Back to School

It's back to school around here this week and as much as I welcome the routine of the school year, it seems like this summer went by too quickly.  Anyone else out there feel time speeding up?

I've made a bunch of school-year-resolutions (the adult equivalent of a box of new crayons, I suppose!) and plan to come up with a series of healthful lunchbox snacks and some easy dinners that can be grouped together to make grocery shopping easier during the week. 

Last night, we had a simple summer dinner of squash, risotto, Italian chicken sausage and yogurt with strawberries and rhubarb for dessert.  The squash side dish is a kid-favorite, easy to make and plentiful this time of year.  Here's the recipe:

Summer Squash Side

1/2 onion, chopped
4 yellow summer squash, ends removed, sliced into thin disks
1/3 cup chicken stock
butter, salt, pepper to taste

Use a large non-stick frying pan with a lid.  Saute the onion in about 2 tb olive oil over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent.  Add the squash slices and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft.  Add the chicken stock and cover with the lid.  Let the squash cook over medium low heat with the lid on, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When the squash slices are soft and some are browning, they are done.  If they begin to stick to the pan before they're done, add a little more chicken stock.
Season with any of the following: a pat of butter, salt and pepper.

The squash are a low-maintenance dish, left mostly unattended during those 20 minutes of cooking, so you can get them started, boil some rice and saute a couple of sausages and voila: dinner in about 30 minutes.  The occasional stirring is a perfect task for kids who are busy talking to you about school!
  
Tip!
If you have a whole onion, chop it all and put half in a small freezer bag for later.  Frozen onions can be put directly into most recipes that call for chopped onions.  The small pieces defrost quickly in the pan (no need to defrost in advance) and it's really hand to pull a small quantity out of the freezer on a weeknight.  They are a little softer than fresh onions, but frozen onions are a time-saver and the flavor remains.