Gnocchi with Summer Vegetables

We had some homemade gnocchi in the freezer, and I found this recipe for gnocchi with zucchini, yellow summer squash, and tomatoes in one of my old Everyday Food magazines.  It looked just right for this week.

I had read somewhere that you could freeze uncooked gnocchi.  At first I thought it wasn't turning out well, some of them seemed to be falling apart.  But in the end I think they turned out well and it is worth making a large batch of gnocchi to freeze half for another time. 

Gnocchi can be found frozen and sometimes even dried I think, but these vegetables would be good just tossed with some pasta as well. 

Gnocchi with Summer Vegetables Recipe

adapted from Martha Stewart

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 summer squash, quartered and sliced (or 2 of either squash)
1 garlic clove, minced

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
gnocchi (I had about 3 cups frozen)
fresh basil, chopped chiffonade
grated Pecorino Romano, or parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and ground pepper 

 In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add squash and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is crisp-tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until juicy, about 2 minutes.

 Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook gnocchi. Reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid, drain gnocchi and transfer to skillet. Toss gnocchi with vegetables.  Remove from heat and stir in basil, butter, and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper if needed (my gnocchi was salty enough from the boiling water).  If you want it to be more saucy add some of the reserved cooking liquid. Grate some fresh cheese on top. Serve

Honey Wheat Zucchinni Muffins

I tried a recipe from Me and My Pink Mixer for honey wheat zucchini muffins.  I chose her recipe, though it looked almost exactly the same as another, because hers used 3/4 instead of a full cup of honey.  (I'm trying to wean us from the need for everything to be super sweet--a little sweet is enough)

This recipe is made with 100% whole wheat flour.  Because muffins use chemical leaveners to rise, instead of yeast and gluten, there's no reason to use anything but the wheat.

Honey Wheat Zucchini Muffins

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and baking powder.  Stir and then add zucchini and toss together.  In a separate bowl, melt butter, stir in honey and eggs.  Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet, and mix just until moistened. Scoop dough into paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes.

This recipe made 1 dozen muffins plus 1 dozen mini muffins.   We cooked the minis for 10 minutes and the regular for 16 min. 

Raw Corn and Zucchini Salad

Well, it's summertime again. Which means I'm having my season-change reshuffling of meal-plan ideas. A new group of seasonal vegetable recipes--in! Anything that involves turning the oven on--out!

I was really excited to get my June issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine and find this recipe for a raw corn and zucchini salad. They are seasonal vegetables, it's a really crisp, fresh-tasting salad, and it only takes like two minutes to put together.

We had it a few weeks ago and loved it. I've got everything to make it again tonight, and I can't wait!


Raw corn and Zucchini Salad

3 ears of corn
2 small zucchini
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro
salt and pepper

Stand corn on end and slice kernels off. Thinly slice zucchini. Add to a bowl with corn kernels. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Toss with remaining ingredients.

(We made it with two cobs of corn and one zucchini- then went just a little scant on the other ingredients and that was the perfect amount for our family.)