Amazing zucchini muffins (with a little bit of lemon)

There is a story that says that if you live where people are the salt of the earth, in the middle of summer, you better keep your doors locked. Not because these salt-of-the-earth neighbors are going to rob you, but because they are likely to drop off a big bunch of zucchini on the seat of your car or in your entryway, making eating it all it your problem.

I would like to think that my neighbors are the salt of the earth, but as of yet I haven't had any wayward zucchini harvests appearing in or on any of my property. (I also haven't been abandoning zucchini on anyone else's doorstep, either, though. The one time I tried to grow it bugs ate the teeny little seedlings down to nothing overnight.). However, it seems that even the farmers need to offload zucchini in great quantities.

My Abundant Harvest box has been... shall we say... generous in its helpings of zucchini and summer squash for quite a few weeks now. It is,,, shall we say... a challenge to keep up with it all.

My kids, who aren't the greatest veggie eaters, won't eat zucchini in any form except zucchini bread and zucchini muffins. (I'm not exaggerating. They even turned their noses up at chocolate chips cookies. Okay, Zucchini Chocolate Chip cookies, but those things are really really good and still they won't eat them).

So, zucchini muffins it is.  Except how many time can I make them without losing my mind?

So I put a little twist on the muffins this week... lemon. Lemon and zucchini go great together, and that is especially true in muffins. The lemon zest in these gives them a whole new life, and really sets them apart from ordinary zucchini muffins. This is most likely going to be the only way I make them from now on! I really like the lemon addition, so in my opinion, more is better. I used the zest from 1 lemon the first time I made these, and doubled it the send time. It was doubly delicious!

Zucchini muffins 

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup butter, melted

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla 

zest from 2 lemons

3 cups grated zucchini (about 3 medium-large zucchini)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Using a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together. Add the vanilla, lemon zest, and butter. Add the zucchini and then slowly add the dry ingredients until combined.

Grease your muffin cups with a little bit of butter. Fill the muffin cups pretty much all the way (these muffins grow tall nicely, and don't really spill over the pan... so it's okay to fill the cups all the way). 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until nice and tall and golden brown. A toothpick should come out clean. Let them sit in the muffin pans for a few minutes and then take them out to cool completely.

The original recipe (from Stephanie's Kitchen) said that it makes 12 muffins, but I got 15 out of it, and they were still nice and tall and full.

Enjoy!

zucchini-apple bread

oh my. November?

Already?

I am not sure I was actually here for the month of October, because I don't really remember it.

I have been busy busy busy. There were Halloween Parties for all three kids in their classrooms, which meant some baking, shopping, prepping, and playing.

There were three Halloween costumes to create.

There was a school carnival (for which I somehow got in charge of two booths), testing for the next belt level in kung fu for two kids, and oral surgery for one.

There were Halloween parties to attend, to drop off and pick up from, and to help out at, and of course there was trick-or-treating.

There were many many fundraisers for Breast Cancer awareness month. I am leaving in just two weeks (egad!) for San Diego, where I will be walking 60 miles with seven of my very best friends in the whole wide world. It's no coincidence that they make up more than 50% of my blog readership. Without these people I would truly be lost. One of them is Jason of The Jason Show. If you didn't come to my blog from him, you should head over to him. He can tell you more about my besties in his post after the 3-day walk last year, and you can read about some of our fundraisers in his post from last week. So there, my alibi for why I haven't been blogging has a witness.

The one that was probably the most fun was the Goodwill Truck... Goodwill paid us to collect junk previously loved objects from our friends and fill up a truck with them. For a few weeks, we sought and received lovely items from just about everyone we know, and then for one long day we made trips back and forth, emptying our garages and filling up that truck. Doesn't that sound like a good time? Okay, you would have to know my friends to understand why a day of driving, loading, carrying and hauling other people's crap is fun. They are the funniest, warmest, kindest, happiest people I know. Spending a day shoveling dog poop would be okay by me if I was with my team.

