zucchini – Oven Love

What I Want to Be Eating (Read: Posting).

Natalie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:32:00 +0000

Recently, I’ve been feeling a little down about this blog. The last few months, I’ve been out of my gourd just trying to get through the days with all our summer traveling (to catch you up: we had a baby in March, moved across the country in May, hubs has had required USAF training continuously in multiple locations in June and July). We’ve been trapsing the little man up and down the East Coast like it’s no big deal. Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio.. not much time to amaze the family with exciting meals, let alone give my readers anything yummy to look at.

Then I thought, “Hey! I’ll start a new series with reviews about natural and organic products and come up with great recipes to go with them. Everyone will love that! Comments will be pouring in!” But comments did not pour in, and so I’ve been feeling a little down. I am not sure anyone really reads the blog anymore besides my mom and maybe some TWDers (whom I love, obvi).

Nevertheless, I still like the blog. It motivates me to come up with new recipes at home and keeps me in the kitchen, even if I don’t get to post as much as I’d like to. It gives me an outlet to write beyond the family blog. So, whether or not anyone reads, I will keep up the posting. I hope to continue with TWD and my new review series, but for now, please enjoy some mouth-watering photos from some blogs that I love.

These S’more Brownies and Grilled Corn Salad are both from Sugar Cooking. Two very different recipes, but both give me that summer fun vibe.

Garlic Mustard Glazed Skewers from The Way the Cookie Crumbles. I want to call it decadent street food, is that okay?

Zucchini and Ricotta Galette from Smitten Kitchen and Squash Ribbon Salad from Ezra Pound Cake– reminds me of my garden’s zucchini surplus last year. Hoping I can catch the second half of the long GA growing season when I get home.

Rick Bayless’ Bacon Tomato Guacamole from his new book, Fiesta at Rick’s (via Serious Eats) looks like a winner and reminds me of El Vez. Must get this book!

Kale chips. Am I the last blogger on earth who hasn’t tried them? Find these on Gimme Some Oven.

I’m a sucker for homemade barbecue sauce, and this one looks too good to pass up. Sweet & Tangy BBQ Sauce from A Whisk and A Spoon.

Tiramisu Ice Cream from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures and Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream from Good Eats n Sweet Treats, both yummy ways to use my ice cream maker.

I really want to be eating and posting these recipes, but let’s face it- you might beat me to it.

What are recipes are you drooling over right now?

And the Homegrown Zucchini Has It.

Natalie — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:06:00 +0000

One of these zucchinis is homegrown. One of these zucchinis is from a farmer’s market.

Left- Farmer’s Market. Right- Homegrown.

How awesome is that? Notice how long and sleek and beautiful the one on the right is. Not a scratch on it!

Notice how marked up the one on the left is. How disappointing.

Good thing this is only the first homegrown zucchini of the season- many more to come. Nick and I are really enjoying our patch in the community garden. It’s even more fun when there are things to harvest! If you aren’t a fan of gardening, you should try it. It’s so worth it.

Bananas, Tomatoes, Zucchinis and a Brand New Mixer

Natalie — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:26:00 +0000

It’s been a few days, so I have to catch you up on all of the treats that have been popping up around here with all of summer’s fun produce. In our house, we’ve had an abundance of bananas (thanks to the 1.00 banana bag at the commissary), tomatoes and zucchinis (thanks to farmer’s markets in Western PA). What to do with these lovely fruits and veggies?

1. Mini Banana Whoopie Pies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling

These little beauties were delicious. The recipe came from Culinary in the Desert, a blog I found through Tastespotting. I tweaked the recipe a little bit, using some lower calorie ingredients that I had on hand and adding the cinnamon to the filling. I think it added something different, but didn’t overpower the banana flavor. (My mini-pies came out to about 100 calories a piece – the perfect little snack. Leave me a comment if you want my specifc recipe changes).

2. Bread Salad

Nick and I usually reserve bread salad for our picnics, but I just couldn’t resist using the final few tomatoes this way. My bread salad is always just a little different – I tend to just throw together what I’ve got hanging around the kitchen. In this case, I had a few tomatoes, a day-old wheat baguette, a cucumber and some provolone. I toasted the bread first, then spritzed it with some water to soften it up (so the bread doesn’t absorb all of the dressing and leave the tomatoes dry). I topped it all with a simple balsamic vinegrette, some garlic powder and some parmesan cheese. I was kicking myself for not having fresh basil, but the result was still as tasty as ever!

3. Whole-wheat Zucchini Bread

I got the zucchini bread recipe through Tastespotting as well – on a blog called Foodie with a Family. I changed this recipe, too, using whole wheat and all purpose flour (i didn’t have any bread flour). I doubled the recipe and used half for a large loaf and the other half for 8 mini-loaves. I also subbed cinnamon since I didn’t have nutmeg. The bread is moist and it tastes outstanding when spread with some of the left-over cinnamon cream cheese from the first recipe.

In other news, I went to my first AFIT Spouse’s Cooking Club this week, and took Vegetable Enchiladas (they were a hit, but I forgot to take pictures). I also brought home my new baby, a yellow KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer. I got it on sale at Williams Sonoma for $140! Amazing.

Glad to be up and running again. More ovenlove (and mixerlove) to come!