Summer time. Although the weather here these past few days would have you feeling otherwise, it’s still the season of Summer, and it’s slowly winding down. Just a few weeks until the calendar turns to the Autumn season and it becomes all things spice, pumpkin – and crockpot.

It wasn’t until this year that I realized just how seasonally I really do cook. How the flavors of the meals I make for my family and I embrace the scents and tastes of whichever season we’re in.

Summer time is the land of all things fresh produce. LOTS of green beans, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.

This year, it’s been a lot of zucchini, these fancy striped yellow and red peppers my local grocer has started to carry, and green beans.

Grilled, fried, baked. No crockpot though, even on the few rainy days we had this summer.

With steaks, hamburgers, chicken, pork, or in pasta.

I’ve been taking photos of everything I’ve cooked, well intentioned on putting them together for the foodie part of this blog, but life just gets a bit chaotic and it’s not always so easy to sit down and put everything together into a cohesive thought.

However, since I’ve got a bit of writer’s block on a project I’m doing for my day job, I took a second to put together two of my favorite tastes from the summer so far. They’re all simple, short ingredient list recipes, but taste of summer! (And they don’t use many dishes as you cook, so less clean up!)

Turkey Dish

• 1lb Turkey Tenderloin
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms
• 1tbs of Pixie Dust from DennyMikes
  (If you don’t have/can’t find it: it’s a blend of Sea Salt, Chili Pepper (dried), Spices, Garlic (dried), Paprika, Mesquite Powder (potato maltodextrin, natural mesquite smoke flavor) and a little Ground Celery Seed)
• Pasta of your choice (optional)

Warm a drizzle of olive oil in a medium fry pan. Cut the turkey into 1-inch pieces, and add to warm pan, the turn to medium heat. While that cooks, slice, then cut into quarters the zucchini, and chop shiitake mushrooms. After turkey has cooked for about 6 minutes, add in zucchini and mushroom. Mix everything together well. Two minutes after those natural flavors have begun to mingle, sprinkle the Pixie Dust over the ingredients and mix until everything is blended and has the seasoning on it. Cook on medium for another five minutes. If you want to add in pasta, I have a few bags always on hand of that microwavable pasta (I have a two year old, let’s be real here, convenience always wins). I’ll microwave that and add that in for those last 3-4 minutes of cooking.

 

Chicken Sausage Dish

• 1 package of Al Fresco Chicken Sausage in Spicy Jalepeno
• 1 small to medium zucchini
• 1 medium striped pepper (or bell pepper of your choice)

With a peeler, peel the zucchini all the way down until you reach the seeds. Place the peels in a bowl, and off to the side. Dice the pepper into squares. Warm a pan of olive oil on medium heat, then add in the vegetables, making sure to mix them together enough that they have a light coat of the olive oil on them. Slice up the chicken sausage. After veggies have cooked for about 3 minutes, add in the sausage, mix ingredients together. After about five minutes, turn the head back to medium-low, give everything a good stir, and let cook for another five minutes. (This is a good one to serve with baked potatoes too!)