One of our other fundraisers was a bake sale. We have a local pumpkin patch/farm that is the coolest place around at Halloween time. For a city girl who grew up getting a pumpkin from the local grocery store, Lombardi Ranch feels like a wonderland to me. The kids get to wander through acres of pumpkins of all different shapes, sizes and colors, to find just the right one. They get to climb on antique farm equipment, scale towers of hay bales, visit the animals, take a wagon ride, make their way through a corn maze, and check out Scarecrow Alley. It's no wonder that just about every child in our city makes his or her way to Lombardi Ranch at least once during the month of October.

Lucky for us, the owners of the joint set up a booth and allow one charitable group per day to host a bake sale, and to keep all of the profit. Since we were lucky enough to sign up for the last Friday before Halloween, we had a busy day and sold over $700 of cookies, brownies, cupcakes and breads. Going for $1 apiece most often, that translates into lots of baking beforehand!

I spent the last two days before the sale baking:
10 loaves of zucchini apple bread
3 dozen mummy pops
2 dozen brownies
2 dozen cupcakes
7 dozen cookies

It was exhausting! But my house sure smelled good!

Here are the mummy pops I made:

Aren't they cute? Hop over here to my very cute baking friend for the details on these guys. She is amazing! She actually let me invade her kitchen for the morning, gave me a private tutorial, and didn't laugh at all my mistakes. A good friend, indeed! While you're there, check out everything Kirsten does... she's ten times the baker that I am.

And here is the zucchini-apple bread.

 It is not as cute, but it is very delicious. The apples and the applesauce give it a nice density and make sure it isn't too dry. It actually lasts a few days, because all the zucchini and apples help it not get stale the by the morning after you bake it.

Zucchini Apple Bread          
I got this recipe here, before I changed bits and pieces of it.
(this makes two loaves... but it doubles and even triples easily!)

The zucchini and apple can be grated in a food processor. You don't even need to peel the apple!

butter (for the pans)
1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini)
1 cup grated apple (about 1 apple, cored)
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup apple sauce (I used my own, but a jar of apple sauce form the store works just as well)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat 2 standard loaf pans (or more smaller loaf pans) with butter.

Combine the zucchini, apple, brown sugar, apple sauce, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Add flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well.

Divide the batter between the loaf pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean... about 50 minutes for a standard loaf pan, about 40-45 minutes for a smaller loaf.

Remove the breads from the loaf pans and let them cool on a wire rack.

zucchini and herbed ricotta torte

A few weeks ago I made a hummus and roasted vegetable torte that just rocked my world.  Actually, it was the simple, four-ingredient, flaky delicious crust from Soma at ecurry that was the world-rocking part.

And so, on meatless Monday yesterday, at about 4:45, when I had no idea what to make for dinner, I remembered Soma's awesome torte crust. Luckily I had all the ingredients on hand, and away I went!

After making the crust (this time with rosemary), I went about loading it up with the vegetables that are still lingering from last week's box. Ahem. That is to say that this week I am somehow faced with catching up on all the stuff we somehow didn't get around to eating last week, and at the same time tackling this week's bounty. I am not sure how this is all going to work out, but I guess there are worse problems in the world than having too much delicious, fresh, organic produce on hand.

Back to 4:45 yesterday. With my crust safely baking in the oven, I had 12 minutes of free time to figure out how to top it. We have no hummus on hand right now, but while rooting around in the fridge I found some ricotta. Perfect! Mixing the ricotta with some fresh herbs gave it plenty of zip, and topping it with a couple of the veggies I needed to attend to made it perfectly tasty. Again, I think it would make a perfect appetizer, cut into  small squares. However, though, this time it was the main course here, served alongside a big salad.

And so, I give to you, my zucchini, tomato, and herbed ricotta cheese torte!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (or any other herbs you have on hand)

1/3 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons very cold club soda

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup basil leaves, cut into thin slivers

2 tablespoons chives, chopped finely

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium zucchini

about 12-14 cherry tomatoes

crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the flour, salt, pepper and herbs together. In a separate small bowl, whisk the club soda and olive oil for a couple minutes, until they become creamy and well incorporated.

Pour water-oil mixture into the flour mixture, and combine with a fork just until there is no dry flour left. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball.

