Recipes to ponder & some teacher art

Jade Plant - original fabric on wood (I may sell prints of this one b/c I like it so)

This year is London's first year in any kind of school/play program. He goes twice a week for a little over 2 hours. He has 2 main teachers and one that works with the infants but she is always in his room too. Because things are a little tight around here as far as money goes I decided to make a little piece for each of his teachers as their end of the year gift. I suppose I will see if they like them and if they do then I will probably make this a tradition where I make all of London's teacher gifts.
The hard part is I really do not know much about each of them so I decided to make things with plants...simple and sweet.

Flowers for you - original fabric on wood art

Apple Tree Swing - original fabric on wood art

Here they are all together on the front walk.

Ok now for some super yummy recipes and dinners I made this past week.

Sweet and Sour Zucchini

1 lb of Zucchini
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp raisins (golden or normal)
sea salt and pepper to taste
fresh flat leaf parsley springs to garnish
(optional - 6-8 anchovy fillets, canned or salted - smashed into a paste)

1) Cut the zucchini into long, thin strips. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over med. heat. Add the garlic and then cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minute.

2) Add the Zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, until they just start to turn brown. Add the vinegar and water. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.

3) OPTIONAL step...meanwhile, drain anchovies, if canned, or rinse if they are salted. Coarsely chip and use back of wooden spoon to mash them into a paste. Then add to zucchini.

4) Add Pine nuts and raisins into the pan. Increase the heat and stir until the Zucchini are in a thin sauce and are tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5) Either serve immediately or let it cool to room temp. and serve garnished with fresh parsley.

NOTE: I did not use anchovies but instead added the rice wine vinegar to give it that sweet and sour zing. This recipe was found in my 1000 low fat recipes cookbook and it is a good one!



Here is another dinner we had this week that was outrageously good! I made some garlic and olive oil couscous and stuff the peppers.
To make the peppers it is super easy.
Cut off the top of the pepper and hollow it out. The heat like 2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet and sear your peppers for about 3-5 min.
Then heat the oven to 425 and put the peppers in on a cookie sheet for 10 min or so or until they start to brown slightly. These pepper were so tender and just peeled like strips...yum

Paprika Garlic Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
Marinade-
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp of Paprika
Dash of Olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar
Dash of lemon juice
Fresh chopped thyme, parsley and mint.

I put the chicken in the marinade and let it set for approx. 20-30 min.
Then I used the left over oil in the same skillet as I used for the peppers. Saute the Chicken on med-high until the marinade cooks off and the chicken begins to brown.
So tasty!

I hope you get a chance to enjoy these awesome recipes...I know we did!