Zucchini Bread

I feel that Sweet Brown herself said it best, 

I know she was taking about a fire, but she could have very well been referencing Zucchini Bread. 

If you don't know who Sweet Brown is you're in for a treat. 

Sweet Brown Original

Sweet Brown Remix

I have never before, and never will again sift 3 cups of flour. Nor am I grating 3 cups of zucchini. I will leave baking up to adorable pastry chefs and my sister in-law. As much as I love science, (teaching science is my fav!), it's too specific for me, there are too many rules in baking.

It's tasty. I'm just mad at it because it was more work than I was looking for.

 I'll get over it. 

3 cups all-purpose flour

 1 teaspoon salt

 1 teaspoon baking soda

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used baking spice from Savory Spice Shop Instead)

 3 eggs

 1 cup vegetable oil

 2 1/4 cups white sugar

 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

 2 cups grated zucchini

 1 cup of walnuts 

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Eggplant & Sausage Pizza

Hey Vegheads, 

I just spent the week in the Finger Lakes drinking wine and eating some really yummy food, but yesterday we were catapulted back in to reality. After about 5 hours in the car we pulled in to the driveway I realized I only had a half hour to pick up my Farm box! I rushed over and met the lovely Dawn, picked a Purple Sage herb plant and went on my merry way. I was too tired to cook, and it was wayyyyy too hot, but the Eggplant was looking at me and after all I am the summer chef and it's hot in the summer...all the time. I had no excuses. So I channeled the winter within and thought of a snowy night in February when some friends of ours took us to Bivio in Little Falls. They have this beautiful custom pizza oven and I ate this ridiculous Eggplant and Sausage Pizza. Even though your oven will be on high, your pizza eaters will say, "cool!" ... no?.... it's still too freakin hot. 

For this pizza you will need: 
1 pizza dough from your local grocery store. 
1/2 can of Cento Pizza Sauce 
1 Medium Eggplant 
4 links of Italian Sausage 2 Sweet, 2 Hot (You can mix and match or use what you like)
1 Package of Part-Skim Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil 
1/2 cup of flour for rolling out the dough 
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Basil 

First I chop up the eggplant, drizzle it with 2 Tbsp. of olive oil over it, season it with salt pepper and garlic powder to taste and roast it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees. 

While the Eggplant is roasting... 

Take the sausage out of the casing and brown the crumbles over medium/high heat.Should take about 10 minutes.
Roll out your room tempertaure dough using flour. 
Place on baking sheet or pizza stone.
Sauce the dough with about 1/2 can of Cento Pizza Sauce. 
Season sauce with a layer of garlic powder (we love it). 

Once the Eggplant and Sausage is done...

Go back and raise your oven temp to 475. Warning! Your oven may be different. My husband and I have tested our oven with many pizza's and we've found that this temperature works for us. Make a bunch of pizza's and get to know your oven... 

Spread about 1/4 of the Eggplant on top of the sauce. 
Add the full bag of cheese. 
Add remainder of Eggplant and top off with sausage. 
Salt, Pepper, Basil to taste. 

Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. Make sure your pizza is on the center rack  so that the center gets all crispy. 

This pizza is hearty and spicy, but then the Eggplant is creamy and the cheese is gooey! It's crunchy and just delicious. You really can have it all!

Coming soon... a guest spot from the Summer Sommelier (Chris, my hubs)!

Thanks for reading, eat your veggies=)

-Laura

Farm Booze

My Mom told me I needed to be more personal on my blog. Who does she think she is Susie Fogelson? This is not Next Food Network Star mother....

At the end of the school year my fellow teacher friends and I went out for happy hour after spending hours packing up our rooms and grading a billion tests. Our drinks took FOREVER to get to our table and after tons of whining they arrived. Even though it took approximately 45 minutes there it was...my mojito and everything was oooookkaaayyyy! 

Dreyer farms gave us mint and limes this week, and they were so beautiful I had to use them! I could not think of a better way  to use these ingredients but in a spectacular cocktail. 

Blueberry Mojitos

 (or Bro-jitos as my brother's college roommates called them because they couldn't stop drinking them!)

You will need: 

24 oz. of Seltzer or Club Soda 

Juice of 4 Limes (I used as much fresh as I could get and then use a little bottled) 

12 oz. of White Rum (I used Bicardi...heeeyyyy)

1 cup of Blueberries 

1 healthy bunch of fresh Mint, I would aim for about 20-30 mint leaves, depending on your mint preferences.

1/4 cup of Sugar 

The fresh blueberries were simply perfect this week. I smooshed (that is the technical term), in my mortar & pestle before adding them to the drink. I did leave some whole for fun.  

First add mint leaves and sugar to  your pitcher. I used the end of a wooden spoon to muddle the mint and sugar. Add the lime juice, rum and blueberry smoosh. Since I was making a pitcher of this I added the seltzer to the rum mixture but if you want to make them to order you're supposed to pour ice and club soda into two tall glasses and then pour in rum mixture and give it a gentile stir.

The best part about homemade cocktails is that you can make everything to taste. Is it not sweet enough for you? Add more sugar love. Would you like a stronger buzz? Add more rum. 

