Summer squash sautee with beans and tomatoes

Approx. 60 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 servings.

I planned to grill a piece of chicken for dinner and wanted a quick and easy vegetable side dish to go with it. I basically had squash, tomatoes and beans in the house, so I just tossed them all into a pan with a little bit of balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes. Light, simple, and spicy: what more could you want from a side?

Ingredients

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes (I used heirloom red and orange)
• 2 cups summer squash
• 1 cup snap beans
• 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• Red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

1. Slice/chop vegetables.
2. Add water to a skillet and bring to a boil.
3. Add beans and cook 1-2 minutes.
4. Add summer squash and cook approx. 2 minutes, or until almost tender.
5. Add cherry tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Cook until tomatoes are heated through.
6. Add balsamic vinegar and mix well.
7. Serve as a side dish.
   

Market Haul

I went a little bit crazy at the farmer's market this weekend. Everything looked so tasty - especially the fruit - so I really stocked up.

For fruit, I bought 2 honeydew melons, 1 cantaloupe, a huge bag of plums, 10 peaches, and a big bag of green apples. The veggies I bought included green beans; yellow, pattypan, and zucchini squash; regular and Armenian cucumbers; red and green bell peppers; red vine and yellow cherry tomatoes; Japanese eggplant; yellow and green onions; and garlic, carrots, spinach, and lettuce. I also bought 2 pieces of Alaskan fish: halibut and coho salmon.

Chicken Fajita Salad

Approx. 310 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 3 servings.

After a long day, I really craved chicken fajitas. The tortillas that I had were a little too old and unappetizing (realized that half way through cooking the dish), so I decided to turn the recipe into a salad and top with avocado. You could easily serve this in tortillas.

Ingredients

• 6 cups Romaine lettuce
• 1.5 avocados
• 4.5 oz chicken breast (boneless, skinless)
• 2.5 cups zucchini
• 1.5 cups yellow summer squash
• 1.5 medium tomatoes
• 2 cups red bell pepper
• 1 cup yellow bell pepper
• 0.5 cup onion
• 0.5 cup green onion
• 1 serrano chili pepper
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 Tbs Worchestershire sauce (I used low sodium)

Directions

1. Slice/chop all vegetables (I left the seeds/membrane in the chili pepper; remove them if you want it less spicy)
2. Add oil, chicken, chili pepper, and yellow onion to a skillet.
3. Heat until chicken is cooked through and onion starts to get tender.
4. Add yellow and red bell pepper and cook until almost tender.
5. Add zucchini and summer squash. Cook until almost tender.
6. Add Worchestershire sauce, tomatoes, and green onion. Heat through.
7. Place lettuce on a plate and cover with 1/3 of the fajita mixture.
8. Top with 1/2 of an avocado (diced).

Summer squash sautee with teriyaki sauce

Approx. 55 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 servings.

I had some yellow pattypan squash and the last few garlic scrapes of the season that I wanted to use up. I added some green onions, red bell peppers, and spicy teriyaki sauce and had a tasty side dish to go with a piece of grilled chicken. You could use any summer squash for this recipe (or pretty much use any vegetable combination).

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup summer squash (I used yellow pattypan)
• 3/4 cup red bell pepper
• 2 garlic scrapes
• 1/2 cup green onion
• 1 Tbs spicy yeriyaki sauce (I used East-West brand, Spicy Ginger Teriyaki)
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. Slice/chop all vegetables.
2. Add water and garlic scrapes to a skillet.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Add bell pepper and summer squash.
5. Cook until tender and the water has evaporated off.
6. Add teriyaki sauce and green onions. Heat through.
7. Serve as a side dish.

Shimp stir fry in orange sauce

Approx. 330 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 1 (huge) serving.

I had a jar of orange sauce in the fridge that was getting a little old. I decided to make a quick stir fry to use up the sauce (and a bunch of the summer squash I bought). This recipe was big enough to easily serve 2 people if you double the shrimp.

Ingredients

• 6 large shrimp (approx. 1/8 lb - I used precooked)
• 3 cups summer squash (various types)
• 1 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1 cup bell pepper (red and yellow)
• 1/4 cup onion
• 1 serrano chili pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 Tbs orange sauce (I used Panda Express, Orange chicken sauce)

Directions

1. Slice/chop all vegetables.
2. Add oil to a skillet and heat.
3. Add onions, chili peppers, and bell peppers, and cook until almost tender.
4. Add mushrooms and squash; cook until tender, but not soft.
5. Add shrimp (I removed the tail shells) and heat until warm.
6. Add sauce and toss together before serving.
   

Curried summer squash and halibut

Approx. 375 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 1 serving.

While this dish has a savory taste, the zucchini and halibut provided a lightness to it, making it the perfect spicy summer dish.

Ingredients

• 4 oz halibut or other firm white fish
• 4 cups zucchini
• 1 cup onion
• 1 cup red bell pepper
• 2 Tbs curry powder
• 1 Tbs grated ginger
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 3 Tbs cocounut milk
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Dice/chop all vegetables.
2. Add oil, ginger, and curry powder to a skillet and heat.
3. Add onions and cook until almost tender.
4. Add bell pepper, zucchini, water, and coconut milk.
5. Cook for approx. 2 minutes.
6. Add fish and cover.
7. Cook until fish flakes and all vegetables are tender (but not soft) - approx. 4 minutes.