Divide the dough into two pieces and roll each one separately. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll in only one direction (not back and forth). Last time I did it, I went for a rectangle. This time, I let it take on the shape it wanted... a sort of loose oval.

Bake it for 12 minutes, until the crust is starting to become golden.

While it is baking, prepare the toppings:

First, mix the ricotta with the garlic, chives, and basil, and set aside.

Using a vegetable peeler (I used my new y-shaped peeler. For $4.99, it is giving me a whole new happy life in the kitchen! Why didn't I invest in this baby sooner?), cut the zucchini into thin ribbons. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

When the crusts are done, remove it from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes to cool a little bit.

Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over both crusts.

Spread the zucchini strips in an overlapping layer over the torts, and sprinkle with the crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Place it back in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the zucchini starts to soften.

When it comes out of the oven, top it with the tomatoes, and cut into pieces.

End of Summer Chili Pot

I had one of those days last week, where I just didn't know what to make for dinner. I needed something to put on the table, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything that sounded appealing. It was Monday, so I was looking for something meatless. Unfortunately, Meatless Monday has sort of become "Pasta Monday" around here, due largely to my lack of planning and creativity. However, I am trying to watch my carbs, so I wanted to do something different.  But what?

I was on the verge of cooking a baked potato for each member of the family and handing it to them plain, but I am not so sure that would do much for my carb concerns!

Luckily, I ran into my friend Kirsten who also happens to get the Abundant Harvest Organics produce box every week, and she suggested that I look up their recipe for End Of Summer Chili Pot. She assured me it would be yummy, and that it would use many of the items in my current box.

I am not usually a huge chili fan, but my husband is. I figured it would be good enough for me, great for him, healthy, chock full of veggies, and far better than a plain potato. As a matter of fact, we went ahead and ate the chili on baked potatoes, but it is certainly good -- and hearty -- enough to stand on its own.

The recipe calls for ground beef or turkey, but I left that out since it was meatless Monday. I added in some beans instead, since I can't quite reconcile the name "chili" with anything that doesn't contain beans. I happened to have some pinto beans in the freezer, but red beans, kidney beans, white beans or black beans would probably do nicely. Use whatever you like... or whatever you have on hand.

I wasn't thrilled about cooking this dish... it just seemed like a good enough dinner idea when I started. I have to say, though, that I ended up loving it!! As a matter of fact, I think I know what we might have for dinner again tonight!

Here is the chili the way I made it:
(Here is the way Abundant Harvest makes it)


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 bell pepper (red or green), chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper
kernels cut from 3 ears of corn
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. paprika
12 ounces vegetable stock
3 cups diced tomatoes
2 tbsp. shopped fresh thyme
2 cups beans

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic, zucchini, bell pepper and jalapenos. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables start to soften (about 6-7 minutes). Add the corn, chili powder, and paprika, and cook for another minute or two. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, and thyme, and cook until slightly decreased, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the beans, cook for another couple of minutes, until the beans are heated through.

Serve over a potato or in a bowl. Top with shredded cheese or sour cream if desired.

zucchini-chocolate chip muffins

When I was a kid, you brought your teacher two gifts a year -- one at Christmas time and one on the last day of school. I think it cost between $5 and $10, and it was probably usually a box of chocolate, a coffee mug, or some sort of tchotchke or desk item. And the parents were done, and the teachers were appreciated and it was good.

Then the manufacturers got wind of this trend, and they started to capitalize on this trend by making specific "teacher" mugs and pads of paper that say "2 teach + 2 touch lives = 4-ever." They made funny ones and sentimental ones and cute ones and cheesy ones. So the parents went to the stores and bought the teacher-themed gifts and wrapped them up and sent them in. And the parents were happy and the teachers were appreciated and it was good.

Then word got out... maybe teachers don't really need any more mugs. Maybe they want something a little more for themselves and less for the classroom than a cute notepad or a pencil caddy. So the parents went to the stores, and they bought the lotion and the candles and the picture frames. And the teachers were surprised and the parents felt thoughtful and it was good.

