Grilled Zucchini with Mint and Feta (Simple Side Dish for Summer Grilling)

I used to complain because there were (and are) so many things I can't eat on the low FODMAPs diet I've been on now for over five years. But lately I've realized that while there are many things I can't eat, there are many more great things that I can eat.

Thankfully, zucchini and mint are two foods that my body seems to handle quite well.  How could I ever live without zucchini??  Not to mention mint, feta, and lemon, which seem to make a brilliant combination in this recipe that is so simple, yet so tasty, you might just freak!

Grilled Zucchini with Mint and Feta

Serves 4

Slightly modified from a recipe in Today's Dietitian Magazine

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini, each sliced lengthwise and into 3 planks

1.5 T olive oil

1/4th tsp. salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 ounces reduced fat crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, sliced thin

Lemon wedges for garnish and a dash of juice

Directions

Heat grill to medium-high. Toss zucchini with 1 T oil, salt, and pepper.  Grill zucchini until well browned all over, 3 to 5 minutes per side.  Transfer zucchini to platter, and top with cheese and mint. Drizzle with remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of oil, and serve with a squirt of lemon, and lemon on the side

Estimated Nutrition Facts for One-Serving
Source: CalorieCount.com

Nutrition Highlights:  Only 100 calories, good source of fiber, protein, and vitamin A, excellent source of vitamin C.




Ask me what I served this with and I'll tell you...nothing.  This recipe was meant to be a side dish, but I made this in the afternoon and used it as my lunch.  It really hit the spot.  I think it would be delicious with some grilled fish or chicken.  You could also serve this over a nice hearty grain.  Or heck, have two servings and call it dinner!  I think I can safely say zucchini is part of my list of top 5 favorite vegetables.  Maybe even top four. What about you? Do you like zucchini (or summer squash)??  I hope you do because I'll tell you right now I've got some great zucchini recipes lined up for this blog this season.  Get excited.

Did everyone have a nice weekend? We actually grilled out last night, but not zucchini (I want to wait until we have our own zucchini before I show off this amazing recipe to friends and family!).  We grilled some meals in foil packets, which I'll be posting soon (they were from the last issue of Clean Eating Magazine).  They turned out so good, even my dad was raving about them.  I hope everyone enjoy's their Monday.  Remember to smile, only 5 more days until the weekend :)

Thanks for reading.

The Candid Rd

Who Knew My Dad's Chicken Cacciatore Was So Simple?!

There were always three things my dad made really well when I was growing up; Pizza, Chili, and Chicken Cacciatore (ok, four including the fudge he makes at Christmas, and actually five if you include his Chicken Marsala, I forgot about that one...).  Not too long ago Nick and I went over to my parent's house for dinner and my dad was in the kitchen whipping up his "famous" chicken cacciatore.  right away I was having childhood memories wash over me.  It was great (oh to be a kid again!). I soon  realized the reason why he loves making this dish so much is because it's incredibly easy, yet tastes like someone slaved over it for hours.




Typical of my dad, there aren't really any colors other than red and white.   Why not add some green for a true Italian meal (aka: Italian flag)?!  No, for my dad (and me, I guess) the simpler the better.  That being said, I'm a fan of adding vegetables to any dish when I can, and this one lends itself well to the addition of more veggies.  Anyway, here is my dad's recipe (with my addition of some green peppers!)......

Guy Casagrande's Chicken Cacciatore

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

3 large Chicken breasts, bone in

1 large green (or red) pepper

1 can roasted tomatoes **

1 can tomato sauce **

 6 garlic cloves (whole) **

Spices to taste: oregano, crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

1.  Boil chicken breasts in water for 30 minutes.

2.  After the chicken is finished cooking take it out and let it cool on a cutting board.  Once cooled, pick the chicken off of the bone and put it aside.

3.  In a large skillet cook garlic cloves (~6) in olive oil until the garlic is slightly soft, then add in chicken, 1 can of tomato sauce, and 1 can of Italian tomatoes.  Add spices and simmer for 30 minutes with lid on.

4.  Next, add 1/4th cup white wine (cooking wine or regular drinking wine) and a cut up green pepper and simmer 1 more minute with lid off.   

5.  Serve over polenta or mix with brown or white rice.

**NOTE:  If following a low FODMAPs diet this may not be the best recipe.  If you want to give it a try, look for canned tomatoes that have zero onion or garlic added, and the same goes for canned tomato sauce (good luck with that one, you may need to just make your own sauce by blending tomatoes in a blender and adding a dash of garlic olive oil.  Another option is to use Rao's Sensitive Formula Marinara Sauce).  The 6 cloves of garlic can be used in this recipe for flavor, but do not eat the cloves.

