Herbed Zucchini Bread

There is something to be said about open-style galley kitchens.  My beautiful kitchen is complete with cherry cabinets, black granite counters, gas stove, and accents of chrome with full view of the entire great room.  It is my favorite spot in the condo, which should surprise absolutely no one.  But it has become something else for me, the place where I'm trying my damnedest to get back on both of my feet.  I got cleared to start weight bearing a few days ago and it has gotten to the point where I can start almost putting all of my weight on the ankle.  I will pace back and forth in the kitchen with my arms out, using the counter tops to catch me when I inevitably fall over.  But I'm getting so close!

This weekend, I got to take my first crutch-walk in my neighborhood.  I went to my favorite cafe for coffee and croissants followed by a visit to my farmers market on the way home.  What used to be a usual Saturday has become such a luxury and I'm so thankful to be getting back to normal.  To be independent.  And mostly, to smell garlic cooking in my kitchen again.

That fragrant perfume is currently wafting through my living room, a reward from my trip to the farmers market.  I got huge local garlic, just picked leeks, the last of the zucchini, and a lot of new vendor friends because my large metal accessories attract a lot of conversation.  Using these three items as inspiration, I combined my family's zucchini quick bread recipe with the idea from Ruth Reichl to pair zucchini and marjoram.

I basically took my sweet version, removed most of the sugar, and replaced it with melted leeks, garlic, and dried herbs.  I slowly sauteed the leeks in an obscene amount of butter to soften the texture, added finely minced and intensely scented garlic, and revived dried marjoram and thyme in the last few minutes of cooking.  I let the leeks cool (while resting, I could do things in about 15 minute intervals) and then combined it with shredded baby zucchini (seeds and skin included due to baby-ness), eggs, olive oil, and buttermilk.  After gently folding in the dried ingredients, I baked it low and slow to ensure the bread stayed moist and the zucchini was completely cooked.

As the bread was baking, the smell was intoxicating enough to draw my sister out of her room (okay, some of it was Gossip Girl).  She was certainly skeptical of a savory version of a Toasty classic but I definitely think that I won her over!  Because zucchini bread is not complete without cream cheese, I quickly mixed in some finely minced sundried tomatoes and schmeared it over a still warm slice.

I'm really proud of this bread and can't wait to have a slice with lunch!

Broccoli and Zoodle Summer Salad: 38 Power Foods - #5 Broccoli

When I was younger, I wasn't a broccoli fan.  Shocker, right?  It had absolutely nothing to do with the taste or me being a picky eater but a family story involving broccoli cooked so long that it turned grey.  Adding to the prejudice was the oddly sweet broccoli salad my mother would bring to picnics (sorry, Ger) and a green jello concoction with broccoli in it appropriately called "Green Stuff."  Seriously, how was a kid supposed to like broccoli when the adults insisted on mistreating it?

I grew up and so did my palette, and now I thoroughly enjoy broccoli and broccolini.  Which is great because it boosts immunity with beta-carotene, perfect for a lady who works in a hospital.  It also has been shown to regulate blood pressure, aid in dieting by providing fiber, and contains an antioxidant indole-3-carbinole that is anti-carcinogenic.  Good stuff, but probably not found in the cooked-to-death grey broccoli.

This salad was a result of overzealous purchase of local veggies and garlic in the kitchen transition.  I also picked up some nifty new peelers: a julienne peeler and a serrated peeler!  The serrated peeler will be able to get soft skins off of fruits while the julienne peeler makes adorable noodle like strips from hearty vegetables like zucchini and squash.  Before we switched to the linky party format for foodie friends friday, I featured a recipe about "zoodles" from Angie at A'lil Country Sugar and I've been thinking about using the zoodles in a faux pasta salad ever since!