And then the parents started to think. Maybe 32 bottles of lotion a year is too many? And maybe she doesn't need every apple-and-cinnamon scented candle there ever was and what exactly does "spring breeze" smell like? Meanwhile, Starbucks had invented "global domination" and had opened a store on the corner next to your school and the corner next to your house and inside the grocery store in between, and three more on top of and underneath and alongside all those first Starbucks stores. And the parents bought gift cards and they stuck them in a card and sent them in. And the parents felt that is was convenient and thoughtful and appreciated, and the teachers thought it was useful and a treat, and it was good.

And that's where we are. Which is great, especially because now we don't send in a gift only for Christmas and the end of the school year. We do send in a gift for those days, yes. But we add the teacher's birthday to the mix. We also have "Teacher Appreciation Week." Which is five more days of sending in something or other.

However, five days of Starbucks cards is silly, and she has so many candles they can be seen from space and she really doesn't want your kid's handprint in a frame. She is still washing her own kids' handprints off of her doorways. So, the "teacher appreciation committee" (do you see how far this has gone???) decides on a theme for each day. One day you do indeed get to send in a gift card for Starbucks, and one day you do get to send in a teacher-desk type school supply item -- but make it more glittery or special than the standard crayons and construction paper the school supplies anyway. And for days three, four, and five, you will probably be asked for a flower from your garden, a hand-made card, and a treat for the brunch in the teachers' lounge. It's lovely and manageable and most parents are happy to do something and really this isn't too much and we really truly do appreciate the teachers and we want to show them that.

But.

Have you seen a teacher's lounge during Teacher Appreciation Week? There are so many variations on doughnuts, muffins, coffee cake and cinnamon rolls that there is no room for the teachers to sit and enjoy any of it. The tables are covered and the counters are covered and the stuff is piling up and falling over.

And what do you think happens next? Some gets eaten. The teachers eat and the aides eat and the office staff eats and the custodian eats and the man who stocks the staff room vending machine eats. Then the PTA (the parents who brought the stuff in, remember) are told "Of course come have some! There is so much here! Let's not let it go to waste!"

And after that? It goes stale and it gets tossed. Out. Into the trash.

So every year I say to myself: Self, don't do it. Don't take precious hours to bake something lovely this week. Don't make a beautiful layered coffee cake and send it into the teacher lounge. First of all, it will never be seen among all the rest. Secondly, it won't be eaten. It will take up precious space where a teacher might like to set down a cup of coffee instead. And then later someone will have to throw it away and clean up the crumbs. Just wait a few weeks and do it then. They will be happy to have something a month from now when the long dry days of being back to under-appreciated teachers return.


But then I say to myself: Self, that stinks. If you can't bake a pan of muffins for these people, what is wrong with you? You really want to be the only person in the whole school who does nothing? Maybe if you had done it a month ago, you could skip it now. But even if you send in a note that says you are waiting for a hungrier time, it will just look like an excuse because you forgot to do it. Next year do it ahead. Ahead of time is okay. Late is not.


Every year.

But not this year! For once! I thought. I planned. I did it! I baked muffins for my daughter's grade-level teachers (I can't do the whole school at once. One grade at a time, thank you very much). I baked the muffins, wrote a note letting them know it was a pre-Appreciation Week snack, and really we appreciate them every week, and I sent them in.

Of course, I will still end up baking something during the actual week. I don't want to be the only person in the whole school who does nothing.

Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from the recipe here.

Makes 18 muffins or 36 mini-muffins

3 cups grated zucchini (or summer squash... I actually used a combination)
1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

In a mixer, combine everything but the chocolate chips, using the paddle attachment. If you prefer, you can mix by hand. I like to let the mixer run on low as I measure and add everything. It feels like multi-tasking. Turn the mixer off once it is all well combined, and stir in the chocolate chips.

Spray non-stick spray into the muffin pans (or use paper liners). Fill the muffin cups almost all the way to the top.

