Baked Baby Zucchinis and Chicken

If you have a farmers market in your town, you should definitely support it by going there. I know things are a lot more expensive than at the supermarket, but small local farms are also much more expensive to run than those mass produced farms that ship veggies across the country when they are still not ripe. If nothing else, it is a pleasant experience seeing all the vendors and their booths.

Last weekend I visited our local farmers market in Sunnyvale, and bought some organic baby squashes and zucchinis.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

1 lb of baby squashes and zucchinis

1 pepper

1 carrot

4 small potatoes

fresh rosemary

salt, pepper, paprika, vegeta or other seasoning salt

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Wash all the veggies, cut up potatoes, carrot and pepper. Leave baby squashes and zucchinis whole. Place all the veggies into a large bowl. Sprinkle the spices to taste and mix.

Cut each chicken breast into two thin slices.

Season them on both sides.

Place the chicken on the bottom of the baking dish. Then add oil to cover the bottom.

Place seasoned veggies over the chicken. Distribute rosemary branches in between the vegetables.

Bake at 400F for 1 hour. Then turn the chicken, and bake for another 30 minutes.

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Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Pizza

This is an interesting pizza that does not have tomato sauce. Try it, it's very good!

Ingredients:

Pizza dough:
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast

Toppings:

2 yellow onions, sliced thin

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pack mushrooms, sliced

5 Tbsp goat cheese

1/2 young mozzarella cheese in water

1 Tbsp oregano

1 tbs basil

1 tbs thyme

salt, pepper

oil

I make my pizza dough in my bread maker, but you can also do it by hand. This recipe is quite good, I would not change it. It measures makes dough for two 12" thin crust pizzas. I usually make 2 different pizzas, so the toppings are enough just for one pizza pie.

Grease the pizza pan with oil or margarine. Stretch the pizza dough into the pizza pan (use 1/2 of the dough, if you used my recipe). Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan. Add minced garlic and sliced mushrooms. Cook while stirring occasionally. Mushrooms will release water, but continue cooking until all of that water is evaporated (about 15 minutes). They will also reduce in size.

Add salt and pepper to taste and stir. When the mushroom are done, transfer them into a bowl and set aside.

Add more oil in the frying pan and add onions. Sprinkle some salt and stir. Cook for about 20 minutes until all the onions are brown in color.

Spread goat cheese onto the pizza dough first.

Then evenly distribute mozzarella slices.

Do the same with onions and mushrooms.

Sprinkle oregano, basil and thyme over the pizza.

Bake at 500F for 15 minutes, until it is almost done.

Then take the pizza out, sprinkle grated parmesan cheese and place back in the oven for a couple of more minutes.

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Here is my bread maker. I love it. It makes awesome bread, pizza dough and lots of other great stuff.

If you like to make a lot of pizza, you just want to consider getting a pizza stone and a peel.

Leek Bread

Leeks, just like onion and garlic, belong to Allium vegetables.  Hence, leeks have similar nutritional benefits of garlic and onions, but a milder flavor.  They are low in saturated fat and cholesterol, High in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Manganese, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Iron and Magnesium.  Benefits of leeks as Allium vegetables include lowering LDL cholesterol (aka "bad" cholesterol), while raising the HDL or "good" cholesterol.  Leeks also reduce the risk of heart attack or a stoke by lowering high blood pressure.

Leek bread is so easy to make, and everyone likes it.  It makes a great appetizer or just a snack.  I took this to a friend birthday a couple of weeks ago, but everyone was impressed. 

 

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of oil
2-3 cups chopped leeks, finely chopped
1 cup feta cheese
2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp of baking powder




Preheat the oven to 430F.

Mix eggs first.

 

Add flour and milk and continue mixing until its smooth. 

Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix again. Bake in a pre-greased pan at 430F until the top becomes golden brown and the toothpick comes clear.

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To avoid sticking to the baking dish, it is always convenient to use parchment paper: