CrockPot Greek Chicken Soup with Garbanzos and Oregano

CrockPot Greek Chicken Soup with Garbanzos and Oregano is delicious with a little Feta sprinkled on top.

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, September 2013.  This is a soup I came up with back in 2006 when I wanted something comforting and didn't want to go to the store!)  This slow cooker soup starts with leftover cooked chicken, canned garbanzos, and canned tomatoes which can simmer all day in the slow cooker with onions and Greek seasonings.  The soup is delicious just like you see it in the photo above, but if you're a Feta-lover like I am, try it with some crumbled Feta sprinkled on at the table.  Enjoy!

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Fresh Peach and Blueberry Yogurt Parfait Recipe

When fresh peaches are in season, this Fresh Peach and Blueberry Yogurt Parfait is a fun way to eat them!

It only takes a quick look at the sections for Fruit and Vegetables in my recipe index to tell that I'm a veggie lover and always will be.  But even though savory flavors are my favorites, there are a few fruits I absolutely love, and fresh peaches are up near the top of that list.  When the Utah peaches are in season I can't get enough of them!  But you can't eat peach desserts every day, even when they're healthy ones (like my Slow Cooker Low-Sugar and Gluten-Free Peach Crisp.)  When I do have a lot of peaches, this Fresh Peach and Blueberry Yogurt Parfait Recipe with chopped fresh peaches, low-carb vanilla yogurt, and blueberries is one of my favorite ways to eat them.  Greek yogurt would also be good here for a version with even less sugar, and if you don't want to splurge for blueberries (which aren't really in season right now), use some low-sugar granola to go with the peaches for a different flavor combination.

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Recipe for Zucchini and Green Chile Breakfast Casserole

This Zucchini and Green Chile Breakfast Casserole is so delicious, I'd even buy zucchini to make it!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Zucchini and Green Chile Breakfast Casserole is something I make every year when I have too much zucchini on my hands.  Zucchini season is just about gone for this year, but if you have a garden or visit the farmer's market, you can probably find enough to make this just once!)

This zucchini breakfast casserole with cottage cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, zucchini, and green chiles is a great answer to the "What shall we make with zucchini?" opportunity that gardeners face every year. Breakfast casseroles with zucchini are something I make every summer when I have a surplus of zucchini and I'm running out of ways to use it. This version is a recipe where a bit more or less zucchini won't matter, but to keep the zucchini from being watery in the finished dish, I trim away some of the inner white part, and then saute it with the green chiles for extra flavor. I use drained low-fat cottage cheese here to make this creamy without a lot of added fat, but you can also just use more cheese and skip the cottage cheese if you prefer.

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Recipe for Grilled Ginger-Soy Pork Chops

Back when I organized catered houseboat trips, a Lake Powell guest proclaimed these Grilled Ginger-Soy Pork Chops to be "The World's Best Pork Chops."

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, September 2013.)  This favorite recipe for Grilled Ginger-Soy Pork Chops is something I've been making for more than 20 years, and when I used to cater houseboat trips at Lake Powell people loved this recipe.  In the Lake Powell days I used to make this with vermouth as the tenderizing ingredient in the marinade, but every time I gave someone the recipe they didn't have vermouth, so I've used rice vinegar in this recipe for the last few years.  These are the pork chops I made when my sister Pam and some of her family came to dinner (and my brother in law made history by asking for seconds on vegetables) and my niece's husband Nick told me I could definitely say that the pork chops and vegetables were greatly enjoyed by everyone!  These pork chops are so good I'd cook them all winter long on a stove-top grill pan with ridges, so try that if you don't have an outdoor grill.

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Ten Amazing Meatless Monday Soup Recipes to Welcome the Arrival of Fall

Celebrate the arrival of fall by making one of my favorite Meatless Monday soups!

It's officially the first day of fall, and even though I'm one of those heat-lovers who likes to hang on to summer as long as possible, I do think autumn has the most glorious weather of any season.  I thought it might be fun to do something a little different this week for Meatless Monday, so to celebrate the arrival of fall I'm sharing Ten Amazing Meatless Monday Soup Recipes.  These are my personal favorite meatless soups, and I hope you'll try at least one of them to welcome the new season!

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Recipe for Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese

If you have any fresh basil left, make pesto and then make this Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this recipe for Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese is something I've made over and over.  It's also been one of the most popular recipes on the blog for a while now; hope you enjoy if you haven't tried it yet!)

For several weeks now I've been keeping an eye on the basil plants in my garden, hoping to get one more batch of pesto in the freezer before the plants started to freeze.  For the last few days the leaves were starting to look a little brown on the edges, so today I trimmed the plants vigorously and made a big batch of pesto.  Then I made this Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese!

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Slow Cooker Recipe for Low-Sugar and Gluten-Free Peach Crisp

If you have fresh peaches begging to be used, please make this Slow Cooker Peach Crisp right away!

