Zucchini Couscous Salad

I was told to bring a salad to my friends Sunny and Peter's for dinner. Looking at the vegetables that I had left in the box it was either something with chili peppers, a pumpkin (which I didn't have time to roast), and zucchini. Zucchini it was.  I scoured Food52 for a salad recipe with zucchini and found a Squash couscous with mint, pistachios, and golden raisins. This was a wonderful recipe that I think next time I would probably double the ingredients, for more generous servings per person. There is minimal cooking, sauteing the zucchini and shallots for a couple of minutes at the most, and boiling vegetable broth for the couscous. I can see why this salad would be so appealing to make in the summer because it can be thrown together so easily. There are lots of different flavors going on a little bit of sweetness, freshness from the mint, and lemony goodness from the dressing. This salad also travels well too, which is always nice when bringing food to someones home. It was gobbled up along with the delicious pork stew and smashed potatoes.

These photos were taken with my phone because I apparently  like to leave my camera on  and let the battery drain. 

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One Giant Pizza Post

Since I just did a post on pizza I decided I should just continue with the theme and show the other pizzas that have been consumed as of late. My room mate and I made a pizza with eggplant, with store bought pizza crust. For some reason I don't have any pictures of it, I must have been really hungry and just forgot to take a picture of the finished product. But here's a photo of an eggplant.

Not baked

Baked

The next pizza that was made I made with my friend Billie. We put zucchini and bell peppers on top and it kind of looks like Christmas in pizza form. We sauteed the zucchini and then just threw on the raw bell peppers along with the cheese. I made the crust with a little bit of cornmeal in it which gave a nice crunch to the loaded squash pizza. And Billie has a great pizza stone which gave a nice golden color to the crust and cheese.

There have been these lovely bunches of basil arriving in the box with the flowers still attached. They kind of remind me of bouquets of flowers, maybe because I stuck this one in a vase. Basil pairs well with tomatoes and that brings me to my last pizza endeavor.

The last pizza I made was with heirloom tomatoes. My friend Anna has the most amazing garden in her backyard, I would go so far as calling it a tiny organic urban farm. She generously gave me a large amount of gorgeous heirlooms. I made pizza crust and sprinkled it with a layer of cheese and then baked it for about 15 minutes, give or take.  I then sliced up tomatoes and layered them sprinkling salt, pepper, olive oil, and pureed basil on top. I didn't want to bake the tomatoes because they are so amazing in their pure form. This was definitely eaten with a knife and fork because the tomatoes kept falling off but, it was a nice reminder of a summer gone quickly by.


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A Little Roasted Tomatoes And Zucchini For Breakfast

With the remaining cherry tomatoes, I woke up this morning thinking about roasting them. I love roasted tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are perfect because they don't take to long to roast and the roasting adds another depth of flavor to their perfect sweetness. I cut them in half and quarters and put them in a 400 degree oven, on a foil lined pan,  somewhere between 15-20 minutes until they get nice and soft and a little brown on top. While the tomatoes roasted I sauteed the two zucchini in a little olive oil and one slivered garlic clove until they had a nice tan color. Setting the veggies aside, I scrambled the eggs and then added the zucchini and tomatoes to the eggs when they were just about done. An easy filling breakfast.

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Lima Bean Veggie Burgers

This is a picture of the newest box. Summer is making an appearance with the arrival of peaches and zucchini. The peaches are amazing, I didn't have the patience to make anything from them and ate them up. The  recipe for Peasant Beets also was made from the contents of this box. The little bag of dried Lima beans has had me thinking. Thinking as in what am I going to do with them. I usually buy my beans already cooked contained in a can with the goopy bean water.


 After finding the best method to soak the beans, which is to pour boiling water over them and letting them soak for about an hour and a half. The beans are still firm but have grown in size by half.

Dried Lima Beans from DeBusschere Ranch

Soaked Beans, they do look bigger

I thought a veggie/bean patty would be the best way to utilize the beans, having not made a veggie patty I found a recipe from 101 Cookbooks and used it as a guideline.

Lima Bean Veggie Patties 
2 1/2 -3 cups of soaked Lima beans

one medium sized zucchini
3 eggs
a good sprinkling of salt
one onion chopped
1 cup of breadcrumbs
zest and juice of 1 lemon
about a handful of cilantro

Combine the beans, eggs, zucchini, and salt in a food processor, mix until it is a consistency of a chunky hummus. Put your zucchini bean mixture in a separate bowl and add onion, cilantro, and lemon. Add the breadcrumbs and let them soak the moisture up for a couple minutes. My mixture was moist but not liquidy, 

Bean patty cooking.

Using a cast iron skillet and coating it with a fair amount of olive oil I formed my bean patties and let them cook for about 7 minutes per side, I wanted them brown on each side. I know that I was turning them to soon when they didn't stay in one piece. The mixture made about 10 patties. 

This was a good experiment. They kind of tasted a little like falafel but lighter, probably because it wasn't deep fried. I now want to make everything into a veggie patty. I would also like to try to make a vegan version, one without eggs, but I don't know what would make it stick together. These were good with a little salad on the side and reheated nicely for an easy lunch to take to work.

