I am all Zucchini'd out!

I had bought a 4 pack of zucchini the other day.  What to do, what to do?  I have always wanted to make zucchini bread.  Finally got around to making it!  First off, you have to zest a lemon.  Couldn't find my zester!  Don't know how you could not find it!  It has a hot green handle, but I could not.  So off to chopping it finely  myself.  yuck.  So then I'm mixing it all together and I mix up the baking soda and baking powder measurements.  1/2 t. baking soda, I put in 1/2 t. of baking powder, + 1/2 t. baking soda.  I think that's why my bread came out so dense.  Still good but dense! (so while all this is happening, my daughter locks her bedroom door, so I have to wait for my husband to get up because he is better at picking locks them I am!) 

The outside was nice and crunchy.  Although it came out dense, it didn't stop me from eating two slices.....

Zoe on the other hand, was not a fan!

So while that was baking (took 55 minutes) I thought hmm...(that and I couldn't pack up Zoe's room like I had planned b/c we are still locked out at this point!) what else can I made with this zucchini.  I searched on pinterst and found this one recipe.  Then I changed it up b/c I did not have all the ingredients.

I think I over seasoned it, but it came out pretty tasty, and filling. 

Original recipe can be found here.

I'll share the "recipe" I did.  Its one of those recipes that you throw everything in but the kitchen sink.

•  1 1/2 med. zucchini's, shredded
•  1 carrot, peeled and shredded
• 1/4 c. corn (left overs for us)
• 3/4 c. of Bisquick
• 1/2 c. egg substitute
• 1/2 c. ricotta cheese
• seasoning salt and pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• oil for frying

So basically I just threw all that stuff together and mixed.  I heated up the oil in a frying pan and threw about 2 T. of mixture in the oil and fan fried for about 1-2 minutes per side.  It's just like making a pancake.  Once it was done I drained it on paper towells.  I have to almost always have a sauce with stuff, so I quickly made a "remoulade".   Remoulade is a mayo based sauce (french), I guess mine can be considered tartar, but whatev's.  I mixed mayo with relish and lemon juice.  voila, instant sauce.

So I think both of these misses could be hits, with a little bit more tweaking. 

Has anyone experimented in the kitchen lately?  Any hits or misses??

*Allie

 



Latelys

So I have been MIA this past week, school started up again.  Which means I haven't cooked anything new, or have done any crafts.  I had a paper already to write, due today.  But its only 500 words.  Easy peasy.  So I decided to do a little bit of latelys.......

 

 

reading: Right now I am reading a really long, kinda angsty ff.  But I have bought a ton of books, including nook books.  I think its a sickness.  I bought two books from the traveling pants series, bridget jones books 1 and 2.  A thousand splendid suns.  Derailed ( I'm blanking right now on that one...lol its the movie with Jenn aniston.  my fave that she is in)  A fannie flag book (shes a good author).  As for my nook, I think I have bought like 10......but some are like .99 so that's OK!  The books I get from goodwill that are .99 so that is how I justify my spending! haha.

obsessing: moving!  we are moving again!  its seems to me that we move at the beginning of each school semester.  not during breaks.  no we like to move right when i start school back up again!  I wish we were going to a house, I'm just not ready to settle in Florida.  Our dreams are to go back to Washington.  Anywhere but Florida really!  We are moving to a bigger 2bedroom/2bath.  Zoe's room will be bigger and my kitchen will be bigger!  That is what matters to me! lol.  I also bought a new couch, so I cant freaking wait to get it!  Its a big red sectional.    I am in love.  and of course I have to get new accents because mine are all black and I need brown to match the couch.  So I have been obsessing about that lately as well.

listening to: I just downloaded a bunch of new songs on my ipod.  I splurged and bought an itunes card.  I like going to the top singles and getting whats new.  Loving Flo ridas good feeling and will.i.am's T.H.E.  I am also loving me some Bon Iver...which is at the total opposite spectrum as the hip hop I just listed! lol.  His older album for emma.  love it!

baking/making: I plan on making zucchini bread today!  I also made a crockpot chili last week, that came out pretty tasty.  I am not a chili fan, but the hubs is.  There is a funny story with that recipe.

looking forward to: Moving into our new place and getting things organized.  Hopefully throwing a lot of junk out.  I am eliminated a few things, but I want to junk more!

want to accomplish: I am going to get a booth at the farmers market next month!  I am going in with a friend of my moms.  Looking really forward to that!

watching: Pretty little liars is back on!  Also pan am, once upon a time, vd, greys, secret circle.  Those are all on the dvr!

missing: my grandma.

 

 

 

So what have you been up to lately? 

 

 

 

 

*Allie



A spin on Beef Stronganof!

Hello all!  OK, so if you have perused the blog, you would have noticed my love for food and recipes.  Yes I love to cook, yes I collect cookbooks, and I have probably 600+ recipes pinned on my boards on pinterest.  Cooking and baking are two of my favorite things to do.

One of my favorite dishes to eat is beef stronganoff.  Except I have never had the traditional dish.  My mom spins stuff and we call it the poor mans dish.  Because we cant afford a lot of stuff, so we improvise.  And the way times are there is nothing wrong with that!  There is nothing wrong with cooking semi-homemade either.  We lead busy lives, we need some help every once and again.  So I am sharing with you a spin on my mom poor mans beef stroganoff. 