Bake mini-muffins for about 20-25 minutes, regular muffins for 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Hobak Jeon (Korean zucchini pancakes)

While looking for a recipe to use summer's last zucchini, I stumbled across Hobak Jeon. In Korean food, Jeon (pancakes) are very common, and can be made with a number of different vegetables or meats. These are made with zucchini (hobak).

So often, when I find a recipe that sounds good, I get started cooking right away. I usually make changes here and there, adding a little extra of the things I like, omitting or lessening the things I don't like, and often substituting things I have on hand for things that might require a trip to yet another store.

This time, though, I feel like I deserve a gold star. I actually read through several different recipes ... and even watched a couple of videos for these pancakes before I got started.

I still made substitutions and changes here and there, but I did so with some reasons this time. I went with a piece of this recipe and a bit of that one, as they appealed to me for different reasons.

Most recipes for these Hobak Jeon were very similar... they all called for an equal amount of flour and water, 1 egg for every cup of each of those, and the zucchini.  However, I liked the way Ellie Won at Kitchen Wench made fewer, larger pancakes to cut into pieces and serve as appetizers. They just look much much cooler that way. Also, she was the only one I saw who added carrots, so I went ahead and put some in mine too. In general, she was just so very much more hip than many of the websites highlighting hobak jeon.

If you want a very authentic set of instructions, you can go to Aeri's Kitchen. She provides a video with step-by-step instructions, and has some awesome Korean background music.

Almost all of the recipes called for cutting the zucchini into matchsticks, but I went the easy route and send them through the shredding blade on my food processor. I can't imagine it made much difference.

Enough about all that. Here's the dang recipe.

Hobak Jeon

2 large (or 4-5 small) zucchini
about 2 teaspoons salt
2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 cups water
2 carrots
1/2 onion
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

First, shred the zucchini int the food processor. Take it out, toss it with the salt, and place it into a colander in the sink. The salt will draw out the moisture, and the colander will let it all drain away. Leave it for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs with a whisk to get them fluffy. Add the flour. Adding two cups of flour to two eggs makes for a very dry, very odd mixture. Just do your best to get the eggs spread out in the flour. Next, add the water, one cup at a time. Mix it thoroughly in between cups, so the flour and egg is evenly distributed. You want to end up with a very thin pancake batter.

In the food processor, take out the shredding disc and put in the blade. Pulse the carrots and onions together until they are very finely minced.

Once the zucchini has softened and lost some of its juice, squeeze it thoroughly (to make it as dry as possible) with your hands. Add the zucchini, carrot, and onion to the batter. Add salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan to medium heat and add about a teaspoon oil.

Pour about 3/4 cup of batter into the pan. Using the back of a spoon, spread it to the edges of the pan. You want the pancake to be very very thin.

Let it cook until it is looking dry and it is getting brown on the bottom. Carefully turn it over, and let it cook until the other side is golden brown also.

Repeat until the batter is gone. It should make 7-8 large, thin pancakes. You might need to add more oil every so often.

Serve, cut into pieces, with a dip made by combining a little soy sauce and vinegar.

Summer Vegetable Tian

Ahhhh. I am content.

We are back in a routine.  School, girl scouts and boy scouts, karate and piano lessons. Dad gets home at dinner time, kids are in bed at 8:00. It's lovely.

Don't get me wrong. I do love summer, what with the sleeping in, running off to the beach on a whim, eating dinner any time between 4:00 and 9:00 pm, and going days at a time without looking at a clock. Now that I think about it, I am not sure why I feel so happy to be back at school.

But it's true. After a couple of months of relaxing, we are ready to get back to normal. I get tired of running a 24-hour diner, and there are only so many times I can ask "Who left the __________ (legos, books, dirty clothes, dirty dishes, towel, shoes, crayons, athletic supporter) on the ____________ (living room floor, dining table, stairway, hallway, entryway, doorway, kitchen counter)?" before I go insane. It's nice that the kids get away from each other and from me for a few hours a day.

Last week, I left some green beans roasting in my oven when we went to karate class. I had it all planned out so that the food would cook while we were gone and I could do the last minute glazing and tossing when we got back. I forgot, though, to set the oven timer. Oops. So the green beans were a little bit shriveled and dry. There are worse things, right? Like... the house could have burned down, and it didn't. So there.

