It’s that time of the year again when you more than likely have an abundance of zucchini lying around and are unsure of what to do with all of them. These zucchini sticks are a great option for using up that zucchini. They are crunchy, delicious, and best of all, they are baked. I thought about deep frying them but decided baking was a better option. I highly recommend using Panko breadcrumbs for this recipe, instead of normal breadcrumbs. Panko bread crumbs will help to make sure your zucchini sticks come out of the oven nice and crispy. These zucchini sticks are also served with a delicious onion dip. If you don’t want to use the onion dip, ranch dressing would be a good option, or you can serve with without any dressing at all. This recipe is perfect to be served as an appetizer or snack for parties or to go with a dinner. Enjoy. Adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Ingredients:
Onion dip-
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium sweet onion (peeled and sliced)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper (to taste)
Zucchini Sticks-
3 medium zucchini (cut into 3inch long sticks)
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
olive oil cooking spray

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: To make the onion dip- melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add sliced onions and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion has softened and then become caramelized (about 10 to 15 minutes). Once the onions are medium brown remove from the heat and stir in cider vinegar. Place onions and vinegar mixture into a food processor. Add honey and mustard and blend until smooth. Stir in the mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Step 2: In a pie dish combine Panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and spray the parchment with olive oil cooking spray. In a small bowl lightly beat together 2 eggs. Dip the stick first in the egg mixture and then roll in the panko breadcrumb mixture. Place the sticks onto the prepared baking sheet.
Step 3: Place into the oven and bake sticks at 425 degrees for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes turn over and bake for an additional 8 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately with the sweet onion dip.
(Makes About 3 Dozen Zucchini Sticks)

A delicious steakhouse burger is always an excellent choice if you are looking for something to cook on the grill. This burger is loaded with cheese, onion rings, mushrooms, bacon, and a garlic aioli. The hamburger patties themselves have an excellent flavor which comes from the use of Montreal steak seasoning. The best part of this recipe however is the garlic aioli. The garlic aioli really adds the right amount of garlic flavor and really makes this burger something special. This recipe does require a little work preparing the mushrooms, onion rings, bacon, and grilling the burgers but it is well worth it. You can save time by using pre-cooked bacon. These burgers also use that classic combination of Swiss cheese and mushrooms. If you do not want to use Swiss cheese, cheddar may be a good option but you can also experiment with different types of cheeses. These burgers make a great dinner and are perfect for summer grilling. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2lbs ground beef
Montreal Steak Seasoning
8 slices apple wood smoked bacon (cooked until crispy)
8 frozen onion rings
4 slices of Swiss cheese
4 hamburger buns
Sauteed Mushrooms-
2 cups button mushrooms (sliced)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper (to taste)
Garlic Aioli-
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh garlic (chopped)
1 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
salt and pepper (to taste)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: To prepare garlic aioli- in a small bowl mix together mayonnaise, fresh garlic, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees. Add onion rings and fry in oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.
Step 2: Heat olive oil and butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Sautee for about 4 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce. Sautee the mushrooms for about 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.

Step 3: Lightly grease the grill grates of an outdoor grill, and heat the grill to medium-high heat. Form ground beef into 4 equal patties. Make a depression in the center of each patty with your thumb. Season the patties on both sides with Montreal steak seasoning. Place hamburger patties onto the grill and cook, turning once until the internal temperature has reached 160 degrees. During the last few minutes of cooking, top each hamburger patty with a slice of Swiss cheese. Once the cheese has melted remove the cooked hamburger patties from the grill.
Step 4: While hamburgers are grilling, split the hamburger buns and place them cut side down onto the grill. Cook until lightly toasted. To assemble burgers- place each hamburger patty onto the top of the bottom half of each bun. Top with mushrooms, bacon, and onion rings. Spread the garlic aioli onto the bottom of the top half of the bun. Place the top half of the bun onto the burger.
(Makes 4 Servings)

This ranch pasta salad is a delicious option for a side dish to go with almost any type of meat. I like to serve this salad with grilled chicken, pork, or steak. It is also great for parties and to bring to cookouts. What makes this salad so amazing is the ranch dressing mixture. The ranch dressing mixture combines mayonnaise, dry ranch dressing mix, garlic powder, and milk. Some of the ingredients included in this salad are bacon, tomatoes, black olives and cheddar cheese. You can add additional ingredients if you choose, a good option would be sliced cooked chicken. This recipe is very easy to prepare and can be prepared in advance. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) packages uncooked tri-colored rotini pasta
10 slices bacon
1 cup mayonnaise
1 ( 1 ounce) packet dry ranch dressing mix
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup milk
1 large tomato (chopped)
1 (3 ounce) can sliced black olives (drained)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add rotini pasta and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until al dente, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
Step 2: Place bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until evenly brown. Drain on paper towels. Once has bacon has drained and has cooled, crumble it into bits.

