Summer Squash Quesadilla with Dill

This is an easy dish to make and you can use either your zucchini or yellow summer squash.  I used the yellow type zucchini for this recipe. Serve with fresh dill and your favorite salsa verde.

Summer Squash Quesadilla with Dill 
makes 6 quesadilla 
Click for printer friendly copy 

• 2 medium yellow squash
• 1 medium white onion
• 1/2 cup shredded white or yellow cheddar cheese 
• Salsa Verde (Trader Joe's)
• Olive oil
• 6 corn tortillas
• Fresh dill sprigs

Slice the squash lengthwise then slice into thin half-rounds.  Slice the onion in half then thinly slice.  Saute the onion and squash in a tablespoon of olive oil, until tender.  In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Put one corn tortilla in the center of the pan and heat until you can easily move it around and it is soft.  Place a couple of tablespoons of the squash mixture on one half of the tortilla, top this with a tablespoon of the cheddar cheese.  Fold the tortilla in half and press down gently being careful not to push out the filling.  Brown for a minute or two and turn over.  At this time you should have enough room in the pan to add one more tortilla and fill as about.  It takes about 4 minutes for the quesadillas to brown enough to get a little crispy.  Watch the oil, add more if needed because as you add another tortilla you want to make sure that it doesn't stick to the pan.  Transfer browned quesadilla to a paper towel lined plate and drain for a minute.  To serve, top each tortilla with a bit of summer squash and fresh dill sprigs.  Serve with a verde (green tomatillo) salsa such as Trader Joe's Salsa Verde.

Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins

We are heading toward a hot day here in Southern California. The forecast is for somewhere in the high 90's to the 3 digit mark but that will not stop me from dreaming of cool autumnal weather, colored leaves and pumpkin patches!  Since I will not see any of those for at least 2-3 months from now I needed to find a fix....Google Girl to the rescue!  That is what I call Google searches because there is a female voice that comes up and says things like "Here is Maple Pumpkin Muffin Recipes".  I actually call her Gigi for short and we have become the very best of friends.  Today's search result brought up these fantastic Healthy Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins from the Pinch of Yum blog

Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins with Pecans

My batch made 18 generous muffins.  I think you could easily get 20 muffins out of this batter, just make them a bit smaller and have two muffin pans ready so you can divide the batter evenly.
You can find a printer friendly copy of my version HERE

Ingredients for the Muffins:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon sea salt

¾ cup brown sugar***

2 cups pumpkin puree

½ cup canola oil***

¼ cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons almond milk***

3 eggs

Ingredients for the Glaze:

2 tablespoons butter (melted)

1¼ cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla***

2 tablespoon pure maple syrup ***

1 tablespoons water ***

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Sift together in large bowl the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients and the brown sugar until well blended and sugar has dissolved.
2. Combine the dry and wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring until just combined. Fill each muffin tin almost to the top.
3. Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are puffy and spring back when you press them. Remove from the muffin pan and let cool before glazing.
4. For the glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Add powdered sugar and vanilla - it will be thick and sticky. Stir in maple syrup. Add water until desired consistency is reached.

***my additions and changes

Muffins:

•  I used almond milk in place of cow’s milk
•  I used canola oil in place of the olive oil
•  I used brown sugar in place of the white sugar
•  I added ¾ cup of diced pecans to the muffin batter

Glaze:

•  I added 2 tea vanilla
•  I used 2 tablespoons of maple syrup in the glaze and only 1 tablespoon of water

Notes: I only use almond milk, I was out of white sugar and my olive oil is a strong flavored virgin olive oil which I thought might add to much of that flavor to the muffins, and I love a strong vanilla and maple flavor so upped those amounts.  These muffins are so moist and delicious!  This is a keeper my friends and I am sure are just as fantastic using the original recipe.  

A few pics to temp you into making these yummy muffins.

a thick batter

Maple Glaze

First batch ready for the oven

17 muffins, one was eaten by the baker!

Look how beautiful the muffin is on my orange Fiestaware!

You must make these muffins and yes it did the trick, I can now tolerate the August heat and dream of autumn, sip my coffee and devour one or maybe, what the heck, go for it!  TWO of these muffins!

Definition of Devour:
1.      to swallow or eat up hungrily, voraciously, or ravenously. 
2.      to consume destructively, recklessly, or wantonly.
3.      to engulf or swallow up.