Zucchini and Facebook

When I got married 5 years ago, I registered for a bunch of stuff. My sister in law and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and I let her tell me the things I would need in my kitchen. At the time I was working two jobs and going to school, and H worked unconventional hours. So rarely did we sit down together, and even more rare was a time when we cooked. So when I got one of these:

I really didn’t know what to do with it. My experience with vegetable preparation had not yet evolved to where it is today ( Steamfresh). So it sat in my cabinet, weathered two moves where H. , King of ‘Come on, are you ever really going to use this?”, dangled it over the garbage can, asking if we really needed it. I knew the day would come.  And it did. One day on Facebook, I posted ” I have zucchini, grape tomatoes and chicken- what can I make for dinner?” .  Emily C. , a friend from grade school, told me to julienne the zukes, saute w/ a little garlic, throw the tomatoes in and voila, a nice little dish . She also told me to do something with the chicken,but this post is not about chicken. You guys can do whatever you want with the chicken. The point is: Who knew Emily C, resident troublemaker  of the 4th grade would inspire me in the kitchen 25 years later? Facebook. Its awesome.

I am slightly embarrassed to admit I had to google ” julienne”. It was there I learned that I actually had a julienne cutting. thing. ( is that what its called?) I am further embrrrassed to admit I spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get the thing to work. I actually called my mother and asked her how in the hell I was supposed to use the thing, it didn’t seem to be cutting.

oh. just flip up the protective shield thingamajob. duh. For real, people I don’t make this stuff up.

Ingredients:

This would probably be a side dish for most. I add veggie meatballs to bulk it up. You can also add spaghetti. Or meat-ful balls. I used to do Weight Watchers and have a tendency to mentally do points when I eat. This is a good, filling , 6 points-ish meal.

look- there is a phantom julienning my zukes!

I did a green one and a yellow squash. This is what it looks like

add a tiiiiny bit of crushed garlic. I speak from experince.

I am a reformed Garlic Over-Indulger. I shudder when I think of all the garlic salt I used to put on stuff. I always wondered why the next day  at kickboxing class, no one would stand near me. It must’ve been oozing out of my pores. I mean, how gross must I have smelled ?  I have learned less is more, especially with garlic. I put a little garlic and olive oil in the pan, let it brown a little- then throw in the zukes and a few cherry tomatoes. I am not a huge tomato fan… just a few’ll do for me, but you go on and add as many as you’d like.

The tomatoes burst w/ tomatoey goodness, giving the zucchini just the right amount of delicious flavor.

Meanwhile I heat up the veggie balls. In my former life, I was sorta anti-microwave. I trained in holisitic  and eastern medicine . Many of the people I met there did not even own a microwave. I used to not really use it at all. But then convenience won, and I find myself using it all the time lately.

Saute the zukes and tomatoes until the zucchini looks soft and stringy- about 4 or 5 minutes, maybe ?

Put into bowl, dish, whathaveyou, and top with parmesan cheese.

If you make this, do me a favor and let me know what you think . Because a guest ask me for the recipe this past Christmas Eve, I have it blown up in my mind like its A Very Special Episode of Jessica in the Kitchen.  I don’t know if she was just being nice- after all- she never actually followed up on it- but I’ll take it.

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