On the weightloss front- I'm sticking strong with WW. I'm down 13ish pounds since May. I'm feeling good, exercising a lot (teaching a lot of jazzercise), and keeping my eye on the prize. Right now the biggest challenge is sticking with it and writing down all these points. I have been losing each week, but I've been lax in writing everything down. I've been diligent these last 2 days and am hoping this return to the blogging is the kick in the pants I need to keep with it!
Anyway, tis the season for the zucchini. Or, as the Brits like to say courgettes (Isn't that a pretty word?). Thus, what follows is 2 zucchini recipes--one for dinner and the other for dessert. You'll see that the dinner recipe (summer vegetable & chicken couscous) will look eerily similar to my last post. Sue me.
summer vegetable & chicken couscous (5 servings at 11 pp each)
1.25 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (this is the size package my store had, you could be flexible)
2 medium zucchini
3 tbsp + 2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 box trader joe's Israeli couscous (12 oz or 1.25 cups)
2 cups chicken stock
2 small (or 1 large) lemons, juiced and zested
2 handfuls fresh basil and parsley, chiffonaded (is that a word?)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
First, prep your chicken and zucchini. I like to marinate them both with lemon juice, a little olive oil (drips off during the grilling process) salt, pepper, and garlic powder. You can cook them as is too. Either way is fine.
Then, heat 2 tsp olive oil and saute onion & garlic. Once softened add pine nuts and couscous. After 5ish minutes, add the chicken stock. Raise to a boil, then lower the temperature to a summer and stir frequently till the stock is absorbed.
Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise and grill on flesh side till you have grill marks. Grill chicken. Slice zucchini into half moons, chicken into strips and add to the couscous.
Add tomatoes, herbs, and lemon zest to couscous.
Make a dressing with the lemon juice and remaining olive oil. Add salt & pepper to taste. Mix well and pour over the warm couscous mixture.
Mix well and refrigerate till cool and eat!
As you can see from my photo, my tomatoes are orange and gorgeous. They are sungolds and I love them.
So, onto dessert. I got some ideas from some other food blogs I read. I tried this recipe and modified it a bit. It was delicious as a "loaf" so I next tried it as mini muffins. Still, delicious, but more dessert-y than breakfast-y. So, I figured it might be best to put in regular cupcake tins and frost. I started with the skinnytaste cream cheese frosting, but then modified for my own preferences (I like my frosting with a little butter in it and more sugary. I think it pipes better that way).
A word to the wise- zucchini contains a lot of water. The cake just won't rise much because of this. I let my grated zucchini drain on a strainer for a while and got about 4 tbsp of liquid out. You might want to squeeze excess liquid out. If you're ok with sunken-in cakes, then don't worry about it.
I should also note- my official taste tester/husband thinks the mini muffin version is best. I like the cupcakes best
Also- it might look like this recipe is more pointy than I claim. That's because a lot of the frosting is lost to the bowl, piping bag, my husband walking by and swiping some, etc.
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 12, 5 pp each, 2 without frosting)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Ghiradelli)
pinch salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt (don't use any crap with splenda or nutrisweet in it)
2 tbsp canola oil
1 medium zucchini, grated (1.5-2 cups)
Preheat oven to 350. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners. Spray liners with nonstick spray (there is very little fat in this recipe; they'll stick).
Mix dry ingredients (except sugar) in one bowl.
Beat together wet ingredients (except zucchini). Add sugar. Slowly add dry ingredients. When well mixed, add zucchini. Spoon evenly across the 12 cupcake holders. Bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Frosting
4 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1.5 cups powdered sugar
Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add sugar and beat until well combined. Spread or pipe over cool cupcakes.
