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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash

August 19, 2015 by Mary 19 Comments

Easy cheesy sauteed squash finished in a skillet.This is a time-tested recipe. My mother was a good cook. My husband, bless his heart, says that I am a much better cook than she was, but for her time, she was great!! I know you’ll LOVE this Easy Cheesy Sautéed Squash recipe.

My Mom always made fresh vegetables when possible but when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies, all the rage was convenience, with the newfangled canned and boxed foods that came out in the marketplace. Think, Suddenly Stuffing (whoever named that??), all the canned vegetables, and Dream Whip and Cool Whip. Think, how many chemicals can you possibly put into anything! Of course those were the days when we biked behind the mosquito killing trucks – probably agent orange blowing out – because we thought the smoke was cool.

In the mid seventies before I left to go to NYC for college, we did have fresh eggplant, always fresh asparagus, green beans and my mom grew lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries and peppers. We still had canned peas – yuk! When I met my future husband in New York, he had never eaten fresh eggplant. I couldn’t believe it!

My Mom always made this recipe with fresh zucchini and yellow squash. Cheesy gooey, comforting, my husband still asks for this today, nearly 39 years later from when he first had it.

EASY CHEESY SAUTEED SQUASH – serves 4

1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1.5 lbs. zucchini and yellow squash – I used 1 Patty Pan, 1 yellow and 1 zucchini, each cut into 1/4” thick pieces
2 small – medium yellow onions, cut in ¼” thick rings,
Salt
Pepper, fresh ground
2.5 oz. NY state sharp Cheddar cheese (or any sharp Cheddar), cut in very thin slices
1/3 cup fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Warm the oil in a large skillet and melt the butter on medium heat. Saute the onions for 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 6 – 8 minutes until onions are softened."A
Uncover, raise heat to medium, and add squash. Toss and sauté for 4 minutes. Season squash with salt and fresh ground pepper.Cheddar cheese slices and Parmigiano grated in a bowl.

Meanwhile, grate your Parmigiano while the squash is cooking.

Reduce heat to low again, cover and cook for 4 minutes more until squash is crisp tender.

Uncover and turn off heat. Make sure the squash and onions are in an even layer in your skillet. Cover the top evenly with the slices of Cheddar and then sprinkle the Parmigiano over all.

Wipe dry the inside of your lid to remove all moisture. Cover the pan and let sit for 5 more minutes until all the cheeses melt.
Easy cheesy sauteed squash with chicken on a plate.
Serve with LOVE and enjoy!!

Now I have a beef to talk about.

Does your husband like to wear raggedy shirts and pants that are so frayed and ripped you wonder when you’re washing them, why you’re even washing them at all or wasting money by spraying Shout or Oxyiclean on them because they really should just be thrown out?

My husband has several of these numbers. One sweatshirt is surely 24 years old. I know because I remember we had just bought our (expensive) house in NJ and he went to the Short Hills mall and bought this fancy hooded sweatshirt and I was like, why did you do that now? We lived there for 16 years and we’ve been back in NYC for over 8 years so the math is right.

The cuffs are so frayed, they’re completely split apart! It is pitiful. I threw it away once and he took it out of the trash. (I was guilty of that with cut-off jean shorts when I was about 15!)

Does this happen with your husband? Or wife? Drives me nuts!!!

Filed Under: Dinner, Vegetables Tagged With: cheesy squash recipe, easy vegetables, squash recipe, summer vegetable recipes

Green Beans and Shiitake Mushrooms

January 22, 2014 by Mary 15 Comments

Green beans with shittake mushrooms.Oh I had a terrible nights sleep last night. Woke up after four hours and could not go back to sleep. My mind just races and I start remembering who I need to write or call and things I need to do at the office. When this happens, I write a note. In bed. In the dark. And I try not to have the sound of note taking or ripping paper wake up my husband. I keep a pad and pen right by my bedside to do this. Well this morning, I had no less than twelve notes to myself!! I have been doing this for some time and really, I’ve found it is an efficient way of working for me. I remember and get a lot of stuff done. But one night over this past weekend, I wrote a note to myself in the middle of the night and although I always check to make sure that the pen tip is out (in the dark) before writing, this time, the pen didn’t have ink! So all I could see was the impression of the writing. But no worries, when morning came I marched out to my art studio and rubbed some black charcoal on it and I was able to read that sucker! Last night, I finally went back to sleep after some meditation and dreamt a long dream. Then I woke up again! But then I went back to the same dream. Ever do that? One of the notes to myself was to tell you about this great way of cooking Green Beans and Shiitake Mushrooms. Low fat for Zach and super yummy. I hope you’ll give it a go – and sleep better than I do!

The beauty of this simple recipe is that the green beans are boiled crisp tender and the richness of just the little bit of butter and oil is combined with the lovely mushrooms and this is what gives a big flavor to the dish. The contrast of the rich mushrooms with the crispness of the green beans makes it! Makes it interesting, delicious, clean tasting and so very good for you. Make it with LOVE, know you’re serving healthy great food.Green beans and shittake mushrooms in a brown pottery bowl.

GREEN BEANS AND SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS – serves 4

1 lb. of green beans or 4 handfuls, washed and strings removed
15 – 20 shiitake mushrooms, caps wiped clean with a damp paper towel, stem ends trimmed, stems removed and minced, caps sliced into 4 slices each
1 tbs. of olive oil
1 tbs. butter
Salt
Pepper

Heat a large pot of water to boil. Salt with coarse sea salt and throw in green beans and stir. Leave in for 3 – 5 minutes until crisp tender. Taste one to see if it’s done to your liking but remember they will keep cooking when off of the heat. Remove from heat, drain thoroughly then pat dry with a clean linen tea towel and keep warm while you finish cooking the mushrooms.

Meanwhile, place a skillet over medium-high to high heat with the butter and olive oil. As soon as the butter foam begins to subside, spread the mushrooms out evenly over the bottom of the pan and do not touch for 3 minutes. Then toss and shake the pan for 2 minutes. (During the sauté, the mushrooms will at first absorb the fat. Then in 2 – 3 minutes, the fat will reappear on their surface and the mushrooms will begin to brown.) Mushrooms should be browned lightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Fold and combine with the green beans.

The whole dish will probably need more salt. I use fine sea salt for this. Taste and salt to your liking.

 

Filed Under: Dinner, Sides, Vegetables Tagged With: easy vegetables, green beans and shittake mushrooms, low calorie tasty vegetables, vegetarian

More easy vegetables for Joan

November 11, 2011 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

My friend Joannie asked for more easy vegetable recipes, so here you go!

BUTTERY SAUTEED GREEN BEANS
Serves 3 – 4

3/4 lb. green beans
3 tbs. water
Butter
Salt
Pepper

Green beans ready to cook with butter in a skillet.

Green beans ready to cook

Finished green beans in a pan.

Trim ends of beans and wash thoroughly. Heat 3 TBS. water in a skillet on high heat. Throw in beans and then top with 4 large pats of unsalted butter. SEE PHOTO. Now let sit them a little to brown and then toss over the high heat. You want the beans to get a little brown yet still stay crisp fresh. So toss to your liking – taste one. The butter will start to brown and almost taste sweet. Finish with salt and pepper and serve with all the juices. Total time should be 10 -15 minutes. These will be gone before you know it! Just as good as French fries – really!

Filed Under: Dinner, Vegetables Tagged With: easy green bean recipes, easy vegetables, green beans, green beans as good as French fries, simple vegetables, vegetarian

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

Spread love through cooking.

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