Zucchini Bread

It's everyone's favorite time of year: Excess zucchini time!
When life gives you zucchini, make zucchini bread.
Unfortunately, two loaves of bread only require one zucc. But that's one less sitting on the vine or in the fridge.

I use a recipe from an old cookbook my Grandparents Walden gave me - a compilation from folks in their church. So I don't know where the original came from. But it is tried and true for me - as you can see from the stained pages of the book.

It's easy, and made easier if you have a stand mixer to just dump stuff into.

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup oil (I used a mix of canola and olive)
3 eggs, beaten (I only had 2, and it turned out fine)
2 cups grated zucchini (I used more like 3 cups, and squeezed a bit of the water out of the pile before adding it in)
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon

Pour into oiled and floured loaf pans and bake in 325 degree oven for about an hour. Let cool a bit, then use a knife to loosen the edges and dump the bread out.

This recipe is enough for two loaves. This time, I made my loaves different from one another by adding chopped hazelnuts to one, and chocolate chips to the other.

I enjoy my bread with butter, but cream cheese is good too.

Blackberry Season

We are blessed and cursed with blackberries here in the Pacific Northwest. They are non-native, and they grow EVERYWHERE - taking over fencelines and alleyways in both town and country. But they are delicious, and though I curse the ones climbing over the neighbor's fence to root on our side each year and cut them back regularly, I also relish the short season when they are ripe and reachable.

What's a girl to do but make jam and pie?

This weekend, it was jam.
I used a standard recipe from the trusty old "Ball Blue Book" for berry jam, but in half. I've used it many times before and will again. It's trusty for a reason.
Warning: To make this recipe, you'll need canning equipment. That means a big pot with a rack in it, and jars with two-piece lids - small ones for jam.

This is the amount in the recipe, but it is scaleable:
Take 9 cups of crushed ripe blackberries (it'll be nearly double uncrushed).
Put in a big saucepan and mix in 6 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil while stirring. Then, cook to the "gelling point". The Blue Book goes into this but basically, cook it for a while (30 min or so) until it gets thick and when you stick a spoon in it the jam drips slowly off of it and is sticky.

In the meantime, prepare your canning stuff. Wash your jars and lids. Heat up your big pot of water to near boiling and keep your jars and lids in it until ready to use.

Ladle the jam into the hot jars, put the lids on, and put the jars into your rack and boiling water bath (turn it up as soon as you take the jars and lids out and it's ready). Boil for 15 minutes and remove to the counter top. Your lids should pop down pretty soon and you've got some nice jam to hold you over till next year!

Fresh summer meal

Miss Single, hubby and I enjoyed a super fresh and delicious summer meal last night.

Key components: fresh baguette from local bakery, pesto from Mr. Monkey's garden, summer squash and onions from my garden, an heirloom tomato-watermelon salad with goodies from the farmer's market, and a peach-blackberry pie.

Pesto squash dish: Chop up a yellow and a green summer squash. Chop up some fresh garlic and onion. Saute onion and garlic in little olive oil. Add squash and fry it up. Add fresh pesto and heat through till it's done the way you like it.


Tomato-watermelon salad: We just made this up but I'm sure there are recipes out there. Coarsely chop a big heirloom tomato (we used a green one). Coarsely chop a fresh watermelon (we used a red one, though I thought I bought an orange one). Cut some fresh basil into strips. Mix together. Add a little olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar (I used blueberry flavored vinegar).

No time for the pie recipe now, but the peaches were tree-ripened from the farmer's market, and the blackberries picked fresh from the backyard. Good for dessert AND breakfast!

Can't wait to get my own tomatoes - they are really behind this year.

Summer Pizza

Everyone loves pizza. Well, I can't be sure, but everyone I know loves pizza anyway. I like to make pizza. Luckily, there a few local bakeries that make dough and sell it in little plastic bags ready to roll out and bake - easy and delicious.

The great thing about homemade pizza (aside from getting to eat it) is that you can have it any time of year and with and endless variety of toppings. In the summer, I love using fresh garden veggies - and that's what I did last week.

For a sauce in the summer, I like to just use a food processor to combine some fresh tomatoes (ours aren't ripe in the garden yet, but we had a big yellow heirloom from the farmer's market), basil, garlic, and olive oil. Voila! Last week, my friend Rose made the sauce and also added a bunch of parmesan into the mix. That made it nice and creamy!

Summer squash is ready, so I chopped up some yellow squash for topping. And I found some dried tomatoes from last year's garden to add a different flavor on top.

Here's how it goes:
- Let the pre-made dough sit out so it's room temperature.
- Heat up the oven to 350 or 375. If you have a pizza stone, stick that in the oven.
- Prep all your sauce, toppings, and cheese.
- Roll out or stretch the dough to the size you want it (I usually put a little olive oil on the counter and my hands so it doesn't stick), and let it sit for a few minutes.
- If using a pizza stone, pull it out of the oven and sprinkle some course corn meal on it.
- Put the dough onto your stone or baking pan (grease the pan if it's metal!), and quickly get it into the shape you want it - like if you want to pinch the crust around the edge.
- Rub a little olive oil all over the surface of the dough. This prevents it from getting soggy when you put the sauce on.
- Spread the sauce on. Then add your toppings. Finally, cover with mozzarella cheese (or a mozz/parm blend - my favoritie).
- Put it in the oven for about 20 minutes. Take out and let cool for a minute or two before cutting up and eating!