This was the first finished batch.

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Chocolate Zucchini Multigrain Muffins

What do you make when a bunch of girls are getting together to drink wine, and look at trashy magazines? Something involving chocolate. And what goes great with chocolate? Zucchini. To be more specific Chocolate Zucchini Ten Grain Muffins.These turned out to be a nice little late night snack that were simple and easy to throw together.
I had originally planned to make this recipe for Chocolate and Zucchini Cake, when I discovered I didn't have enough flour. Have you ever gone to make something and found that you are out of a staple item. This is what ended up happening to me and I ended up substituting  a cup of Bob's Red Mill Ten Grain Cereal for a cup of flour. Which is when the cake turned into muffins, which are easier to manage while riffling through a magazine.

When I bake with zucchini I always think I'm going to use a fair amount of it, until it's grated and 2 cups of grated zucchini only uses about 1 and 1/2. It is a little weird to be eating chocolate flavored muffins and find strands of zucchini mixed in, but they give a nice moist flavor.

This photo was taken with my phone. It looks like there are chocolate zucchini muffins invading the kitchen.

The inclusion of the grain cereal added a great texture as well. Who knew chocolate, grains, and zucchini would go so well together.

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An All Season Minestrone

This is the latest shipment from South Central Farms. There is such a varying assortment of food including a couple of grapefruit. Another huge head of romaine has appeared as well, so salad has not disappeared from my diet. One new item that has appeared was a nice bunch of Italian parsley.

While searching for dishes to make that would include parsley, I found this contest winning recipe on Food52 and was sold. Not only did it use the parsley but it used all sorts of of other veggies that I had.

When I think of minestrone, I think of cold brisk air and the hearty tomato based soup warming me up. I decided that making one last wintry soup, before it gets really warm, was called for, especially since we've had a little bit of rain.
The following recipe is a modified version of the Food52 version. I will say that there are endless possibilities of changing this recipe and would all still end up with the same delicious result. I named it the All Season Minestrone because it uses vegetables from all four seasons.

Smoky Minestrone with Tortellini and Parsley Pesto

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 slices of bacon chopped into small pieces 

5 spring onions peeled and chopped

2 large cloves of garlic minced

8 medium sized carrots (I used the whole bunch)

1 zucchini + 1 little zucchini chopped

1 potato peeled and chopped

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 15oz can of cooked chickpeas

1 28oz can of peeled tomatoes with juice

salt

one bunch of kale chopped fine (this is maybe about 3 cups)

9 oz of dried tortellini

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the bacon pieces and cook for a couple of minutes, until they start to brown.
2. Add 2 more tablespoons of oil along with the onions and garlic. Continue to cook stirring occasionally, over medium heat until softened. 
3. Add the chopped carrots, zucchini, potato and stir around for a minute or two.
4.  Add the stock, the chickpeas, and then the tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as you go. Add a little salt if needed. Bring the soup to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cook 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are just tender.
5. Add the kale and the tortellini and continue to cook over a simmer until both are tender and cooked through. Serve garnished with a spoonful of pesto, a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar, and some Parmesan cheese.

Parsley Pesto
whole bunch of parsley
1 tablespoon of almonds
1 tablespoon of pepitas
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of Parmesan
3ish tablespoons of olive oil

1.  Everything was thrown into a food processor and blended together. 

 No wonder this won a prize, this is so good. This smelled so good from the start that I could have just eaten the cooked onions and garlic with the semi raw veggies as it was. It was easy to make, used a ton of vegetables, and I cannot stress enough how good this tasted. Especially with the parsley pesto, it added just a little bit of extra freshness to all the other wonderful flavors. And I don't know if you've ever added balsamic vinegar to minestrone but it is delicious and gives a nice acidic flavor.

Minestrone with parsley pesto

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Zucchini Cake

Carrot cake has become a tried and true favorite but, what happens when you replace the carrot with zucchini? I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit Granted adding cream cheese frosting helps the flavor of anything but the cake itself was moist, nutty and with a few modification's turned out quite good. I added half a cup of orange marmalade and finishing a container of orange juice, which was maybe about 2/3rds of a cup. I also used 2/3rds vegetable oil instead of olive, in which the recipe calls for.  I made this for a dinner party and it was devoured pretty fast. I am thinking about next time foregoing the frosting and making an orange glaze or maybe an icing. So next summer when you are in the midst of a zucchini glut, try making zucchini cake, you will not be disappointed. 

This is what I came home with I forgot to take a picture of the whole cake

Summer Sloppy Joes

We're just in the beginning of summer, and I am trying to find creative ways to use the abundant amount of summer squash, that is in peak season. I found a recipe on Epicurious for Summer Squash Sloppy Joes, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Summer-Squash-Sloppy-Joes-239165.

 Growing up we were never really ate sloppy joes and it's only within the last couple of years that I've come to appreciate this messy sandwich. These ones are not sweet, have a little bit of a crunch because of the zucchini, and are a fast, easy, summer meal. I used beef but I think these could be made vegetarian pretty easily.

We enjoyed these with a slice of cheese melted on the bun, and some baby roasted potatoes and a side salad.