Barley Zucchini Boats

Mr. Lawyer went to the grocery store by himself yesterday. He doesn't shop from a list, that's never a good idea! Drives me crazy. Then he comes home with random things like 2 zucchinis. Luckily I always wanted to make a zucchini boat recipe. For some reason I couldn't get barley out of my head so I found this recipe and then tweaked it to make it a smidgen healthier. 

The original recipe called for half a pound of ground beef or turkey which I swapped up for only two links of sausage. You could easily omit the meat and make it vegetarian. I left out the added salt and cut out some of the butter. I liked how you cooked the barley in the tomato sauce so it held a lot of flavor. It got the manly seal of approval!

Barley Zucchini Boats

(adapted from tasteofhome.com)

Ingredients:
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
2/3 cup medium pearl barley
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 medium zucchini (8 to 9 inches)
2 spicy sausage links, casing removed
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:1. Drain tomatoes, reserving juice. Set the tomatoes aside. Add water to juice to measure 2 cups; place in a saucepan. Add barley and cumin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until tender.
2. Meanwhile, place zucchini in a Dutch oven and cover with water; bring to a boil. Cook for 6 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain; cool slightly. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp, leaving
a 1/4-in. shell. Chop pulp and set aside.
3. In a skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic in oil until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add barley mixture, pepper, tomatoes and zucchini pulp; mix well. Spoon into zucchini shells.
4. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and butter; sprinkle over zucchini. Place in two greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dishes. Cover and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Zucchini Muffins

Yesterday, on my last day off, I made zucchini muffins for breakfast! They were okay but not nearly as good as my Grandpa Norm's recipe for zucchini bread....but it was too early in the morning to convert recipes. Even Mr. Lawyer noticed right away that it was not Grandpa's recipe....yikes! Guess I learned my lesson. Once you give a boy the best you can't go back!

Zucchini Muffins

(from Taste of Home)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I doubled this)
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried currants or chopped raisins
Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Combine the egg and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the zucchini, walnuts and currants.
2. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter. Bake at 350° for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 6 muffins.

Fast Fish!

This dish was fast and good. It was a light dish and loaded with veggies. Perfect for detoxing after a week long eating fest! I ended up using my Hendrickson's Sweet Vinegar and Olive Oil salad dressing because we didn't have any Italian (and the last thing I need is another bottle in my fridge!). It added a nice sweetness to it but it would have been interesting to have the zestiness from Italian. I think I'm finally getting the hang of cooking fish and knowing when it's done. This batch was perfectly moist and only semi-mangled.

Fast Fish Skillet

(adapted from Kraft Food & Family)

Ingredients:
4 tilapia fillets (1 lb.)
1/4 cup Italian Vinaigrette Dressing made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
1 tablespoon pesto
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise, then crosswise into slices
1 cup grape tomatoes
3 Tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil
Directions:
1. Brush fish with 2 tablespoons of dressing. Cook in skillet on medium heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with fork. Transfer to plate; cover to keep warm.
2. Add remaining dressing, pesto, vegetables and tomatoes to skillet; cook 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring frequently. Spoon over fish.
3. Top with basil.

There were a ton of veggies! I just dumped everything on one big platter.

Family Secret

There are two recipes that I know for sure that I won't post online. Because I'm selfish like that. Family secrets and all that jazz. They are Grandpa Norm's Zucchini Bread and Grandma Nancy's Pickles. I remember waiting with anticipation for zucchini season (my mom often grew her own) just so I could have this bread which only seemed to appear once a year. The zucchini plant would then explode and we had more zucchini than you could shake a stick at so she would freeze grated zucchini in muffin tins (1 cup per muffin spot) for future baking purposes. It seemed like a nice fall day to whip some up. Plus it made the apartment smell amazing.

I don't like nuts in my zucchini bread. I mean, I'll eat it but I don't like it when crunchies interrupt my yummy soft bread.

Zucchini Bread and Dogfish Punkin Ale counts as dinner right?

RIGHT?!?!

