Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake

For my birthday, my darling friend ReRe brought me some goodies from her garden including: tomatoes, poblano peppers, banana peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, and swiss chard. So from these veggies, I choose to cook up some of the zucchini. I mean, c'mon, look at the size of this thing:

Thanks ReRe-- I stole this from your facebook :)

Anywho-- onward to the recipe: Easy Cheesey Zucchini Bake. This comes from another recipe by Penzey's via Karen Niessing. They sure are good. I LOVED this recipe. I don't really bother posting anything I don't care for or didn't turn out right (believe me, there are many), but this one is awesome. Low calorie and so so so yummy.  If I hadn't already filled up on moose steak, then I would've had seconds. There's always tomorrow. Am I the only one who loves leftovers?

Prep time: 10 min; cook time: 45 min-- about one hour total

Needs:
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into wedges (I used cherry tomatoes from Re's garden-- no peeling necessary)
2 small zucchini, sliced (or a quarter of a giant one the size of a baby)-- surprisingly still edible
2 small yellow summer squash, sliced (didn't have and used extra zukes)
1/2 t thyme
1 t basil (I used fresh, much better)
1 t granulated garlic powder
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c grated parmesan
1/3 c dry break crumbs (I used kellogg's cereal- way less chemicals/additives)
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)

Doing:
Preheat oven to 350
In a 1.5-2 qt. baking dish, combine tomatoes, zucchini, squash, spices/herbs, and cheddar cheese
Top with parmesan and bread crumbs
Bake for 45 minutes, until veggies are tender
Top with mozzarella if you desire, I used 1/4 c to save on some cals. Just sprinkle on top and let melt.

Nutrition: 4 servings (serving size about 1 cup)
Calories 160 (from fat 25)
Fat 2.5 g
Cholesterol 10mg
Sodium 580 mg
Carbohydrate 18g
Dietary Fiber 3g
Protein 16g

bad pic :(

Cost: tomatoes and zucchini (free), cheeses ($2), crumbs and spices ($1 maybe). This probably cost me $3 and I have 3 more servings. For about a buck a serving, one can't go wrong. Otherwise, purchasing these other items might include up to $6? Not sure.

Minocqua bound

Another one of the little day trips I took this past week was to Minocqua, WI. Again, E$ was involved. The whole purpose of the trip was actually for her. As a memento for her mother, she got a sweet tat.

on the ribs-- pretty tough spot

She was so nervous I almost felt bad for her. My best coping mechanism for her was just to ignore her. As she lay on the table in preparation, she began mouthing me something. I'm pretty sure it was about backing out, but I just ignored her-- it worked. I think that is the parenting technique I will use in the future, when I get more cats :)

I tried to make the time pass quickly for her by completing ignoring anything she had to say and just chat with the tattoo artist. I in no way, engaged my identity-protected friend E$ in any conversation. I didn't want to make her laugh, causing some sort of blotchy mess on her ribs. The time seemed to fly by for me; I don't know about her.

The best part of the trip for me was how E$ picked me up. She called me and said "get ready for big pimpin'," which I assumed involved a hat or something lame. Instead, she pulled up in this: Big D

Source: This is not the exact truck, but it's something like this if I remember right.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Two girls riding in one big truck? How will they ever arrive alive? Well, we were big pimpin in fact. E$ could barely see over the steering wheel or park that beast. She of course only used parking lots. There were enough buttons and gadgets to launch us right to Jupiter, my favorite planet. That monster is a F350 super duty diesel or some mumbo jumbo like that. It was ridic.

And to stay classy, we rocked out to 90s pop on the way home. Dancin' in big D and singin' "bye bye bye."

Word.

Holy Hiatus

So, since starting this blog about a month ago, the longest time I have taken from it is just a day or two. To begin, I've been busy. But, the best trip I've had involves my good friend: E$ (I know, coolest name ever---it was given to her at birth).

Yesterday, she and I took a little road trip to Wausau. One of the best parts of being a teacher, aside from the grading, is going school clothes shopping every year. Now, I had a goal in mind: rack up some cashback money on my Discover card. And yes, that is what I did.

What's that in the top right corner? A Whirley Pop and a Whoopee Cushion?? You guessed it.

My inner fashionista (she wears a mullet and sweatpants) wanted to go with a dressier look this year: blouses, dress pants, blazers, etc. Now, the purpose of this post is not to brag to you about what I got, but to tell you about my favorite part of my shopping experience: finding a Whirley Pop. My friend Jess introduced this marvel to me years ago. Well, since E$ has very little experience with popping corn (she informed me she microwaves, gasp), I had to explain what this magic machine does. It pops corn on the stove in 3 minutes. I repeat, 3 minutes. Also, I'm pretty sure in the fine print on the box it says "no cancer." I read somewhere (probably Cosmo) that microwaving popcorn can cause cancer, now I just avoid the microwave for anything. Because of my WHIRLEY POP, I can have cancer-free, theatre-snacking fun.

Oh, and the whoopee cushion is definitely my second favorite purchase. I got Mr. X pretty good as he stupidly got up to get me a glass of water. Sucka.

Talk about making a man laugh on a Monday-- goal accomplished.
Oh, and E$ managed to walk into a bunch of clothes racks and boxes as well as dropping her credit card, purse, etc. She is one clumsy lady.

Simple Party Dish: Beer Dip

At my Girls Getaway a few weeks ago, Allison made a delicious beer dip that we devoured in two days. So simple. So delicious. So perfect. I needed a dish to bring to our book club dinner, and this was the perfect appetizer.

Beer Dip:
2 8oz packages cream cheese
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 oz. package Ranch powder
1/2 c. beer

Mix cream cheese (at room temperature) with the Ranch packet.
Mix in beer and cheddar cheese.
Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.
Serve with pretzels.

Cost: about 9 dollars
Nutrition: very healthy: lots of fat, lots of calories-- Does this count for dairy? :)