In Utah, peaches are amazing this time of year, and when my friend Trina brought me some gorgeous peaches recently, I was excited to try the recipe for Slow Cooker Peach Crisp I'd spotted on my friend Karen's blog, 365 Days of Slow Cooking.  Karen is young, gorgeous, and skinny, so she probably doesn't care about the whole low-sugar thing, but I wanted to create a version of peach crisp without much added sugar, and since I was adapting Karen's recipe anyway, I thought I'd substitute almond flour to make a gluten-free version as well.  Desserts are not my specialty, but I was thrilled with how this turned out.  (Well, maybe a little *too* thrilled, since I ate the two servings you see in these photos with in a few minutes after I finished photographing them, and the leftovers didn't last long in the fridge either.)  If you have fresh peaches, you must make this right away!

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Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Macaroni Soup Recipe

Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Macaroni Soup Recipe is a favorite soup I've made for many years!

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, September 2013.) This Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Macaroni Soup is favorite soup that I first made in 2005, and since then I've made it many times for family get-togethers, or my annual New Year's Day soup party.   It's perfect for this time of year when the nights are getting cooler, but there's still zucchini from the garden to be used.  If it's starting to get a little cold where you are and you happen to have some zucchini, I highly recommend this as a good soup to help you transition to the new season.  In fact, this soup is worth making even if you have to buy zucchini, and I wouldn't be surprised if this soup becomes a favorite in your family as well!

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Recipe for Roasted Balsamic Zucchini and Mushrooms with Feta and Thyme

This recipe for Roasted Balsamic Zucchini and Mushrooms with Feta and Thyme made history last week when my brother-in-law had a second helping of vegetables!

Last week I had some of my sister Pam's family over for dinner, and for a side dish I made this Roasted Balsamic Zucchini and Mushrooms with Feta and Thyme.  When I worked on the recipe a few weeks ago and took these photos for the blog, I was using giant zucchini with the big seeds scraped out and cut into strips.  When I made it again last week, I didn't have any big zucchini and had to (gasp!) buy zucchini at the store.  Both versions were really tasty, but the most amazing thing about this recipe is that my brother-in-law Kelly made family history by asking for a second helping of vegetables!  Kelly is well known for not liking many veggies, so I think that's a pretty good recommendation for this recipe. 

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Recipe for Easy Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp with Feta, Oregano, and Fennel

Make this easy recipe for Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp while you can still get fresh garden tomatoes!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Easy Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp with Feta, Oregano, and Fennel is a perfect summer-into-fall dinner idea.)

The recipes I find myself making over and over again are the ones with super-easy preparation methods but plenty of complex flavors, and this recipe for Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp with Feta, Oregano, and Fennel definitely falls into that category.  I admit, it was the lovely garden tomatoes that I have in abundance right now that pushed me into making this, but because roasting intensifies the flavor of the tomatoes, I think you could make this with good quality store-bought tomatoes as well. 

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Pasta Salad Recipe with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Red Pepper, and Olives

This Pasta Salad with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Red Pepper, and Olives is one of my favorites to make for family parties!

Have you ever made a mistake that turned out to have such a happy result that you didn't mind it at all?  That's how I felt last Saturday after I started to make this Pasta Salad with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Red Pepper, and Olives to take to a family party in honor of my niece Sophie's baptism.  I had just started cooking the zucchini and had the sausage browning, when I realized I needed to call to get directions to the celebration.  Then my niece's husband gently told me that the baptism was *next* Saturday.  Okay, so I felt a bit foolish, but since this recipe had been in need of new photos for the longest time I now had a free day and plenty of time to take photos.  And I was able to give most of the salad to my sister Pam, who wasn't feeling great that day, so she didn't have to make dinner for her family!  This salad is one that has been a favorite in my family for years; hope you enjoy!

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Recipe for Baby Kale Paleo Taco Salad with Chile-Lime Dressing

Baby Kale Paleo Taco Salad with Chile-Lime Dressing has all my favorite taco salad flavors!

Ever since I fell in love with baby kale, I've had fun experimenting with it in different salad combinations, and this Baby Kale Paleo Taco Salad with Chile-Lime Dressing is another baby kale salad that I loved.  The word Paleo in the recipe title means I think this salad will work for the Paleo or Primal way of eating.  (When I told my friend Bonnie about this salad, she asked "What is Paleo?" so click that link if this is new to you as well.)  Since Paleo eating fits so perfectly with my commitment to low-glycemic foods, and quite a few of my friends are embracing it, I decided it would be nice to feature Paleo Recipes once in a while.  If you don't care about Paleo eating, you could add a little grated low-fat cheese to the salad; either way it's delicious!

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Recipe for Three Cheese Zucchini Frittata with Mozzarella, Feta, and Parmesan

Three Cheese Zucchini Frittata can use those monster zucchinis that suddenly appear in the fall garden.

