Grown up Scalloped Potatoes

I was never a scalloped potatoes person growing up. But I am now looking at a cabinet full of potatoes from my CSA and thinking of everything I can do with them. I also have a stock pile of zucchini and summer squash. So I had an experiment last night with leftover ingredients and CSA vegetables.

The result was a very grown-up version of scalloped potatoes. It also seems like a great July 4th side dish.

Scalloped Potatoes

1.5 - 2 lbs potatoes

4 medium zucchini or summer squash

1 bunch green onions or summer onions

coarse salt and pepper

garlic powder

crushed rosemary

1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

1/3 cup shredded smoky cheese, such as cheddar or smoked Gouda

1/2 cup panko crumbs

Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Wash and cut potatoes into one inch pieces - about the size for boiling mashed potatoes. Toss potatoes with one tbsp olive oil, coarse salt and pepper and spread into a rimmed baking sheet. Bake potatoes while you prepare vegetables. I love to use butter infused olive oil from Midtown Olive Press in Raleigh, but EVOO is also good.

Wash and cut summer squash into one inch pieces. Also slice onions. I get a lot of spring onions from my CSA, which always come in a combination of white, yellow and red. I like the color combination but any color/flavor is good for this recipe. Heat skillet on medium-high heat and saute onions first. Toss squash with 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed rosemary. I have fresh rosemary in the garden, and if you let a stem dry for a day you can use a mortar and pestle to crush. Once pan is hot, add squash. You may need to do this in batches to make sure the squash is evenly spread in the pan.

Sear squash until soft. Check on potatoes - they should be slightly brown and easily pierced with a fork, but not tender. Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees. Mix vegetables and potatoes in a large bowl. Add cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, garlic powder and more seasonings. Stir in smoky cheese. Trader Joes has a great shredded bag of smoky cheese including cheddar, Gouda, mozzarella and provolone. Any of these cheeses work but the smoky will being out the best taste in this dish.

Pour cheesy vegetables into a baking pan. Top with panko crumbs and bake for 25 minutes. Turn oven to broil and let top brown slightly, 5 minutes max. This dish is very rich but surprisingly light. It's almost enough for a meal in itself, but I recommend this as a side for your holiday spread or a pot luck.

Reduced Guilt Brownies

I know I should be thinking skinny and bathing suits, but I have had the worst sweet tooth lately. Cooking Light offers some great lite desserts that are some of my favorite desserts of all time.

Recently, there was a contest to see what was the best fat substitute in brownies to reduce the guilt. The three alternatives were: canned pumpkin, apple sauce and refried black beans. And believe it or not the black beans were the winner. This tasteless substitute keeps the richness of the dark chocolate without adding any funky after taste like pumpkin. I replaced half the fat in a regular brownie recipe with refried black beans and added a little flavor.

Reduced Guilt Brownies

1 box dark chocolate brownie mix

2 eggs

1/4 filtered water

1/4 vegetable oil

1/4 refried black beans (unseasoned)

1/3 cup no sugar added preserves, such as cherry or raspberry

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

I have made brownies from scratch and I will be honest, they taste the same as from the box. Luckily you can still doctor up what comes from the box. There are a lot of brownie options out there and a lot of different opinions about what is best. My only suggestion is look at the ingredients. Make sure you can pronounce at least the first three ingredients. Do not look at nutritional information since there are dozens of ways to avoid certain factors being included on that list. Ingredients will be your best indicator of a good box.

Unseasoned refried beans are a pill to find. I have found some at Trader Joes, but if you are one of the poor blokes without a Trader Joes, then you can make your own. It is easier to find unseasoned black beans. Boil the beans in a skillet until soft. Use the back of a spatula to mash the bean. If you want the beans finer, use a chopper or blender. You only need a quarter cup so save the rest for a bean dip or tasty Mexican meal.

I recommend using a hand blender for this dish. It takes seconds to mix all ingredients and fill a 9x9 pan. Bake according to package instructions. These brownies are rich and flaky and fudgy. Even for reduced-fat, you only need one to satisfy a chocolate craving. Enjoy!