Hope everyone had a beautiful 4th of July! 

Aaaannnnd a very happy birthday to this guy. My Dad. <3 

- Laura 

 Dreyer Farm

*Dreyer Farm is not sponsoring this blog. 

How very Ina Garten of me....

I had a professor in college with the driest sense of humor I'd ever seen on a person. I'm still not sure if he had a very dry sense of humor or no sense of humor...anyway, one morning I walked in to my Theatre History 4 class wearing gold sparkle ballet flats. Professor Smith walked up the aisle and stopped at my chair, looked at my shoes and said, "ah, how vey Laura Byrne of you..." 

The other day I made baked peaches that would make Jeffrey Garten say "MmmmMmm..."  They are beautiful to look at, easy to make and since I used French Vanilla Ice Cream to top it off, I would now classify this as a classic french recipe. When I was done I thought...how very Ina Garten of me. I can't take all the credit for the idea, it was all from the fresh box.

For this FANTASTIC and simple (yet impressive) dessert you will need:

2 Peaches halved, pits removed

1 Tbsp. butter 

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. of Baking Spice from Savory Spice Shop in Westifeld, NJ. 

(if you don't have the baking spice you can make your own blend with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger.) 

French Vanilla Ice Cream...lots of it.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the peaches  cut-side up in a baking dish. Fill each peach cavity with a bit of butter, brown sugar, and a bit of baking spice. Pour enough water in the bottom of the pan to come about a half inch up the side of the pan. Bake about 40 minutes, until the flesh has softened and the tops are browned. Serve warm with toppings of your choice, but I highly recommend the FV Ice Cream. Serves 2, or 4 skinny people.

I hope you find your inner Ina this week. 

Make something yummy.

-Laura 

I'm sorry these pictures are so giant, I'm still trying to figure out the formatting on my iPad.

Pre-baked

 

Waiting for the ice cream.

So tasty.

Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with a Knife

See what I did here? My font is mustard... 

I'm not going to lie... I had to do some research about these Mustard Greens. I knew nothing about them, are they the same thing as collard greens? Are they something skinny people put in their green shakes? Who eats them anyway? As much as I consider myself a foodie, I try and stick to typical greens such as kale, spinach, Romain, and if we want to get a little crazy I'll even go for some swiss chard. Needless to say these mustard greens were going to be a stretch. 

Turns out these leaves have great health benefits. They originally made their way over from India, and eventually into southern kitchens during the time of slavery as a substitute for other greens. They are packed full of antioxidants, help fight cancer, aide with anti-inflammatory and lower cholesterol and have other cardiovascular benefits....who knew...  (now all of this research was done on the interwebs so it's definitely true.)

So now I'm looking for recipes and I come across one were the first ingredient is bacon, so naturally I decide to make this one... 

Ingredients
4 slices bacon, chopped
3 bunches mustard greens, trimmed and chopped
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
Coarse salt
2 cups chicken broth
Directions
In a large skillet over medium high heat brown bacon and render its fat. Add chopped greens to the pan in batches and turn until they wilt, then add more greens. When all of the greens are in the pan, add vinegar and cook a minute. Season greens with sugar and salt. Add chicken broth to the pan and cover. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer greens 15 to 20 minutes then serve.


Turns out it's from Ms. Rachel Ray herself, some days I love her, some days I don't, today I question her vinegar choices. 

I tasted the greens raw and they actually have this great peppery flavor to them. Too bad I braised the crap out of them with too much vinegar, otherwise this would have been great. It should also be noted I used turkey bacon.I suggest to cut back on the vinegar or perhaps substitute it with apple cider vinegar instead. Today I have failed as the mustard green queen, but there is always next week. Bottom line, this recipe needs tweaking, but the mustard greens have potential.

Here's to hoping my chicken marinade saves the day later. 

Eat on...

-Laura 

No more pencils, no more books!

I'm going to do my best to stay sane this summer as I find myself in a summer of transition. I'm a first grade teacher changing school districts, I'm a wife selling our home and I'm a dog Mom adjusting our new pup, but my favorite title of the summer is Chef. 

I love food,  I love to eat and I truly enjoy cooking (during the summer, during the school year I'm no fun). During the summer my husband and I join the local farm's CSA program. We pick up a fresh box of fruits and veggies every Tuesday. Most of the time there are ingredients in the box that I have never used before. I'm going to challenge myself in a "Chopped" fashion to use everything in the box. I will research recipes, try recipes from the farm, make up my own fancy recipes, and some weeks keep it simple on the grill. 

Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ has completely inspired my inner Summer Chef and my hope is to come out of this summer a better home cook with new techniques and a better handle on some of these fresh ingredients! 

Dreyer Farms
Savory Spice Shop

This Tuesday (June 25) we were given: 
Zucchini 
Cucumber 
Tomato
Blueberries 
Leeks 
Mustard Greens 
Basil 
Broccoli 
Lettuce 
Homestead Spice Pack from Savory Spice Shop in Westfield, NJ. 

My plans for today are to make my own pesto, eat fresh blueberries, find a recipe for a yummy cheese sauce for the broccoli and figure out these mustard greens! 

Stay cool.

-Laura