I mentioned last week how I love the idea of Sneak Some Zucchini on to Your Neighbor's Porch Day, but I am puzzled as to why the holiday comes so early in the gardening season.  In Utah, zucchini grows at least until the end of September, and those last few weeks of the summer are when you're most likely to wander out to the garden and find a giant zucchini staring you in the face.  For a few weeks now I've been experimenting with the monster zucchini a good friend has been giving me, and this Three Cheese Zucchini Frittata was one of the happy results.  Besides using Mozzarella, Feta, and Parmesan cheese, I have a couple of other tricks here that made this one of the best tasting zucchini + egg dishes I've ever had.

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Recipe for Grilled Cuban Pork Chops Mojo

Pork chops marinated in traditional Cuban flavors and then grilled.  Make them before it's too cold to grill!

(Updated with photos and better instructions, September 2013)  During my time as a leader in my local teacher's union, I was lucky enough to visit Miami several times for meetings, and pork marinated in sour orange and lime juice was one type of Cuban cuisine that I loved every time I tried it there.  In the earliest days of my blog I developed this recipe for Grilled Cuban Pork Chops Mojo to capture some of the flavors I remembered from Miami, and it's been hanging out in the archives longing for some photos all this time!  I finally snapped some pictures of these tasty pork chops, so hopefully I can inspire some of you to try them (and I hate to bring it up, but grilling weather won't be around too much longer for this year!)  Be sure to serve with limes cut lengthwise into fourths, so each person can squeeze lots of fresh lime juice over their pork chop. 

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Recipe for Spicy Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Salad with Thai Flavors

All I am saying is give grilled eggplant a chance!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and I'm hoping this amazing salad might convince some eggplant-reluctant people to try grilled eggplant!)

Recently I made this very tasty Spicy Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Salad with my nephew Jake.  We both loved the Thai flavors in the dressing, and absolutely devoured the salad, with both of us loving the grilled eggplant with slightly charred skin.  Then over the next couple of days I told various people about this new favorite salad, and one after the other they told me "I don't like eggplant."  I explained to each person how I never liked eggplant either, until I tried grilled eggplant.  So if you like Thai flavors, I'm urging you to be adventurous and give grilled eggplant a chance.  Of course you could make the salad with all zucchini if you insist, but Jake and I both thought the grilled eggplant was so spectacular in this that next time I'd probably skip the zucchini and use all eggplant.

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Fresh Garden Tomato No-Cook Pasta Sauce Recipe with Garlic, Basil, and Thyme

This No-Cook Pasta Sauce with Garlic, Basil, and Thyme is a wonderful summer-into-fall way to use fresh garden tomatoes!

(Updated with new photos and step-by-step instructions, September 2013.)  For many years I turned my nose up at the idea of no-cook pasta sauce. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I had it in my mind that you needed to cook tomatoes to make a flavorful pasta sauce. Was I ever wrong about that! in 2007 I first made this Fresh Garden Tomato No-Cook Pasta Sauce with Garlic, Basil, and Thyme, which has to be one of the best tasting things I've made with fresh tomatoes.  Since then this no-cook sauce has been one of my favorite ways to use tomatoes when they're at their peak of flavor, especially at this time of year when you've had lots of tomato salads and you'd like something a bit more substantial to do with those fresh tomatoes.

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Recipe for Grilled Zucchini Mini Tostadas with Refried Beans

Grilled Zucchini Mini Tostadas with Refried Beans are a good way to use giant zucchinis.

I realize August is the month with a special day to celebrate zucchini, but everyone who's grown zucchini in a garden knows that in September and October, when you're not focused on the garden so much, you can find giant zucchinis springing up overnight.  I have a few friends and relatives who've been giving me giant zucchinis lately, so I'm having fun dreaming up new ways to use them.  I used a big zucchini about 3 inches across to make these Grilled Zucchini Mini Tostadas with Refried Beans.  This was easy to make and if you have kids it would be a fun meal to get the kids to help assemble.  If you want to make this and you don't have giant zucchini, I would just slice smaller zucchini the other way and make oblong-shaped tostadas; enjoy!

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South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-Up for August 2013 (Low-Glycemic Recipes)

Kalyn's Favorite Phase One Recipes for August 2013 were Grilled Zucchini Caprese Stacks; Green Bean, Tomato, and Feta Salad; Summer Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese; and Slow Cooker Frittata with Kale.

I really love September, when Utah has the most perfect weather imaginable, but I have to admit I always feel a sense of impending loss when I realize that summer flavors are not going to be around much longer.  And if you look through this round-up of South Beach Diet Phase One (Low-Glycemic) Recipes from the past month, you'll notice that there's definitely a summer-foods theme in the ones that are from my own blog.  I can't help myself; when I have fresh tomato salads and zucchini, that's about all I want to eat!  Luckily there are lots of options featured from other blogs to round out the menu of delicious low-glycemic recipes for this month; hope you enjoy trying some of them!  (You can use the label Low-Glycemic Recipe Round-Ups to see all the posts like this one.)

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