Zucchini or Pickles?!

Last weekend while reading at the shore I saw this delicious looking bundt cake in my Martha magazine. This weekend I was actually home to make it! But first, I have to make a disclaimer: I will never love any zucchini bread, cookie or cake as much as I love my Grandpa Norm's recipe (although I am madly in love with Martha's Zucchini Cookies). Due to this fact I thought the actual cake part was lacking in flavor. My recipe has more cinnamon and vanilla in it. But Mr. Lawyer is devouring it so I guess it's not a real problem, just a personal preference. The orange glaze is absolutely amazing. I will definitely be saving it for some other dessert creation, like muffins. I thought zucchini and orange was an odd combination but it grew on me. The candied zucchini is okay, really just for garnish but it doesn't add any necessary flavor so it could be skipped. I don't have a mandoline to make nice pretty ribbons like Martha so I used my food processor and mine ended up looking like pickles! Oh well.

Zucchini Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze and Candied Zucchini

(from Martha Stewart Living)

Cake Ingredients:
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2.5 cups flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon anise seeds (omitted, didn't have them)
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom, optional (omitted, didn't have it)
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium zucchini
3 large eggs
1.5 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
Cake Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt.
2. Grate zucchini and size dry. You will need around 2.5 cups.
3. Stir together eggs and sugar, then stir in melted butter, zucchini, orange zest and juice. Stir in flour mixture. Transfer batter to pan.
4. Bake for one hour. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer cake to plate. Cool before brushing on glaze and adding candied zucchini.
Orange Glaze Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 pinches ground cardamom, optional (omitted)
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Milk for thinning if needed
Orange Glaze Directions:
1. Whisk together sugar and cardamom
2. Whisk in zest and juice until it has the consistency of thick honey. If too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time.
Candied Zucchini Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 zucchini
Candied Zucchini Directions:
1. Slice zucchini into ribbons using a mandoline. I don't have one and used the slicing disk on my food processor.
2. Bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and add zucchini. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until translucent. If you place a circle of parchment paper over the top, it helps keep the slices under the liquid.
3. Let zucchini cool in syrup and then arrange zucchini in a single layer on a baking sheet. Let dry for 1 hour.

Squash Me!

I've been a horrible slacker. There has been summer camp, concerts, birthdays, 9:30 bedtimes and not a whole lot of legit cooking (although I did eat a whole box of Wegmans mac and cheese spirals under extenuating circumstances. WIN.) Next week I will be all planned out and on top of things. On Monday I did make this squashy pasta sauce experiment that was inspired by a dish I made last summer.

Farmer's Market Squash Saute

(Kraft Food and Family Magazine)

Ingredients:
2 zucchini, sliced
2 yellow squash, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Cook zucchini and squash in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, cook 3 minutes or until veggies are tender crisp.
2. Remove from heat, stir in mozzarella and basil. Sprinkle with parmesan.

It was simple and delicious. It's quite the little summer time dish too, all sorts of nice in season veggies. So Monday this recipe became my inspiration for dinner. I followed the recipe up until the cheese part. Instead of adding the cheese I added some left over sauce that we had, then threw it on some pasta, put on the parm and ta-da! Veggie Pasta Dinner!

Zucchini Cookies? Yes!

When the Lawyer is away the Jenni will bake.
In addition to the yummy cheese straws, I decided to make some oh so delicious zucchini cookies from my Martha Stewart Magazine. Keeeeeper! Oh Martha how I love you. Even though most of your crafts I attempt turn out horribly...like last years Easter Egg stenciling dying shenanigans. Your recipes on the other hand, gold. Solid gold. Like this one.

Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches

(Martha Stewart Magazine)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature and divided
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup finely grated zucchini
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions:
1. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Beat 1 stick butter and the sugars until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Beat flour mixture into butter mixture. Mix in zucchini, oats, and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop (about 2 tablespoons), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
4. Beat together remaining 1/2 stick butter, the cream cheese, and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of 1 cookie, and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining filling and cookies.

Love it.