See the garlic clove?? I wanted to eat it so bad!!  But, I didn't.  I gave them all to Nick.  His Italian blood can handle the garlic.  I'm so jealous.  Why can't this Italian handle it?!

My computer crashed a few weeks ago, did I tell you?  It was my favorite laptop of all time, and it was so dear to my heart, but yet it had a better place to go, far up in heaven, I suppose.  It took with it all of my favorite photos, and I'm too cheap to have them restored on my other computer.  I mean, I have the backup here at home, so if I ever really need the photos I can get them, but for now I'll just tell you that for the next couple weeks you'll have to consider me a Dietitian Who Loves to Post Healthy Recipes, instead of a Food Blogger Who Can Take Half-Way Decent Photos (because, my photos are all old and not my updated versions I had saved, please, bear with me!).  You don't really care about the photos though, right?! I mean it's all about the ingredients and the information...right?! Yeah.

That being said, these are old photos, and despite the fact that this Chicken Cacciatore doesn't look so amazing, it truly is.  For as simple as it is to make, it's pretty fantastic.  And, like I said, try it over some warmed polenta and you'll be in heaven.  And if you like this recipe, you might also like this Slow Cooker Chicken Marinara Chicken and Veggies recipe from a few months ago.

QUESTION:  Is there a favorite recipe that your mom or dad made when you were growing up ?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday, and an even better weekend.  I'll be spending my Friday at the Ohio Dietetic Association Conference.  It should be fun.  Afterwards I'm going to a wine and food event at work (but if you saw my Instagram and Twitter post from yesterday, you'll know that I'm probably not going to go too crazy on the wine!).  Enjoy your weekend!

Thanks for reading.

The Candid Rd

Crab Stuffed Zucchini Boats

I rarely eat crab, but when it's on sale for half off, I do.  I know fish is best fresh, but here in Columbus, Ohio it's ok to enjoy canned fish.....since nothing is really "fresh" (although the seafood department where I work gets it in probably as fresh as you can find here in Columbus!  I only buy my fresh seafood from our seafood department, needless to say).  Canned crab is incredibly convenient, and actually quite delicious.  When I bought some a few months ago I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it.  At first I thought crab cakes, but then I thought I should try something a little different ( I love crab cakes, but come on, that's boring).  I found this great recipe online for Crab Stuffed Zucchini, and although it was loaded with FODMAPs, I wanted to try it anyway.  This turned out to be such a fantastic recipe that I know I will be using this year's zucchini bounty to make this again and again (and again).

Crab Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Slightly modified from a recipe on AllRecipes.com

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Zucchini, ends trimmed

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1/2 onion, finely chopped**

1/2 yellow (or other color) bell pepper, finely chopped

1 pound crab meat

1 tsp. smoked paprika

pepper to taste

1/4 cup white cooking wine

1 cup Panko bread crumbs**

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Slice the zucchini in half the long way, and scoop out the flesh leaving about 1/2-inch thick skins.  Place on a baking sheet.

3.  Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion and bell pepper until the onion is translucent (about 5 minutes).  Gently stir in the crabmeat, and cook for about 5 more minutes (until crab meat is hot).  Season the crab mixture with paprika and pepper.

4.  Place the crab mixture into a mixing bowl, and lightly stir in panko bread crumbs, mayonnaise, and white wine.  Add a bit more mayonnaise to help the mixture hold together, if needed.  Spoon the filling into the prepared zucchini boats, and top each with ~ 2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese.

5.  Bake in preheated oven until the cheese melts and the filling is hot (~15-20 minutes).

**NOTE:  If you are following a low FODMAPs diet you will need to omit the onion.  Perhaps you could replace the onion with more pepper ( I haven't tried this, but it might be tasty!).  Also, look for a wheat free bread to make your own bread crumbs (although for most people on this diet, the small amount of unseasoned panko in this recipe shouldn't cause any problems).  

In the skillet.  Mmmmmm...crab!

Hollowed out zucchini boats

In the oven.

Nick added sriracha to his boat.  It wasn't a bad idea actually. 

Source: CalorieCount.com

Estimated Nutrition Facts for 2 boats (one full zucchini squash)

Nutrition Highlights:  Under 400 calories, good source of Vitamin A and fiber, excellent source of calcium, iron, vitamin C and protein.