Golden beet and feta salad

Approx. 140 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 servings.

In April, I made a beet, feta, and cucumber salad. While it tasted good, it was very unappetizing because I used red beets, which stained all the other ingredients. I decided to make the same dish using golden beets. While it tasted about the same (actually a little sweeter and less earthy), it was much more visually attractive.

Ingredients

• 8 small golden beets (approx. 3 cups chopped)
• 1 medium cucumber (approx. 2 cups chopped)
• 3 Tbs feta cheese (I used fat free)
• 3 Tbs red wine vinegar
• black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Peel beets, cut into slices, and steam them (approx. 3 minutes in the microwave).
2. Toss with vinegar and let cool.
3. Add diced cucumber (I left the skin on).
4. Add cheese.
5. Mix well and season with black pepper.
6. Serve as side dish or on top of larger salad (as shown below).
   
   
   I ate one serving of this beet salad as a side dish with a piece of grilled chicken. For the second serving, I steamed a couple of red beets (let them cool) and then placed them on a bed of romain lettuce and topped it with the second serving of this beet salad. YUM!!
   

Halibut with Apricot Salsa

Appox. 300 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 1 serving.

A while ago, I made halibut with mango salsa. I didn't have any mangoes, but I bought some delicious apricots at the farmer's market, so I decided to adapt this recipe for the apricots. It was pretty good, but I liked the mango salsa better.

Ingredients

• 4 oz halibut or other firm white fish
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 small apricots
• 1 small chili peppers (<>
• 4 sprigs cilantro (approx. 2 Tbs)
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/8 cup red onion
• 2 Tbs coconut milk
• black pepper, to taste
  

Directions

1. Remove pit and chop apricots into a fine dice.
2. Cut chili peppers into thin rings (leaving in seeds).
3. Finely chop cilantro and red onion.
4. Mix together the apricot, cilantro, chili peppers, and red onion.
5. Add oil and fish to a skillet. Cover and heat on medium for approx. 4 minutes.
6. Season fish with pepper and flip.
7. Add coconut milk to the pan, cover, and cook until fish flakes (approx. 3 minutes).
8. Remove fish. Add apricot salsa to pan and toss with warm coconut milk.
9. When salsa is just warmed, serve over the top of the fish.
   

Halibut with balsamic blackberry sauce

Approx. 220 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 1 serving.

Blackberries have been on sale for 99 cents per 6 oz container, so I have bought as many as I could carry and store. I've mostly been eating them raw or on salads, but tonight I thought they might taste quite nice on the last piece of halibut that I had. And they did! :-)

I served this with a nice salad of zucchini, yellow summer squash, and tomatoes.

Ingredients

• 4 oz halibut or other firm white fish
• 1/4 cup blackberries
• 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 Tbs olive oil
• 2 oz water
• black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Add oil to a skillet and heat.
2. Season fish with black pepper and add to the skillet.
3. Cover and cook approx. 3 minutes before flipping.
4. Cover again and cook approx. 2 minutes or until it flakes.
5. Set fish aside to rest.
6. Add water, blackberries, and balsamic vinegar to the same skillet.
7. Heat until blackberries are warm and liquid is reduced 60-80% (approx. 2 minutes).
8. Pour blackberries and sauce over fish.

Spicy peanut "noodles"

Approx. 200 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 3 servings.

At the market this weekend, I bought 2 purple bell peppers. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. When I sliced them, I discovered that only the outer skin was purple, and the inner part of the pepper was green. I thought it would look good in this dish, so decided to add them. I should have taken a picture of them before adding them, because shortly after they were warmed, the purple color reverted back to green. So, if you buy purple bell peppers, plan to eat them raw if you want to show off the color. Otherwise, just get the green ones.

This recipe used the same ideas as Zucchini in Peanut Sauce and the Thai Peanut Noodles recipes that I previously made. However, I wanted something a little more substantial for dinner, so I added some chicken and a few more veggies to it. Because I was adding peanuts to this dish, I went pretty light on the amount of peanut sauce that I added. If you like a stronger peanut flavor (and want the dish to be saucier), you may want to double the amount of sauce.

Ingredients

• 7 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 jumbo zucchini (approx. 3 1/2 cups)
• 1 medium chili pepper (mine was yellow, approx. 1/3 cup)
• 2 bell peppers (approx. 1 1/4 cup)
• 1 large bulbed green onion
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 Tbs Thai peanut sauce
• 1/8 cup peanuts (I used unsalted)
• 1/4 cup water

Directions

1. Julienne the zucchini to form "noodles", avoiding the seeds.
2. Slice the other vegetables.
3. Cut the chicken into cubes.
4. Heat the oil in a large skillet and then add the chicken.
5. Cook the chicken until nearly done and then add the bell pepper and chili peppers.
6. Cook until the pepper is tender and the chicken is done.
7. Add the water and the zucchini "noodles" and toss with the other ingredients.
8. Cook until the "noodles" are tender.
9. Add the peanut sauce, green onion, and peanuts.
10. Mix well and heat until everything is warm.