If the kids continue to be as involved in after-school activities as they are now, I see a lot of crock-pot cooking in my future. Crock-pot cooking seems so autumn-ish, that I think I'll wait a while yet.

Anyway, part of the new routine is Meatless Mondays, and here is a roast vegetable dish that I managed not to overcook. Although it is probably considered to be a side dish, I served it as the starring attraction, along with some crusty bread and a green salad.

Summer Vegetable Tian
(I got this recipe here.)

1 sweet onion, cut in half and then sliced
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, un-peeled
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
4 roma tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
dried thyme, to taste
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Coat a round baking dish with cooking spray.

In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. When hot, add the onions and saute for about 9-10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to saute for about another minute.

Transfer the onion mixture to the baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Stand them upright in a spiral in the baking dish, alternating the vegetables. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and thyme on top, and drizzle the remaining olive oil over it all.

Cover the dish with foil, and bake until the potatoes are tender (about 40 minutes). Uncover, and sprinkle the cheese over it all. Bake another 25 minutes, until the dish is browned.

grilled veggie pizza

while you are reading this, I am camping far far away from my computer. I am off where cell signal doesn't exist, and if there is wifi, I don't want to know about it. I may come down from the mountain once or twice during the week to check in with the housesitter, but I may not. Hopefully I am cooking up lots of great meals and even greater memories that I will share with you when I get back.

It seems like no matter how hard I try, I can't ever quite use up everything that comes in my AHO box. Oh, it all gets used up eventually. It seems, though, that when I pick up the box on Saturday morning, I have to move some of last week's produce into prime fridge real estate, and put the new stuff behind and below it. I am, I guess, rotating my stock. It would be so freeing to bring home the new box and put the veggies away into an empty fridge. However, I am accepting that that may never happen.

One thing I have been doing, though, is using up some of whatever is left by making a veggie pizza at the end of the week. I have recently caught onto the trend of grilling the pizza, which I guess makes it a little bit more like a wood-burning oven, and less like a regular electric oven like most of us use. At any rate, it gets a little bit smoked in the grill, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Here is my pizza crust recipe:
(this makes enough for 3 medium pizzas. If you don't use it all up, just freeze the extra for use at another time)
(I got this recipe from here.)

4 1/2 cups flour plus some for rolling
1 3/4  teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups ice-cold water

First, add all the dry ingredients to a mixer. Mix on low with the paddle attachment and slowly add in the oil and water. Mix until it is all combined. Switch to the dough hook, and mix on medium for 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and not sticking to the sides of the bowl (it will still be stuck to the bottom).

Now you can either use this or freeze it. Or do some of both.

If you are ready to use it, go fire up your grill. You want it to be just about as hot as it will go, so get all the burners going at full tilt and close the lid. When it gets well up over 400 degrees inside, you are set.

Roll out the dough and cover it with the toppings of your choice. The day I made this one, we had tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, and onions. I didn't use a pizza sauce, but instead drizzled oil and garlic on the crust, covered that in slices of fresh mozzarella, and then piled on the veggies.

Take the whole schebang out to the grill, and put the pizza, still on its pan, onto the grill. Close it up and wait a few minutes. It will cook right quick, considering how hot you made it.

It's done when the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

This goes great with a cold beer (you've been sweating next to an extremely hot barbecue. You need to regulate your temperature). Cheers!

veggie fries

while you are reading this, I am camping far far away from my computer. I am off where cell signal doesn't exist, and if there is wifi, I don't want to know about it. I may come down from the mountain once or twice during the week to check in with the housesitter, but I may not. Hopefully I am cooking up lots of great meals and even greater memories that I will share with you when I get back.

In my quest to make room in the fridge for the food I was prepping for the camping trip, I found I needed to get rid of a fair amount of vegetable matter. Which should come as no surprise to you.

I have recently become addicted to pinterest, where I find that I am pinning all sorts of recipe ideas. Which should come as no surprise to you.

One of the recipes I pinned (actually twice without realizing it) was for zucchini fries. Ohhhhh my. 

