Tag: moms

Family, Food, Garden

Zucchini Squash Parmesan

thestlouiscooks

 

A family favorite from my Mom
A family favorite from my Mom

When I’m in the mood for a different vegetable, zucchini and yellow squash is always my “go to” vegetable, especially in the summer time.  You can do so many fun things with squash.  Of course, we love to marinate squash and grill it. You can put them on kabobs or eat them raw as a snack with your favorite dip.  My kids are fans of ranch and zucchini, although my kids will eat almost anything dipped in ranch.

This recipe is a long time family favorite from my Mom, Carol DeFrancesco.  With many recipes, I may tweak it a bit for personal preference.  For this particular recipe, I use olive oil to brown and sauté my squash.  My Mom used butter for the most part.   The olive oil seems to be an easier and healthier alternative.  This side dish is great with any meat of your choice.  It’s easy to make, but it does take a little time to sauté the squash so be sure to plan accordingly.

Zucchini Squash Parmesan

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Meanwhile, chop both the zucchini squash and yellow squash in large 1 inch pieces.  (If you cut them too thin, they get mushy.)
  2. Brown and sauté the squash approximately 2-3 minutes on each side.  Once finished, remove squash and add more until all finished.
  3. Next, put all the cooked squash back into the pan over low heat.  Spread the Rotel tomatoes or diced tomatoes evenly on top of the squash.
  4. Season the squash with fresh basil and/or Italian seasonings and salt and pepper.
  5. Last, sprinkle the fresh parmesan cheese all over the squash.  Cover the pan to melt the cheese.  Serve and enjoy!

Like with any recipe, you can alter this to your preference or what you might have at home.  In the past, I always used Italian seasoned diced tomatoes, but then I tried a can of Rotel tomatoes with chiles.  We love the extra kick from the Rotel.

Stay tuned for some more recipes using squash!

 

Family, Food, Garden

Garden Success – Basil

thestlouiscooks
Fresh Basil
Fresh Basil

I’m a city girl who just started gardening. Last year, I had so much success that I couldn’t wait for Spring of 2013. This year we tried out a few herbs, basil being one of them. I left the herbs in pots thankfully so because I have some creature taking over my garden that I planted in the ground (will give you more details about that in another post).

Back to the basil, I was craving a salad to accompany my meat loaf, conveniently so, I had a box of Near East Taboule Wheat Salad Mix on hand. I decided to follow a Greek Taboule Salad recipe that also called for fresh basil. I was so excited to cut my first batch of basil. Holy cow, it smelled so good. I cut my basil leaving the bottom leaves in tact so that I could ensure more growth in three weeks.

It’s pretty awesome enjoying the sweet success of planting your own seeds, not to mention a tasty quick Taboule Salad with fresh basil!

Greek Taboule Salad
Greek Taboule Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 package of NEAR EAST Taboule Wheat Salad Mix
  • 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese ( I like the Athenos Garlic and Herb variety)
  • 2 large Roma Tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 cup of cucumbers, chopped
  • 1/4 cup of fresh basil
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • Lettuce Leaves
  • Lemon wedges

Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine wheat salad mix and contents of spice packet.
  2. Stir in 1 cup of boiling water and oil. Let stand for 30 minutes.
  3. Stir cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lemon juice into wheat mixture. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
  4. Serve on top of lettuce leaves with fresh ground pepper if desired.

This quick salad was so good. Do you have any good recipes using basil? I’d love to hear them.

Drinks, Family, Kids

Summer Smoothies

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Banana Strawberry Smoothie

We love smoothies in the summer time.  Heck, we like them all the time. There are so many different types of smoothie recipes out there, but this first one is my absolute favorite.  I always have all the ingredients in the kitchen. Yogurt is always in the fridge and Costco‘s Kirkland Frozen Three Berries or any other frozen berry variety. My best recommendation is to double the recipes.

The Banana Berry Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt or any berry type
  • 3/4 cup of orange juice
  • 1 cup of Costco’s Kirkland frozen three berries (any kind is fine)

Directions

  • Blend all ingredients for 30 seconds to make 2 healthy servings.  Yummy!

Here is another great smoothie recipe based on ingredients we had at home…

The Banana Pineapple Smoothie

Banana Pineapple Smoothie

 

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • Hand full of ice cubes
  • 1/3 cup of fresh pineapple or canned pineapple
  • 1 cup of orange/pineapple juice (or any variety)
  • 1 tsp. of vanilla

Directions

  • Blend all ingredients for 30 seconds to make 2 healthy servings. Yummy!

The beautiful thing about smoothies is you can get creative, try different flavors, use what you have at home and enjoy!

Drinks

Peach Birthday Martini

thestlouiscooks
Perfect Martini with a little flavor
Perfect Martini with a little flavor

It was Friday, June 21st.  The first day of summer, the longest day of the year, and my birthday.  Of course, the celebration of my birth has become “just another day”, but I still like to celebrate.  I could not believe that we did not have baseball or dance.  After a very long week of four dance recitals, two baseball games, and work, it was time to relax.

My husband and I enjoy trying different martini’s and different flavored vodka’s.  Tonight was extra special when he mixed up a batch of Peach Birthday Martini’s.  I asked him for the recipe.  He said it was a secret recipe that he could not share so I will have to leave you guessing for this one.  There’s several ways you could make this martini depending on your preference.  Do you like it more sweet?  Do you like the perfect martini?  On the rocks or up? Do you prefer Absolut, Grey Goose, Three Olives and the list goes on?  The options are endless. 

Cheers!

Food, Garden

Introducing…The St. Louis Cooks!

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The St. Louis Cooks
The St. Louis Cooks

Cooking in the kitchen is a family affair at this household.  We love to cook and we try to involve one of the kids in almost every meal.  We are a family of five…Mom (Angie), Dad (Bobby), Melanie (10), Jack (9), and Nick (5).  Do we cook every day?  Heck no, however we do cook several times a week.  Some meals are easy and simple, while others are more elaborate.  At the Sievers home, cooking is fun for everyone! Spending time together in the kitchen, and at the table is important to us, because we live a crazy, busy life full of business meetings, trips, homework, soccer games, basketball, volleyball, dance competitions, and the list goes on.

My name is Angie Sievers.  I’m a midwest girl, born and raised in St. Louis, MO. Most of the time you will hear from me, but the other four will also write some posts from time to time. We may also have a few guest bloggers too.  I love to write so I figured that starting a blog would be the best outlet, and what’s the big deal in adding something else to my “to do list”.

We will feature lots of things that we like to do in this blog.  The emphasis will be on food, but it will also focus on family.  You will hear about our Sievers Sunday dinners which are typically spent at my mother n law’s house.  It’s the gathering place for all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and some friends too. She has a huge back yard with a swimming pool and lots of space for the kids to play. The kids look so forward to our Sunday dinners at MaMa’s house.

We also like to dine out so we will feature some of our favorite local hot spots in and around St. Louis, MO.  I might even add a few places from my travel experiences while on business too.

The St. Louis Cooks have planted our second garden this year.  I was so lucky to have such a great experience with our garden last year.  It was my first time EVER planting seeds.  I grew up a city girl so we didn’t spend much time gardening.  We planted zucchini, watermelon, cucumbers, carrots (which I won’t ever do again), and sunflowers.  We had so much success last year that we have planted another one for the Summer of 2013.  Stay tuned for more on the garden…

Sunflowers in Bloom
Sunflowers in Bloom

I hope you will join us as we share some recipes, our Sunday dinners, some local favorites, and so much more!