants a few weeks ago. My kids are older and the amount of “after school’s out” paper deluge is becoming less and less. In fact I only have one packet of papers from one child and a small pile from the other. Such a relief.
We are having a few friends over to celebrate the end of school and are planning a super simple menu. Chips and salsa, fruit, drinks and some yummy baked goods. (Including the awesome little sugar cookies in the above picture!)
In the garden I have lots of seedlings coming up and have planted plenty of tomato plants. I know, “but you can’t eat tomatoes”! But I feel a vegetable garden is not a garden without tomatoes. So this year I have 5 different types, and a few pepper plants too. My favorite part of gardening is letting things bloom and go to seed.
Carpet of seedlings.Carpet of seedlings.
In part of my garden I currently have a blanket of fennel, dill, cilantro, mustard, and borage seedlings. It smells heavenly when you walk through them. I’ll pull most of it up in a few weeks when I plant another round of seeds.
The Nourished Festival is in Chicago this weekend. If you are new to Celiac/Food Allergies it is a great place to get know companies that truly care about allergy friendly foods. If you have been living with Celiac/Food Allergies for awhile it is always good to scope out the new finds and sample some of the new products that will be in stores soon. I shared the event on the Cygnet Organizing facebook page and if you buy tickets ahead of time there is a discount.
Part of being an AllerCoach™ is Auto injector education. Always have at least two auto injectors with you.
Can you spot the auto injector?
I’m not sure I would be brave enough to not have my auto injector secured inside of something, but this made my day to see this woman biking. I usually use a running belt to hold my Auvi-q’s and phone while biking, but may need to get a real bike shirt.
Cygnet Organizing 