Zucchini, So Hot Right Now

Zucchini bread, zucchini salsa, zucchini cakes and now zucchini fries. I'm on a zucchini kick, but apparently the rest of the world is too.

After having a casual discussion about zucchini with one of my roommates (we are strange like that) and both mentioning how we've always wanted to make zucchini fries, it seemed like the time was of the present. I googled a recipe, adapted it a bit to make them healthier, then found myself sitting down to a whole plate of z-fries for dinner. 

Baked Zucchini Fries
yields 16 fries

Ingredients: 
1 medium zucchini
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
whatever seasonings you have in the pantry (I did a combination of salt, pepper, dried rosemary and garlic salt)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg white

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wash and dry your zucchini and cut the ends off. Cut your zucchini in half. Then slice each half down the middle. Slice into fourths so you end up with about 16 fry shape pieces. 

Mix bread crumbs and seasonings in a shallow dish. Pour flour in a separate dish, and beat your egg white in another dish. Dredge each fry in flour, egg, then bread crumbs and then place on your baking sheet. Once all your fries are coated, bake for 25 minutes until brown and crispy! 

I served mine with a spicy sriracha/ketchup combo! Extra tasty guilt free fries people!

You can serve these as a snack, side dish, or like me, a main dish! I find this totally acceptable considering all the health benefits of these little summer squashes. Low in calories, help prevent cancer and heart disease, have more potassium than a banana and can even help reduce constipation :0. Here are 35 more ways you can use this constipation reducing veggie. TMI? nah.

Annie

Bites of My Life

Settling into school, cooking, baking and more cooking and baking, and winding down from a long weekend. These are the current happenings of my life. 

A long weekend means a short week, but it is especially short for me because I'm ducking out early and heading back to D.C. on Thursday! You can imagine my excitement. More on that trip in next week's bites!

Life is funny, like when you get corn delivered to you from Colorado because a friend knows you "can turn it into something awesome." Life is delicious, like when you get to have a handful of your best friends to your parents house for the yummiest Labor Day feast. Lastly, life is great, like when you are finding peace in the little things and constant happiness in the recent days. 

-Corn cakes with zucchini salsa. The creation I cooked up with my Colorado corn.

-Leftovers on my back deck made reading for Women and Gender Studies much more bearable. 

-I bought a batch of zucchini for zucchini bread and the salsa on my corn cakes, but luckily had some extra for spur of the moment zucchini fries. Check back today for the recipe!

-Friday nights are for girlfriends and platters of sushi. 

-Saturdays in Norman are back, thank goodness!

-Checked CousCous Cafe off my Oklahoma restaurant list with zaalook, falafel and grape leaves.

To avoid overloading your bite intake I split up our Labor Day feast into its own big bite! It's apparent my family loves to cook and eat, but it was even better getting to cook and eat with some of my best gal pals for a little long weekend evening in OKC.

-Chips and dips being attacked by some hungry guhls.

-I give mom and dad almost all the credit for the food, but I did make the amazing brussels sprout coleslaw. 

-Smoked pulled pork, chicken and sausage sided with baked beans, corn casserole, tabouli, cole slaw and fruit salad. 

-Our own version of the name game. 

-Kudos to Pie Junkie for their incredible peach/blueberry and french silk pie paired with our homemade ice cream to send us into the happiest of food comas.

-Worked off our feast with a little laughing ab workout!

Life is good people.

Annie

Cinnamon Veggie Bread

Cinnamon veggie bread--I know that sounds disgusting but ultimately that's what zucchini bread is and I just wanted a way to grab y'alls attention.  Zucchini bread is kind of like carrot cake. What ultimately tastes like a flavorful spice cake actually has vegetables and added nutrients hiding inside! I love my veggies, but love them even more when they are baked up with sugar and flour! 

After having the best zucchini bread of my life this summer from Baked and Wired, it went straight to the top of my baking list.  I raved about this bread so much I was surprised with a platter full of their zucchini bread at my internship going away party. 

I searched around to see if Baked and Wired had their zucchini bread recipe somewhere out in the Internet world, but they seem to have their recipes locked up. I then turned to my trusty food resource, The Kitchn to find an alternate recipe.  If you ever need to find a recipe, a way to cook  certain ingredient or want to know what's new in the food world, check out  The Kitchn. 

Zucchini Bread adapted from The Kitchn
Yields 2 loaves*

Ingredients: 
2 medium sized zucchini, shredded
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 egg
1 cup white sugar
½  cup brown sugar, packed
¾ olive or canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line two 8 x 4 loaf pans with parchment paper. Trim the stem and root-end form the zucchinis and shred on a box grater. Gather the zucchini in a dishtowel or a few layers of paper towels, squeeze out as much of the moisture from the zucchini as possible.

Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugars, olive oil, and vanilla extract.

Toss the zucchini in the flour mixture. Pour the liquids over top. Gently stir and fold just until no more flour is visible. Divide the batter between the two loaf pans.

Bake 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The finished loaves should have a golden-brown crust and feel springy if you give the top a little pat. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Loaves will keep in an airtight container for several days. They can also be wrapped in foil and frozen for up to three months. Thaw in the fridge overnight or in a warm oven for 20 minutes.

*I halved this recipe and it still turned out great. After my loaf disappeared in a few short hours I wish I hadn’t, but just know that you can half it! 

Annie

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies

A fabulous combination. I've had these 

cookies

 pinned since back in December, then after my sweet friend Molly made 

them

 in April, they were on my radar again. I finally got around to making them and thank goodness I did. I originally found this recipe after going pistachio crazy around the holidays. My mom had bowls of them around the house and my sister and I would stand there and gorge on the whole bowl.

Note to self-buy the already shelled pistachios next time I make these.  

I made these cookies as a first day of school treat. I think they helped lift spirits of school starting again. 

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
yields 2 dozen

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup flour
½ tsp. sea salt

¾ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup sugar

¾ cup light brown sugar

1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

¾ cup unsalted pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped
1 cup chopped dark chocolate


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.
With the mixer on low, slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.

Stir in the pistachios and chocolate chunks. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, form tablespoons size balls of cookie dough. Place balls on prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle cookie dough balls with sea salt. Bake cookies for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely. Store in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.

Like I said yesterday our neighbors were never around when we tried to deliver our friendly neighbor cookies, so I had two platters full of cookies to share with my friends on the first day of school! 

How to Make a Good First Impression

After my roommates and I moved into our little house we wanted to make a good first impression with our surrounding neighbors. Naturally we made them cookies, because that's what I know best. 

Instead of your traditional oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I baked them into bars. I found this recipe and loved the way they turned out. Hopefully our neighbors did too. 

(Tip* spray your fingers with cooking spray and use your hands to get the dough evenly spread out on the pan!) 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
yields 32 bars 

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and beat until combined. Fold in the oats and chocolate chips. Spread in a rimmed 10 x 15 baking pan or jelly roll pan, using a spatula or your hands to press into place. 

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool, but cut the bars while they are still somewhat warm so a knife will go through them more easily.

One of our sets of neighbors never answered their door after three attempts to deliver their cookies. Their loss, our gain because we were quick to enjoy their plate of cookies! 

Annie