Yes, this recipe is not low in sodium (not even close) and if you're watching your sodium I would suggest.....well.....not making this.  You could look for lower sodium versions of the ingredients, but I tried to use the lowest sodium version of the ingredients as possible (I'm actually not sure how accurate this sodium number is, I came up with closer to 900 mg).  The main culprits were the mayo, panko, and of course, the parmesan cheese (you could forgo the parmesan cheese, and I bet these would still be tasty!). This recipe was very easy to make, and both Nick and I really enjoyed the boats for a couple days (they were great as leftovers).

QUESTION:  What's your favorite vegetable to hollow out and make into a "boat"??  Or perhaps you like to do this with fruit?

Thanks for reading.

The Candid Rd

This Year's Garden, and Thoughts About Baby Food

Our garden failed last year, in Nick's words.  But I beg to differ.  We did end up with about twenty butternut squash and.....well, ok, it failed other than that (although check out the handful of delicious butternut squash recipes I came up with on the right side of my blog, who knew butternut squash was so versatile?!).  Nick is pretty sure he disrupted the whole nitrogen balance when he bought an electirc tiller and tilled the crap out of the soil before planting.  This year he did a little less tilling and a lot more research online.  But this garden still seems to be giving him a lot of stress (he's constantly going to the kitchen to open the blinds and look outside to make sure the plants are "ok" and growing).

The view from our kitchen.  A few weeks ago it actually got so cold we had to cover the plants to protect them from the frost!

Ready for the great "BlogSpot" font change?  Yes, I can't control it, sorry, I'm not sure why it does this....

I bought some rosemary and mint at the store, and we planted it right away (rosemary and mint in summer salads? Yes, please).  Pretty soon we'll be planting basil, which is actually my favorite summer herb.   The garden has been ready for a few weeks now and pretty soon it will be taken over by delicious plants, and you better believe I have some serious recipes in mind for this year (come on, you know you're excited, right?!)  That is, if the rabbits and bugs don't eat them (this is Nick's constant fear).  

It's ready!!  The only issue?  We found a huge bees nest in this area last night.....

Here is what we are growing this year;

In addition to these we are growing broccoli and bell peppers.  Nick is taking this very seriously.

At first we talked about growing some food that may be good to cook, puree, and freeze for baby food (since we plan on having a baby one of these days...maybe sooner than later?  We'll see what mother nature has in mind) but when I posted on my facebook page (The Candid RD) a question about making baby food, someone responded with this link about something called Baby Led Weaning.  The concept, in short, is that you don't use pureed baby food to feed your infant but instead you sort of let your baby start eating whole foods, with their hands, while you're close by watching and encouraging.  Boy do I have a lot to learn!  I'd never heard of this concept, but I think I like it.  Then there was this recent article about parents feeding their babies solids too soon.    I'm starting to realize just how much there is to learn about....babies, but I'm excited to learn more about the food aspect because as a dietitian I need to know the latest and greatest evidence-based ways to feed and nourish a baby and child (I'm starting to see more and more mothers and pregnant women for personal consultations).  I can actually still remember feeding my little brother when I was 13 years old.  I'll never forget the look on his face when he took his first bite of solid food, it was classic and I wish I had the photos to share!

And here is another topic to consider; Organics.   This article was interesting; Is organic baby food really worth the extra price?  Is it really necessary?  The article explains that there really aren't any difinitive answers, and the current evidence says it's not really necessary, nor worth the premium price.  What are your thoughts?  I'm on the fence.  I can still remember reading this article from today's dietitian a few years ago, and it's stuck in my head.  Since then I haven't read about the issue much, and I haven't been buying organic unless it's from the "dirty dozen" list.  My focus has always primarily been on feeding both myself and Nick nutritious foods, then I think about organics, GMOs, pesticides, etc.  But now that I'm thinking about getting pregnant...things have changed a bit.  Yes, we still have a budget, and yes, I'm still not a hardcore organic believer, but I am also not 100% convinced that future research isn't going to support the use of organic foods for pregnant women and young children.  Anyway, more on my lifestyle changes and pregnancy preparations later (I've got a lot to discuss and can't wait to hear your thoughts), for now, let's get this garden going!

QUESTION:  What are your thoughts on organic foods for baby? Have you ever tried baby-led weaning??

Nick has added a fence to block the rabbits from eating our bounty. I hope it works! It also blocks the garden in the back.

QUESTION: What's in your garden this year?  If the answer is nothing, what are you most looking forward to finding in your supermarket that is local and fresh? For me it's zucchini, corn, and eggplant!

Thanks for reading.

The Candid Rd