Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Bacon

INGREDIENTS

• 8 ounces bacon, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 12 ounces green beans
• 1/2 onion, sliced thinly
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• PREPARATION

  1. Cook bacon until crisp in skillet, drain bacon, and set aside, reserving bacon grease.
  2. In skillet with bacon grease, sauté onions with sugar, salt, pepper, and apple cider vinegar until tender. Set aside.
  3. Steam or blanch green beans until tender, and toss with onion mixture and reserved bacon pieces. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Zucchini Explosion

Here are a few zucchini recipes I have pinned on Pinterest.  Our garden is exploding with yellow summer squash, so I am trying new recipes.  I tried this first recipes Zucchini Bites last night and really loved it.  In all the recipes I am substituting yellow summer squash for zucchini because that is what we have right now.

Zucchini Bites

1 c. zucchini, grated
1 egg
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1/4 c. cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)
1/4 c. Italian sytle bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, salt and pepper.
4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

Note:  I quadrupled this recipe using yellow summer squash and used regular muffin tins and it still turned out yummy.

Easy Zucchini Parmesan

1 c. zucchini sliced
1 tbsp. Parmesan Cheese, grated
10 sprays "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter", Original Buttery Spray,
Non-stick cooking spray

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, then coat with some non-stick cooking spray. Place the zucchini slices out on the pan, then spritz with them with the butter spray. Sprinkle on the parmesan cheese and then pop it in the oven. Broil for a few minutes - until the cheese starts to brown. Enjoy it while it's warm!

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

1 tbsp sour cream
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tomato
1 tsp thyme
2 zucchinis
1 onion
cheese
pepper
Optional: bacon

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Slice them in half length-ways. Spoon out the guts. Leave about 1/2 an inch in until you end up with boat like shells. Now give the zucchini pulp a good chop, also chop a small onion and 1/2 a tomato. Saute the onions in one tbsp oil or butter. When the onions are almost done, add 1/4 tsp curry powder and cook everything for an additional 30 seconds. No longer or the curry powder will turn bitter. When they’re done, transfer them to a big bowl.

Now add 1 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt, 1 heaping tbsp sour cream, a good pinch of pepper, the zucchini pulp, the tomato and crumble the bacon if desired. Lightly butter a baking dish and put the zucchini boats in. Grab a spoon and fill the shells with the mix. Sprinkle some aged cheese on top.

Put them in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes and then broil until the top is golden brown. Sprinkle some coarsely chopped curly leaf parsley and serve.

Pepper Jelly

1 1/2 cups cranberry juice (not low-calorie)
1 cup vinegar
2 to 4 fresh jalapeño chile peppers, halved
5 cups sugar
1/2 of a 6 oz package (1 foil pouch) liquid fruit pectin

1.  In a medium stainless-steel, enamel, or nonstick saucepan combine cranberry juice, vinegar, and jalapeño peppers.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.  Strain mixture through a sieve, pressing with the back of a soon to remove all the liquid; measure 2 cups and set aside. Discard pulp.

2.  In a 6 quart heavy kettle combine the 2 cups liquid and the sugar.  Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.  Quickly stir in pectin.  Return to a full rolling boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Skim off foam.

3.  Ladle at once into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe jar rims; adjust lids.  Process in a boiling-water canner for 5 minutes.  Remove jars and cool on a wire rack until set (2 to 3 days).

Add 1 minute to processing time for each additional 1,000 feet.

This recipe was given to me by Cheryl Smith, a woman in my ward.  A couple of years ago she did a mini class on canning for Relief Society.  This is one of the things she shared with us.  She served it with cream cheese and crackers--very good!