Keep in mind that the more sauce and toppings you put on, the less likely you'll be able to pick it up to eat it.

Strawberry Pie

At the Eugene Farmer's Market last weekend, we bought a 1/2 flat of fresh strawberries. Yumm!But what to do with all those berries? Hubby's idea was strawberry pie.

I love making pie. But I don't know that I've ever made a strawberry pie before - just strawberry rhubarb. So I consulted the trusty "The New Basics Cookbook" for a recipe. The filling results were excellent, but the crust didn't work as well as my normal crust. (Recipe another time!)

Here is their recipe for "Fresh Summer Strawberry Pie", with some notes from me:
Pastry
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
about 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Filling
2 pints strawberries, rinsed, drained, hulled and halved
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup instant tapioca
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp (packed) light brown sugar

- Make the crust. Toss the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the butter until the mix looks like course crumbs. With a fork, stir in just enough lemon juice for the the dough to form a mass.
[NOTE: This is ridiculous. All crust recipes call for close to a 1/4 cup of cold water to get the dough to hold together. This needed that much. What are they thinking with 1 tbsp of lemon juice!? My recommendation: mix lemon juice and water and use about 4 tbsp total]
- Gather the dough in a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Make the filling. Combine the strawberries, sugar, tapioca, butter, and cinnamon in a saucepan and stir over low heat until it thickens a bit - about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Set aside.
- Take out the dough and roll it out on a floured surface until it's big enough to fit in your pie pan (9 inches). Press it into the pan, trim as needed leaving enough to make a nice crimped or rolled edge.
- Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork, line with aluminum foil (shiny side down), and fill the pate with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the crust and turn the heat down to 350. [NOTE: I don't think it needs to cook quite this long]
- Remove the foil and weights and fill the crust with the filling. Put the pie on a cookie sheet (in case it bubbles over). Sprinkle with the brown sugar.
- Cook until nice and bubbly, about 45 minutes.
- Cool for an hour on a wire rack and then refrigerate overnight. Set out 30 minutes before serving.

NOTE: I served with fresh whipped cream.

Overall, this was delicious, with a great consistency and not too sweet. The edges of the crust got too brown for my liking, so next time I'll cover the edge with strips of aluminum foil like I usually do with pie.

Cheese-Onion Baguettes

Dinner tonight was one of those things I both love and hate to eat. Love it because it is absolutely delicious. Hate it because it is very, very bad for me.

Found originally in a big fat cookbook I think my mom gave me - "1000 Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World" - in the barbecue section, this meal is super hearty and full of two of my favorite food groups: cheese and bread.

Here's what the recipe in the book says:
Ingredients
4 part-baked baguettes
2 tbsp tomato relish
4 tbsp butter
8 scallions, finely chopped
9 tbsp cream cheese
1 cup colby cheese, grated
1 tsp snipped fresh chives
pepper
mixed salad leaves

- Split the part-baked baguettes in half lengthwise, without cutting right through. Spread a little tomato relish on each one.
- Melt butter in skillet and add chopped scallions. Saute over medium, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, until soft and golden. Remove from heat to cool slightly.
- Beat the cream cheese in a bowl to soften it. Mix in the scallions and butter mixture. Add grated cheese and chives and mix well. Season with pepper.
- Divide the cheese mixture between the baguettes - spread it on the cut surfaces and sandwich together again. Wrap each baguette in foil.
- Heat baguettes over grill for about 10-15 minutes, turning them occasionally. Peel back the foil to check to see they are cooked and the cheese is melted.
- Serve with salad leaves.

We did try this recipe on the grill the first time we made it. However, it got kind of burnt and really gooey so ever since, we make it in the oven instead (350 degrees or so for about 15 minutes).

A few other changes:
- We use cheddar cheese instead of colby
- We don't always get part-baked bread. A regular baguette often works fine.
- What's "tomato relish"? Maybe this is something you can buy, but we just kind of make it up. I usually chop up some fresh tomatoes, add some tomato paste, vinegar, salt, and pepper and mix it up. Works for me.
- Put the cheese mixture on the bread first, not the tomato relish. Spreading cheese on top of tomatoes is hard.

Tonight was the first time we actually put greens on the sandwich - which was quite good and gave it an illusion of healthiness.

Warning: it's messy! Be prepared to need napkins and maybe a fork!

Garlic tops and other spring bounty

We've had a miserable May and early June around here. Rain every day for a month, chilly, no sun. Most of my garden seems to be ok with that, surprisingly. I did lose the cucumbers, and the beans came out of the ground and didn't go much farther. But the peas, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, squash, and some other stuff will make it through now that the sun has decided to return.

Here are a few photos:




This last one most pertains to something I've cooked recently. These are "garlic whistles" - the tops that start to grow and will lead to flowers, which you don't want on your garlic. So you cut them off. They are green and packed with garlic flavor and are good in stir fries, steamed, or grilled.

When it was so nice on Sunday, we got some wild red snapper from the store and grilled it up. With the help of mom, who was visiting, we buttered a piece of foil, salt and peppered each side of the fish, put it in the foil, squeezed lemon juice over the top, added a few thin slices of butter, and placed a bunch of 3-inch lengths of garlic tops in the packet. Then we just closed up the foil and cooked the fish for about 10 minutes on the grill. It came out so delicious! The garlic tops came out with the consistancy of cooked green beans, with a fairly mild flavor. And they imparted a little garlic-ness to the fish too. Yum! Give it a try!