Step 3: In a large bowl whisk together mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix, and garlic powder. Whisk in milk until smooth. Add drained rotini pasta, crumbled bacon, tomato, black olives, and cheese. Toss to coat with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator. You can toss the salad with additional milk if it seems a little dry.
(Makes 8 Servings)

Spicy baked beans are always great to bring to a cookout. This recipe makes a spicy and delicious side dish for any night of the week. I also like to serve these baked beans with fried fish. If you are looking to make baked beans from scratch, this is not the way. What this recipe does is it uses a can of baked beans with pork and adds ingredients such as onion, bell pepper, pork sausage links, and various seasonings. Using canned beans saves times and allows you to create a delicious side dish with little work. If you cannot find spicy pork sausage links, regular ones will work as well. If you want to kick up the heat a little bit, a dash of cayenne pepper would be a good option. This recipe is also a great idea for a dish to prepare for football season. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 (28 ounce) can baked beans with pork
1 medium onion (diced)
1 medium green bell pepper (diced)
4 links spicy pork sausage (cut into chunks)
2 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons vinegar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup ketchup
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt (to taste)
1 dash cayenne pepper (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a Dutch oven or casserole dish that can be covered with an oven safe lid, combine baked beans, onion, green bell pepper, and sausage links. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, garlic powder, and salt. Add cayenne pepper if desired. Mix well.
Step 2: Cover and place into the oven and bake for one hour at 350 degrees.
(Makes 6 Servings)

Seasoning grilled steak with salt and pepper is delicious but adding a garlic butter sauce into the mix is even better. Steak on the grill is a must for me during the summer months and this is one of the better ways to prepare steak I have come across. The garlic butter sauce really adds a delicious flavor to the grilled steak and makes for a perfect dinner. Best of all, this recipe is very easy to make and can be prepared on short notice. The steak is first seasoned with salt and pepper, and then placed onto the grill. Once the steak has finished cooking, it is brushed with a garlic and butter sauce. The garlic and butter sauce is nothing more than a combination of butter, garlic powder, and minced fresh garlic. These steaks would go great served with sautéed mushrooms. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
4 lbs beef top sirloin steaks
½ cup butter
2 teaspoons garlic powder
4 garlic cloves (minced)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Lightly grease the grill grates of an outdoor grill and preheat the outdoor grill to high heat. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with garlic powder and minced garlic over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and set aside.
Step 2: Season both sides of each of the steaks with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Place steaks onto the grill and grill the steaks of 4 to 5 minutes per side, or to your desired doneness. When done transfer steaks to warmed plates. Brush the tops liberally with garlic butter, and allow to rest for 3 minutes before serving.
(Makes 8 Servings)

This pepperoni pasta salad was a nice change from a lot of the mayonnaise based pasta salads I have been making all summer. This recipe uses Italian salad dressing and Italian seasoning to give it most of its delicious flavor. It is also loaded with ingredients such as sliced pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, cucumber, onion, and tomatoes. You can add additional ingredients as well if you choose.  It is always a good idea to leave this salad in the refrigerator for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. There is not much work involved with this recipe, basically just chopping a few ingredients. This pasta salad is perfect for summer cookouts and goes great as a side dish. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 cups rotini pasta (uncooked)
½ teaspoon salt
1 onion (chopped)
1 cucumber (chopped)
1 cup grape tomatoes (sliced in half)
1 cup pepperoni (cut in pieces)
1 (8 oz) block mozzarella cheese (cubed)
1 (2.25 oz) can slice black olives (drained)
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 cup Italian dressing

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Bring a large pot of water to a boil with ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain well.
Step 2: In a large bowl mix together drained pasta, onion, cucumber, grape tomatoes, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and black olives. Mix in garlic powder, Italian seasoning and Italian dressing.
Step 3: Cover and refrigerate for 5 hours for the flavors to blend.
(Makes 6 Servings)

