Thursday, March 8, 2012

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard..........3/08/2012

A few days ago "The Italian" wanted pasta for dinner. Can you believe that??? Well, he would eat pasta every day!!


I looked in the freezer and found some zucchini slices that I had fried and froze for later use. So, I decided to make a plain red sauce. He just loves pasta with a nice red sauce and zucchini slices on the side.


It's a simple and good dish. Just saute some chopped onions, add a little chopped garlic and then some nice canned tomatoes or tomato puree, some oregano & basil. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 30-40 minutes. I baked the zucchini slices in the oven on 400 for about 15 minutes. Easy and delicious!


"The Italian" had his with pasta....and

I had mine with Spaghetti Squash! Yum!

So, what have you been making with your stored goods....or putting away for another day???

30 comments:

  1. Not sure the link thing worked. I'll check back later to see. Your meals looked scrumptious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Yes, they are dipped in egg, then homemade seasoned bread crumbs and fried in olive oil.

      Delete
  3. I never had zucchini come out of the freezer looking like that! How did you freeze it? Mine comes out mushy since the high water content. It looks really good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jane, After I fry them, I lay them flat on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer. Once they are frozen, I put them in portion size bags and freeze them. I think that the trick is to heat them up in a hot oven.

      Delete
  4. Looks Yummy. And thanks for all the info on seeds. Always good to know!
    Lorie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yum! I'm not a huge fan of eggplant so I'll definitely have to try this with zucchini this summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a dish that will make any Italian happy!

      Delete
  6. Looks delicious! Is that a homemade red sauce?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it is. "The Italian" would never eat any store bought sauce! The recipe is in this post.

      Delete
  7. that looks great. I would have never thought that you could freeze fried zucchini!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been doing it for years and it works out great

      Delete
  8. I am going to remember that for the summer bounty of zucchini. This looks like a superb meal to me. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's an Italian classic around here. We also make small zucchini parmigiana and freeze them as well. They make a nice winter meal.

      Delete
  9. That is nice and easy - I imagine it would be lovely with eggplant too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it would. I love fried eggplant with a little parmigiana cheese on top! Yum! I just dredge the eggplant in seasoned flour and fry it.

      Delete
  10. Looks delicious! I'm not much for eggplant so I think I will try the zucchini like that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Erin, it's a good way to store some zucchini for the winter

      Delete
  11. I had never thought about frying zucchini and then being able to freeze it. Sounds like something I will be doing this year! I love the convenience of just popping in the freezer and having a side dish all ready to eat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "The Italian" is the one who got me to freeze it this way. It works out well.

      Delete
  12. I'm another one who never thought to freeze fried zucchini! Mr. granny loves it, but I assumed it would turn mushy. I'll have to remember to email you when it's time to fix it next summer, as I'm sure I'll forget by then, LOL!

    I didn't enter the TKC this week, I didn't do a lot of from-scratch cooking. I did, however, have corn and raspberries from the freezer for tonight's dinner, and I made a hamburger macaroni dish with my home canned tomatoes the other day. I'm using up the canned and frozen stuff slowly but surely. I don't think I'll need to can sweet pickle relish for at least another 5 years though ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't worry Granny! When you are up to your ears in zucchini, I will remind you!

      I think you did way too much work this week to be preparing a lot meals from scratch! Your new garden looks wonderful!

      Delete
  13. The freezer is such a good friend, always there when needed. Both dishes look fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for the tip about frying up the zucchini first before freezing. I hardly freeze any zucchini because they don't hold up well and are hard to use/work with when thawed. However, yours look really good! I think the combination of using larger zucchini, slicing it thickly, and then cooking it first before freezing must make the difference.

    We are using frozen kale, swiss chard, peas (almost gone now), sweet corn kernals, and green beans - along with canned tomato products and some fresh items from the garden periodically to make all our evening meals. The greens should be really ramping up in the garden soon which is good because I only have a bit more peas and two bags of corn left and there is only so much green beans, kale, and swiss chard one can eat in a week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your welcome Laura. I had never froze zucchini until "The Italian" did it this way several years ago. It's a nice treat during the winter.

      Every year there is always something that we seem to have "too much of"!

      Delete
  15. Thanks for that simple tomato sauce recipe. It will be enjoyed by my Irish pasta-loving husband I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marie, "The Italian" has taught this German/Irish woman how to make "real" Italian sauces. I had no idea there were so many different red sauces!

      Delete

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment!