Vegetable Grill Out Night: Zippy Corn on the Cob, Hearty Grilled Vegetables, Broiled Tomatoes

With summer comes the vegetable garden. The squash, zucchini and tomatoes are starting to yield in our garden and this is the first meal where we've been able to incorporate them into dinner this summer. Expect more recipes involving these veggies since they tend to grow at a faster pace than growers can use them! Not only that, we have been trying more and more to have a vegetable-only night at least once a week. We do not always succeed at that, but we do try.

To gain the full nutritional value of squash, including zucchini, the skins must remain on. Squash is high in carotene, as well as many other nutrients (like magnesium, potassium, folate, and fiber) needed for heart health. Many nutrients found in all squash varieties help to protect against certain cancers (lung and colon, for instance).

Corn also has a healthy dose of magnesium and folic acid, as well as being rich in fiber and B vitamins. It also aids with heart health, as well as management of diabetes, hypertension and kidney function.

And tomatoes. We've addressed the many benefits of tomatoes before. All in all, vegetables are some of the most nutritious foods one can eat. We all knew that, of course, and it doesn't have to be a chore to get in your recommended intake of daily vegetables to increase your nutritional benefit. Good recipes are all it takes to make eating your vegetables a tasty necessity.

You can grill these vegetables, or cook them in the oven. I opted for the latter, only because it was cleaner that way. But you choose!

********************************************

Zippy Corn on the Cob

• 4 medium ears of sweet corn
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Place ears of corn, husked and silks removed, on a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, combine ingredients and mix well. Brush or pour equally over corn, covering all sides. Fold foil around corn and seal tightly. Grill, over medium heat, about 25 minutes, turning once. (or you can bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes)


Hearty Grilled Vegetables

• 12 small red new potatoes, halved
• 1 medium sweet potato, cut into chunks
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh minced parsley
• 3/4 lb fresh mushrooms
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 medium green pepper, seeded and cut into strips
• 1 small zucchini, cut into chunks
• 1 medium yellow summer squash, cut into chunks
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella (optional)

Place all ingredients except butter and cheese in large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil, or divided up into smaller pieces of aluminum foil. Drizzle butter over top, and sprinkle cheese on top. Fold foil up and seal. Grill for 20 minutes each side over medium heat. Or, place foil packet in baking dish and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Serve with brown rice


Broiled Tomatoes

• 2 large tomatoes, cut in half
• Parmesan
• oregano
• olive oil

Place tomatoes cut side up on broiler pan. Sprinkle with parmesan and oregano and drizzle with olive oil. Broil for 3-4 minutes, until tomato softens.

Spice Rubbed Pork Chops, Brown Rice, Steamed Broccoli with Parmesan

This is relatively healthy. It's not something I make with the kids around, but it's pretty easy to fix and yummy to eat.

Throw in a salad, if you like, and a fruit parfait for dessert (using nonfat yogurt and fresh fruit).



Spice Rubbed Pork Chops
(2 servings)

• 2 (3oz) boneless pork chops
• 1/8 tspn garlic salt
• 1/4 tspn ground coriander
• 1/4 tspn ground cumin
• 1/4 tspn brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tspns. olive oil

Spray skillet with nonstick spray. Heat skillet over medium heat.

Sprinkle pork with garlic salt. Combine other spices in a shallow bowl with the brown sugar. Sprinkle over one side of the pork.

Add oil to pan. Add pork to pan, spice side down. Cook 2 minutes; turn pork over. Cook 4 minutes, or until done.

Brown Rice

Cook according to package directions.

Steamed Broccoli with Parmesan
(2 servings)

Use fresh broccoli, if possible. Chop one bunch if broccoli, and steam until tender, yet firm. (Boil if you do not have a steamer)

Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Parmesan Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ooooh, this was a fantastic meal!

This past weekend, D and I had some house guests. I wanted to make a nice dinner for them, and set out browsing some of my Cooking Light magazines for a dish that was suitable for their dietary needs due to dieting, cultural and religious reasons.

I found this recipe in the March 2008 issue and decided to give it a go. The recipe called for chicken thighs, but I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts. The magazine offered up nutritional information for the entree itself, but I am not sure how using chicken breasts vs chicken thighs might have altered that content.

In any case, here is the nutritional information for the casserole entree itself:

498 calories
19 grams of fat
38 grams of protein
43 grams of carbs
3 mg of iron
765 mg of sodium (mine had less because I omitted the salt)

With this entree, we had broiled tomatoes and Green Beans with warm bacon dressing.

The recipe called for regular pork bacon, but I used turkey bacon to accommodate our guests restrictions. It was pretty good and I didn't miss the additional fat the pork bacon would have added to the meal.

The dinner was wonderful.

Dinner Tonight was:
Parmesan Chicken and Rice Casserole
Green Beans with warm Bacon dressing
Broiled Tomatoes
***************************************
Ingredients for Parmesan Chicken and Rice Casserole

• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (3.5 ounces) boil-in-a-bag brown rice (I actually cooked brown rice instead of using this)
• 2 lbs chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of thyme
• 2 cups of fat free, lower sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons of whipping cream
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Coat with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; saute 2 minutes. Add garlic; saute 30 seconds. Add cooked rice to pan; saute 30 seconds. Spoon rice mixture from skillet into a large casserole dish coated with cooking spray in an even layer.
3. Arrange chicken breasts in a single layer over rice mixture. Combine broth and cream in bowl; whisk. Pour over chicken and rice mixture. Sprinkle thyme over chicken evenly.
4. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until chicken is done.

Makes 4 servings

Green Beans in Warm Bacon Dressing Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh, trimmed green beans
• 4 strips of bacon
• 1/4 cup shallots
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1. Cook green beans in boiling water for 3 minutes.
2. Drain.
3. Cook 4 strips of bacon in skillet over medium heat until crisp.
4. Remove bacon from pan and crumble
5. Add shallots to pan drippings; cook for 3 minutes
6. Add 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar; cook 1 minute (I didn't do this)
7. Add green beans. Toss to coat
8. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon.

Broiled Tomatoes

• 4 tomatoes
• basil
• parmesan cheese

1. Halve the tomatoes
2. sprinkle with basil and Parmesan
3. Broil for 2-3 minutes

Steak Dinner

Mmmmm.....last night we had steak. It was a small portion, and the loin cut and broiled so it was a nice treat. We don't cook steak all that often.

This was indeed a night where I cooked something different for the kids. Easy and likable kid food, like corn dogs. Steak, broccoli and rice just wasn't something they would eat.

So, on the menu last night was:

Broiled Steak
Brown Rice
Steamed Broccoli
Fresh Strawberries

All ingredient measurements are for 1 serving, so multiply that as you need for however many you are feeding.
***************************************************

Steak Ingredients

4 oz beef steak, loin cut

Grill or broil steak for about 4-6 minutes on each side for medium or cook to desired doneness.

(Boy that was easy!)

Brown Rice

2/3 cup of brown rice
1 1/3 cup of water

Cook rice according to package directions. Usually, this means you place the rice and water in a saucepan, bring it to a boil, lower the heat, then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Steamed Broccoli
(I used fresh broccoli and steamed it in my steamer)

1 cup of frozen broccoli
1 teaspoon Parmesan Cheese

Place broccoli in microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave for about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

Bon appetit!