I started working on making the fries (with yellow squash instead, since that is what I have right now), but in order to get to the yellow squash I had to shove my way past some green beans. Hmmm, I thought. Green bean fries? Why the heck not? Why the heck not, indeed. I actually liked the green bean fries better than the squash fries. But I like green beans better than zucchini or yellow squash, so there you go.

I am happy to report that this recipe works well for both yellow squash and green beans. Which means that soon I will be trying it with.... butternut squash, sweet potatoes, asparagus, onion.... everything I can't figure out how to otherwise use up!

Veggie Fries

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs

2 cups panko bread crumbs

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon dried parsley

veggies (I used 2 small yellow squash and a large handful of green beans)

Preheat the oven to 425.

Place the flour into a large ziploc bag and set aside.

Whisk the eggs with about 2 tablespoons of water in a shallow bowl.

Combine the bread crumbs and seasonings in another bowl.

Cut up the veggies (just trim the ends of the green beans, and cut the zucchini into 1/2 inch diameter sticks).

Toss all of the veggies in the bag of flour, until they are coated. Dip each into the egg mixture, and then into the crumb mixture.

Lay them out on a baking sheet (I recommend covering it in foil or parchment first).

Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until they are golden brown. These are best eaten warm and fresh, dipped into some sort of aioli or yogurt-based dip.

chocolate chip cookies

My family (and by family I mean about 12 people I am related to by blood and another 12 or so I'm related to by history) is going camping next week.

We return to the same campground every year (and more often than not, the same campsite every year). I've been going there since I was a bitty little kid. Things haven't changed much. There was the year that there was a nearby forest fire and we had to delay entering the campground for a night. And there was the year they updated the bathrooms. Other than that, though, the campground, the creek, the tiny little general store, and even the handlebar mustache on the ranger who checks us in, are deliciously familiar and unchanged, year after year after year. Don't ask me the name of this campground, though. My mother is convinced that if I tell anyone about this little corner of paradise, soon it will be overrun with people. People other than the 25 or so of us, that is.

One thing that did change, though, was that somehow, gradually, I went from being a child to being a parent. I went from hopping in the car on departure morning to packing the car. I went from showing up at mealtimes to planning, shopping for, preparing, cooking, and cleaning up mealtimes. I went from sleeping in and waking up to a hot breakfast to... okay, I still sleep in and wake up to a hot breakfast. I'm a lucky gal.

Which brings me to this week. T-minus 6 days 'til we head north into the Sierra National Forest. That puts me into full preparation mode. I am cooking and freezing and repackaging and condensing food this week.  I started yesterday with baking and freezing cookies. Just in case I don't get around to everything on my list, I want the important things done!

Of course, though, as you surely know by now, my first thought, with any kitchen endeavor, is How do I use up these vegetables?

No, you're thinking, (especially if you are one of the aforementioned relatives), she didn't put vegetables in the cookies?


Oh yes, my friend, I did.

In the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (which I am still reading, and still planning to review in its entirety but how can I get through it when I have to stop and try her recipes?), there is a segment that discusses how everyone who has ever grown zucchini ends up with more zucchini than he or she can possibly handle.  More vegetables than she can handle? I can relate to that!

One of her solutions is zucchini chocolate chip cookies. In the book she swears that her cookies were served at a child's birthday party, and that not a single guest had a clue that there was any plant matter baked in.

I followed the recipe exactly (almost!), except that I used yellow patty-pan squash instead of zucchini. They are just so cute that they seemed right for cookies. In as much as vegetables can be right for cookies. Plus, I thought that the yellow would blend in a bit better than green zucchini. I gave two cookies to two children, and they both loved their treat. The older, wiser child, though, asked "What's in them?" I replied, "Chocolate chips." She countered, "No, I mean like carrots? Or some other vegetable?"

This is a picture I stole from this website, because I forgot to take one before I shredded my squashes. Just in case you, like me, had never heard of patty pan squashes. 

Foiled again. However, I didn't see anyone refuse seconds. They really are delicious cookies ... light and fluffy and sweet and chocolatey.

