Back to School

That's right, I said it. I'm going back to school!

It's not so much that I'm excited for summer break to end.  I'm just excited that it was a vacation after all, and not the permanent kind.  And now I have an excuse to buy new school supplies!!  (Nerd.)

I was a horrible blogger this summer due to major life happenings, and I will probably continue to be less than punctual: I'm teaching a new class at a new school which means I have a LOT of reading in my future.  And not the food-related kind.

Anyway, enough about me.  Let's talk about all those end of summer vegetables piling up.

Tomatoes?

Cook cherry tomatoes down with garlic, red onion, and crushed pepper to make a delicious bruschetta:

Or, make fresh marinara.  Or pile them onto a pizza. MMMMM.


Zucchini?

For a quick meal, fry it up.  Dip it in seasoned flour, then egg, then fry on both sides in hot oil.  Serve with dipper of your choice (I made honey mustard and it was finger lickin').

Or, if you're feeling fancy, make this pasta.  Or cook it into your fresh marinara with mushrooms and sausage for a hearty zucchini stew.

Or, make zucchini bread and share it with me.





Eggplant?

It's easiest to just dice it up and saute it in your fresh marinara to give it some more weight.

If you're okay doing a little work, make eggplant parm.  I make a mean eggplant parm.  The secret is to use panko bread crumbs.

I'd love to make baba ganoush, but it seems like so much work??




Peaches?

My uncle gave us pounds of peaches from his trees.  I spend a whole morning canning them with my mom and grandma.  (Cheater's canning: mix sliced peaches with the pectin and just freeze instead of jar.  They taste great it December!)

I also made muffins. (Tweak this recipe.)

And diced them on top of waffles.  Ohhh yeah.












Anyway, I wish you all the best as summer ends and fall begins! XOXO

Busy Busy/ Zucchini Pasta

This summer has been ridiculous in more than a few ways.  The last few weeks have been filled with lots apartment hunting and then moving, sprinkled with interview after interview, a pinch or two of fun, and a whole lot of soul searching.

Exhausted kitties.

It's been tiring.  And there's been no time for cooking. :(

Until this week, I finally paused for a moment to make dinner with my friends (I also paused for another moment to make muffins, but more on that later).  Not only was it pretty tasty (our veggie-disliker even had seconds!), but it felt pretty darn good, too.  Mind-clearing.  Like kitchen-yoga.

I made this recipe last summer, but it came out way better this time, with a few minor changes.  It used up a whole zucchini (you know how those zucchinis pile up!) and was rather healthy... except for the "covered in cheese" part.  But you know how I roll.

Summer Zucchini Pasta, Take 2

1 med. to large zucchini
1 box fettucini -- I found a veggie one at Hannaford (Garden Delight) that was perfect
1 block of cream cheese (go low fat only if you must)
1/2 lemon, juice and zest
a few tablespoons aka "don't be afraid of the" olive oil
a few leaves of basil, fresh from the porch
salt and pepper to taste

1. First, julienne the zucchini as thin as possible.  This was made much easier with the use of a mandolin, though we feared our lives (or at least, our finger tips).

2. Put on the pasta water.  Begin melting the cream cheese with salt and pepa, the juice of half the lemon, and 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil.  Use the olive oil to thin it out so it spreads over the pasta.

3. Boil the pasta.  When it's almost done, throw in your zucchini to soften it up.

4. Mix your pseudo-alfredo into the drained pasta and zucchini mix.  Sprinkle on the torn basil and the zest of half the lemon.  Pretty!

So easy for summer.  And chock full of veggies!!  I really think the garden pasta makes the dish.  And a little cream cheese never hurt anybody... right?

Zucchini, zucchini, everywhere!

I love zucchini, I really do.  It's so versatile, there's so many things you can do with it... except, what else can I do with it??  I think it's about that point in the summer when you might be wondering what to do with ALL of that zucchini.

Fortunately for you, I've discovered two MORE things you can do with all your zucchini.

First, my experimental recipe.  I stumbled across this magazine at the check-out, Vegetarian Times.  I've never seen it before, but it's pretty awesome.

That yummy pasta on the cover caught my eye.

It's full of easy and healthy recipes.  And I mean easy, like, 5-ingredient recipes.  Nice! I'm not a vegetarian, but I try to eat my veggies, and always need help doing this creatively.

Anyway, based on what we had in the house, we combined two of the recipes in this magazine to create our own creamy zucchini pasta. (That just sounds poetic, doesn't it?  It's the assonance: food poetry.)

Here's what you need:
3 or 4 small zucchini (we used 2, and it wasn't enough)
pasta (we used penne, but linguine or casareccia would be lovely, too)
fresh parsley
a lemon (juice it, and save the rind for zesting)
a block of cream cheese (go light if you wish)
2 Tbs. olive oil

1. Julienne the zucchini (julienne = cut it into long thin strips).  I swear this is the hardest part.
2. Boil the pasta.  Use a large pot, because you'll need room in it for the zucchini!  Wait until the pasta is almost done, and then toss the zucchini in for the last minute of cooking.
3. While the pasta is boiling, in a smaller pot melt the cream cheese with the oil and lemon juice (go easy on the juice, it can get strong, fast!).
4. Strain the pasta and zucchini, then toss in your creamy cheese sauce.  Sprinkle on your parsley and lemon zest.  It's ready to go!  (I told you it was super easy!)

My picture doesn't really do it justice, because I started eating it before I remembered to take a picture.  Imagine this looking prettier with parsley and lemon zest!

It was like alfredo, but without all the work, butter, and cream.  I want to try this with other veggie combinations, too.  


Secondly, here's a recipe for Cheesy Zucchini Pizza that I found on one of my new favorite blogs,  Eat, Live, Run.  I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds good.  And check out her site for other yummy food ideas. 

Now go enjoy that zucchini again :)