Black Olive and Butternut Squash Stew

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 tbsn olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tspn paprika
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut in ½ inch thick strips
1 branch fresh rosemary
1/2 c. black olives (dry-cured Moroccan or kalamata), pitted
1/2 c. white wine
salt & pepper

Directions:
In a saucepan, sauté the onion in the olive oil. When the onion is soft, add the garlic and cook 5 more minutes over medium heat. Stir in the paprika, then add the squash. Cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the rosemary, olives and wine. Cover again and continue cooking until nearly done. The squash should be slightly firm., especially if the stew is going to be reheated. Season w/ salt and pepper.

Roasted Zucchini Slices

Description:
I am so into roasting vegetables lately. It is such an easy, healthy and delicious preparation.

Ingredients:
1-3/4 pound zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450° F. Place zucchini slices in large, shallow pan in one layer or slightly overlapping as needed. Sprinkle with the thyme, salt and pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil. Roast until tender and lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

Fuzzy-Navel Smoothies (Non-Alcoholic)

Description:
I made these smoothies this morning. They were amazing. I used vanilla soy milk because that is what I had on hand, but any milk would be great. They were really easy to make too!

Ingredients:
1 � cups frozen sliced peaches � cup frozen orange juice concentrate � cup 1% low-fat milk 1/3 cup sliced ripe banana 1 teaspoon sugar Dash of salt

Directions:
What you do:
Combine all ingredients in a blender; let stand for 15 minutes, and process until smooth. Serve immediately. Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 1 cup).

Calories 223 (3% from fat); Fat 1g (sat 0g, mono 0g, poly 0g); Protein 5g; Carbohydrate 50g; Fiber 3g; Cholesterol 3mg; Iron 1mg; Sodium 33mg; Calcium 90mg

Fresh-tomato Pasta

Description:
I made this recipe tonight and it was really easy, delicious and nice and light for a summer meal. Since the sauce isn't cooked, it isn't really hot like most pasta dishes. I got the recipe from Health magazine. Also, since there are lots of veggies in it, it's not so heavy on the pasta.

Ingredients:
8 oz penne
4 cups chopped seeded tomato
1/2 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tbsn olive oil
1 tbsn pine nuts, toasted (this is what the recipe called for...I used 1/2 cup)
1 tbsn balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tspn black peppter
1/8 tspn crushed red pepper

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
2. Combine pasta and remaining ingredients, tossing to coat.

serving size: 1 3/4 cups

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Description:
This recipe is quite tasty, colorful and unusual. The spices give it a very unique flavor. This is a favorite mexcian dish of mine. It's also very easy to make. I had it for dinner tonight and I'm already done eating!! It's quite delicious.

Ingredients:
1 ½ c finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3 tbsn vegetable oil
4 c grated peeled sweet potato (about 3 potatoes)
½ tspn dried oregano
1 tspn chili power
2 tspn ground cumin
Generous pinch of cayenne
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 c grated sharp cheddar cheese

8 tortillas (8 to 10 inch)
Commercial Mexican-style tomato salsa
Sour cream


Directions:
Sauté the onions and garlic in the vegetable oil until the onions are translucent. Add the grated sweet potatoes, oregano, chili power, cumin, and cayenne and cook, covered, for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. When the sweet potato is tender, add salt and pepper to taste and remove the filling from the heat. Spread on-eighth of the filling smoothly and 2 tbsn of the cheeses on each tortilla and fold over.

I personally don’t bother cooking the tortilla, but if you want to cook them add a little oil to a large pan and cook for 2 –3 minutes on each side.

Top with salsa and sour cream.

Tonight I accidentally bought one yam (yams are orange). It doesn’t really matter if you use a yam or a sweet potato. It’s going to taste great!

You can also just add as much filling as you want to a tortilla and eat it more like a burrito, which is what I usually do!

Pasta with Arrabbiata Sauce

Description:
This is one of my favorite pasta sauce recipes. It�s a spicy sauce and it's easy to make (I'm making it right now). If my husband would eat it every night, I'd probably make it every night.

You can serve it with any type of pasta. Traditionally, it is served with Penne, but I usually serve it with spaghetti or angel hair pasta.

The recipe makes enough sauce to go with a pound of pasta.. I, personally, don't like the taste of leftover pasta so I only make the amount of pasta we�re going to eat that night (about 4 oz for 2 of us) and then I freeze the remainder of the sauce. It freezes well and it�s great to have it on hand when you�re in a rush for dinner.

Ingredients:
2 tbsn olive oil
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (if available I use the fire roasted tomatoes)
1 sugar lump (or 1 tspn of sugar)
1 tsp dried crushed red pepper
2 tbsp chopped parsley (or 2 tspn dried)
salt and pepper to taste
Pasta of choice.

Directions:
Heat oil and gently fry the chopped onion, garlic and crushed red pepper until softened. Add tomatoes with their juice, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. If using dried parsley add it now, if using fresh parsley wait to add until you're ready to serve. Simmer for 20 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, make whatever pasta you�re using according to package instructions.

Once the sauce is done, if using a lb of pasta, mix it all together. If you're just making a few servings, I just serve the sauce over the pasta and freeze the remainder of the sauce after it cools down.

Top with parmesan cheese.