They are a snap to make: just peel the skin and the "peel" with the julienne peeler.  To avoid the potential sticky zucchini juice, I put the strips into a cold water bath before blanching in salted boiling water.  Fresh local corn, cremini mushrooms, and broccoli florets were sautéed over medium heat in olive oil and added to the blanched noodles.

The star of this dish, however, is definitely the roasted garlic vinaigrette.  I bought about 10 heads of garlic because they were on super sale so I roasted half for an hour at 400 F (full instructions here) to freeze and store.  Roasted garlic, lemon zest and juice, and olive oil buzzed up with my immersion blender was a revelation.  I need to make this dressing every week!  It was mellow and sweet from the garlic with the bite of lemon that pairs so well with broccoli while getting all into the nooks and crannies of the florets.  Seriously, go make this now!

Also, it may be before my time, but I had Dana Carvey's chopping broccoli song stuck in my head whilst writing this post . . .

Savory Strata Cupcakes

Cooking for one is annoying.  I love cooking but I don't always love to eat my leftovers and always end up with a fridge full of things I don't know what to do with.  This means things get shoved to the back or I eat weird little meals of everything together.  I definitely needed a solution when I had a loaf of ciabatta, one too many egg cartons, leftover roasted veggies, 1/2 a red onion, and chorizo.  So I made it fun!

Instead of a giant strata (like this one) I made them in muffin molds!  Spread with a mashed avocado and yogurt topper and a few snipped chives, they look like cupcakes with sprinkles!  Best of all, they are in individual portions perfect for lunch boxes.

Next time you've got leftovers, I challenge you to get creative!  Pull out everything you need to use so you can see what you're working with and start brainstorming.  You might surprise yourself!

Roasted Baby Zucchini Fries

It is no secret, I love adorable food.  It is one thing to be tasty, but to be tasty and cute?  Win win.  Hence my obsession with 2-bite hors d'oeuvres and desserts made in my mini-muffin pan.  So when I saw baby zucchinis I geeked out . . . I mean how cute are these?

I love grilled and roasted zucchini and summer squash because I love the slightly sweet charred taste of these veggies.  I originally set out to make these just roasted baby zucchinis but they came out with a delicious crunchy outer texture with a creamy roasted center.  Like a FRY!

As I can barely heat my oven to 400 without setting off the smoke detector, frying is completely out of the spectrum of cooking techniques for me.  While I'm not always sad about this (thank you, idiot contractor, for keeping me skinny), there is something to be said about being able to make something fry-like at home.  I dressed the "fries" with lemon juice, grated garlic, and chopped parsley, in which they retained their crispy texture.  Yum!  Get them before they go out of season!

Zucchini Fritters

Caught in the nostalgia of Zucchini Bread, I ended up with two extra cups of shredded zucchini.  The shape and texture reminded me of the packaged shredded potato for homefries, which got my wheels turning from homefries to latkes to fritters!  Zucchini fritters!

Zucchini Bread

Nothing makes me happier than walking into the grocery store and seeing a local produce bin.  The seasonal produce will be at its freshest due to the shorter farm-to-table distance.  Bonus - you can brag about how you care about the environment and call yourself a locavore!  Of course, I will have to call you loco while snickering into a bite of my delicious quick bread.

Zucchini is a summer squash that I love sliced thinly length-wise and grilled.  Despite being treated like a veggie, it is botanically an immature fruit, being the ovary of the oft-sought zucchini flower.  As such, it does well in sweet dishes like this quick bread.

This recipe is a bit of a family heirloom, holding a special place in the cracked yellow recipe box in our cookbook cabinet.  One of my favorite memories is the time that my mother, sister, and I attempted to make this bread one snow day.  We dropped a whole bowl of grated zucchini, went to the grocery store to get more, then dropped a whole carton of eggs after we got back and had to go to the 7-11 to get more eggs!  It was a giggly hott mess, but the bread still turned out delicious!  I didn't mess with the recipe one bit out of nostalgia, although feel free to experiment with any combination of vegetables, fruits, or spices.