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)

(Makes about two dozen)

1 egg, beaten 

1⁄2 cup butter, softened 

1⁄2 cup brown sugar 

1/3 cup honey 

1 tbsp. vanilla extract 

Combine in large bowl.

1 cup white flour 

1 cup whole wheat flour 

1⁄2 tsp baking soda 

1⁄4 tsp salt 

1⁄4 tsp cinnamon 

1⁄4 tsp nutmeg 

Combine in a separate, small bowl and blend into liquid mixture

1 cup finely shredded zucchini 

12 oz chocolate chips 

Stir these into other ingredients, mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350°, 10 to 15 minutes.

This post is linked to Cast Party Wednesday.

Quinoa Caprese Salad

For most of the summer, I spend my Friday afternoons at the pool. Quite a few mothers (the number ranges from 5-15 on any given Friday) and anywhere between 10 and 40 kids take over the neighborhood pool for a few hours. There is no structure to our afternoon... other than the fact that there are always more hot dogs than there are kids, plenty of junk food to go along with the hot dogs, and something a wee bit more nutritious for us moms to eat.  


If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time whatsoever, it will not surprise you to learn that I usually volunteer to bring some sort of salad or vegetable to our poolside potlucks. 


Last week, it was Quinoa Caprese Salad. I love tomatoes and fresh basil, and both are flourishing in my garden (and my AHO box) this week.  I decided to combine the tomatoes and basil with some quinoa to make a salad that would be easy to transport to the pool, gets better and better as it sits and the flavors meld, and is fresh and yummy. Of course, since there are always plenty of extra veggies around here, I added in a few others. Why not, eh? You can add more veggies if you have them, or skip some if you don't. I had zucchini, celery, and shallots in the fridge, so that is what I used. You could also add diced bell peppers, corn, parsley, peas, or really anything else you want. I don't think there is a possible way to ruin this one.

Quinoa Caprese Salad

1 cup uncooked quinoa

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 small shallot (minced)

1 medium zucchini (diced)

2 ribs of celery (diced)

8 ounces grape tomatoes (cut in half)

8 ounces fresh mozzarella (cut into small cubes)

about 10-12 leaves of basil, chopped finely

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the quinoa well ahead of time, to give it time to cool. Bring two cups of water to a boil. As soon as it boils, add the quinoa, lower the heat to low, cover and let it simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, fluff it with a fork. Let it cool completely.

Stir the olive oil and vinegar into the quinoa. Chop the veggie and cheese and stir them in. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chill completely before serving.

heirlooms

In honor of my husband, who celebrated his birthday this weekend, here is a little story about his mom.

One day, she sent him a note (he lived about 60 miles or so from her) and included 3 recipes, written out on index cards.

They were for zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, and banana bread.

These were definitely things that she had baked for her family over the years, but she wasn't a huge baker. She was more of a spaghetti night, taco night, kind of mom. They ate family meals together growing up, but nothing gourmet or fancy. Just yummy and filling. These recipes are the same... there is nothing particularly special about her breads. They are just what you want pumpkin and zucchini and banana bread to be. Delicious, sweet, and familiar.

I don't think he asked for these particular recipes. I imagine that she just thought it would be a good thing for him to have... maybe in a moment of missing her son, or of wanting him to have a little taste of home. Maybe she knew how little money he was trying to survive on (as a university researcher just out of college), and thought that he might want to be able to have a cheap treat.

Whatever the reason, as it turned out, these three recipe cards would end up being the only things he has that have her handwriting.

I don't think she knew that... I don't think he realized it until he came across them, stored in a desk, much much later. But as it turns out, the comfort of the warm tasty bread is only as important as the recipe itself. She died a few months later, after battling cancer for years and years.

Zucchini Bread

Combine in a large bowl:

1 ¾ c. flour

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. sugar

Add and mix thoroughly:

2 eggs (slightly beaten)

1/3 c. oil

1 t. vanilla

¼ c. milk

1 c. zucchini (shredded, unpeeled)

Pour into greased loaf pan (2-3 mini loaves). Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes (45 mins for mini loaves)