This amazing Crunchburger is the Signature Burger of Bobby Flay. It is also the house burger at his burger restaurant. This delicious burger is loaded with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onions, chips, and a horseradish sauce. Putting chips onto the burger gives it a really nice crunch. This burger is grilled but you can cook it in the fry pan as well. I have to highly recommend using freshly ground salt and black pepper for these burgers, it makes a big difference in the flavor. If you are not a fan of horseradish, you can make the burgers without the horseradish sauce. The sauce is a combination of mayonnaise, horseradish, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. These burgers are really easy to make and are perfect for summer grilling. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 1/2lbs ground chuck
salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
8 slices American cheese
4 potato hamburger buns (split)
4 slices tomato
4 slices red onion
4 leaves romaine lettuce
4 handfuls of potato chips
Horseradish mustard sauce-
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish
salt and pepper (to taste)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a small bowl whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, and horseradish. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
Step 2: Divide the ground chuck into 4 equal portions. Form each portion loosely into a ¾ inch thick burger and make a deep depression in the center with your thumb. Season both sides of each burger patty with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Lightly grease the grill grates of an outdoor grill. Heat the grill to medium-high heat. Place burger patties onto the grill and cook turning once, until fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). During the last few minutes of cooking top each patty with 2 slices of American cheese. Remove from the grill once the cheese has melted.
Step 4: Place the hamburger buns cut side down onto the grill and toast until lightly browned. Place the burger patties on the bun bottoms, and top with tomato, lettuce, onion, and a dollop of horseradish mustard sauce. Pile on the potato chips, and top with the bun tops. Serve immediately.
(Makes 4 Servings)

Blackberries are in season here in Michigan and we have an abundance of them right now. I had to figure out something to bake with them and blackberry crumb bars seemed like a good choice. These bars are filled with fresh black berries and blackberry jam. What I really like about these bars was the delicious lemon flavor they had. The sugar is mixed with lemon zest and gets infused with a lot of its flavor creating a delicious lemon taste throughout the bars. The frosting for this recipe is totally optional, if you would prefer not to make it, these bars will still taste great. The frosting combines cream cheese, powder sugar, and milk. You may have to play around with it a little to get the right consistency. This recipe is perfect for using fresh blackberries this summer. Enjoy. Adapted from une Gamine dans la Cuisine.

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup of butter (cold, and cut into pieces)
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blackberries
1 ½ cups blackberry jam
1/8 cup white sugar
3 teaspoon cornstarch
Glaze-
3 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 ½ cups powder sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray or lightly grease with butter. In a large bowl combine lemon zest, and 1 cup of sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar using a spoon or fork until it becomes somewhat moist. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Use a fork to blend in the butter. Stir in the egg. The dough should be crumbly and wet.

Step 2: Pat half of the dough evenly onto the bottom of the prepared baking dish. In a separate bowl stir together 1/8 cup of sugar and 3 teaspoons of cornstarch. Gently stir in the blackberries and blackberry jam. Spread the blackberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the blackberry layer.
Step 3: Place into the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until the top is slightly browned. Allow the bars to cool completely before cutting into squares.
Step 4: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Sift in the powered sugar. Add the milk, a little at a time, until the glaze has reached a consistency that it can be drizzled over the bars using a fork. Drizzle the frosting over the cooled brownies.

Asian flavors go perfectly in this grilled chicken marinade. This grilled chicken recipe consists of a delicious marinade that is used to give amazing Asian flavor to the chicken. The marinade is also reserved and used for brushing the chicken while it’s on the grill for even more intense Asian flavor. This recipe uses classic Asian ingredients such as soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, ginger, and garlic. If you do not want to use chicken, I could see this marinade being delicious with pork as well. As you can see from the ingredient list, this is a very simple dish to prepare and takes very little time. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
¼ cup soy sauce
4 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons honey
3 slices fresh ginger root (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a shallow dish whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil,  honey, ginger root, and garlic. Place chicken breast halves into the dish. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.
Step 2: Lightly grease the grill grates of an outdoor grill. Heat the grill to medium-high heat. Drain the marinade from the chicken into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Set aside for basting.
Step 3: Place chicken breasts onto the grill and cook for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the juices run clear and the chicken is fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Baste the chicken frequently on both sides with the remaining marinade while grilling. The chicken will turn a golden brown color.
(Makes 4 Servings)