Note: I have never made this dish before.  I usually just call my mom and up and say, make me beef stroganoff PLEASE!  So I was looking at her cookbook and found an easy recipe on it.  Cept I didn't copy it down.  I did it from memory and made my own.  I think it came out like beef strogonaff.  Yummy!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey

1 pint mushroom, whole or sliced (you get the same amount for the same price, so buy the sliced)

1 small onion, chopped

egg wide noodles

butter

salt, pepper and garlic powder

1 c. lite sour cream

2 cubes of beef bouillon

Saute sliced mushrooms in some oil.  Then add your chopped onion.  Saute until nice and soft (onions will be translucent).  When those are done put them in a bowl to the side.  Add your ground turkey and crumble.  Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.  Towards the end of cooking the ground turkey I added a couple of pours of red wine to "deglaze" the pan.   Scrape up the brown yummy bits on the bottom of the pan.  I cook on high towards the end to burn off any liquid so I didn't have to drain it.  (now if you use ground beef and its fatty then you will have to drain).

So while you are doing that, boil your noodles.  Make sure to salt your water.  Cook till al dente (which means to the tooth).  When that is done add butter to it.  I used maybe 3 tablespoons.

Now I had beef cubes, so I took a little bit of the boiling water for the noodles and threw it over the cubes to dissolve during this whole process.  You might have to help it along and crush it here and there.  I used maybe 1/4 c. of boiling water.  When that is nice and dissolved add it to 1 c. sour cream.  Then whisk to incorporate.

Add the mushroom mixture to your turkey mixture and heat up.  Add your sour cream mixture to your turkey mixture and stir.  You can either mix the noodles in or set the turkey mixture on top. 

Enjoy!

Any one have any easy yummy recipes they want to share?

*Allie 

Books, books, BOOKS!!

Besides loving to cook, bake and craft, I also love, love to read!  I have always loved to read.  I remember when I got my first job as a PBX operator, all I did was read.  I think I read 100 books over that year I worked at that desk!

So for Christmas my husband got me a NOOK!  YAY!  I have been asking for one for awhile now.  So far I have read 3 books!  I also downloaded some cookbooks :)  Cant help it.  I have to get my cooking fix in somehow. 

I wanted to do a post to show all my favorite books at this time.  Some are adult, some are young adult.  Its nice to get an escape from everyday life now and then.

I'll start off with my favorite series.

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

Don't hate on twilight, some things are cliche, but really come on you know you like it.  Favorites are Twilight and Eclipse.  Doesn't hurt that Robert Pattinson plays Edward.....

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins 

This is a dark series, but very good!  Cant wait for the movie.  I will be sporting my team peeta shirt!

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

I have read most of his books and he is a great story teller.  He is on my list of favorite authors and I recommend him to everyone that asks what they should read!

The Shining by Stephen King

My favorite King novel.  We own a lot of his books, if you have seen the movie and love it, you must read this book.  The best!

So what are you reading?

*Allie 



Easy Tilapia

This is one of my favorite go to recipes.  Super simple, super delish!

Only 6 ingredients.

I don't measure, all  I do is throw a couple heaping teaspoons of mayo in a bowl.  Add some garlic powder, cracked pepper and lime juice (fresh or bottled).  Add more seasoning to taste.  Mix until spreadable.

Line your tilipia (or any white mild fish) in a casserole dish.  Spread over tilapia, a nice amount.  Not too much, but enough to cover the entire fillet.  Then sprinkle breadcrumbs over it.  All I had on hand was italian bread crumbs, you could use panko as well.  I then spray non stick spray over it, so it comes out on the golden side. 

Bake at 350 degrees with 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes with a fork.

You can even throw it under the broiler when done to get a little more on the crispy side.

This is so quick and the lime with the fish tastes awesome!

*Allie 



Hot food on a cold night!

It's really cold here on the east coast.  Even here in Florida!  I was craving some grilled cheese and tomato soup.  But then I went to the store and they had our favorite caesar salad on sale, so I changed it up a bit.

If you love hot sandwiches, aka paninis then I suggest you invest in a panini grill.  Best thing ever!  It squashes the sandwich and grills it to perfection. 

A few years ago I worked in a little italian deli.  We would have lunch together everyday.  One day he decided to add paninis to the menu and so we experimented...a lot.  He had yummy submarine bread, this awesome herb oil, delicious imported italian cheese, scrumptious italian deli meats (prosciutto..yum). so we ate a lot of hot sandwiches. 

This is where I feel in love with pesto.  Pesto on one side of the sandwich, then real mayo on the other.  I took two slices of cheddar cheese and put that on each slice of bread.  Then I sliced up some tomatoes (because I cant not have a sandwich w/o tomatoes!) added some turkey and then threw it on the grill.  Usually I take some oil and mix it with italian seasoning and brush it on the bread.  It adds a nice touch.  Tonight I was rushing so I just brushed some butter on it.  It only takes minutes on that grill and it comes out crunchy and melty and fantastic!

So what are you all eating on these cold nights??



*Allie

Future Projects and Recipes

Its a new year and I have been wanting to try some things out for awhile now.  But with the holidays its hard to get things done.  You have Christmas shopping to do, grocery shopping, parties.....running around like a chicken with your head cut off.  So now that all the craziness is done with I am focused on my resolutions.  I added a new one....make some more of my pins from pinterest.

Yes it keeps me up at night, not really, but I do think of them often and how I wish I was a stay at home mom again and had more time to do these things.  So I am going to list some of my projects/recipes and hopefully if I put them down here then I will most definitely do it!

for mamas

This pizza casserole looks delicious, a friend made it and I cant wait to make it, when we are craving pizza!

sheer serendipity

OK, so if you go visit Sheer Serendipity, she has awesome step by step on how to make this, I however am not as talented, but I want to make something similar to this for our new apartment.  I will be referencing back to this to get the jist of it and see how it turns out!

the kitchn

No bake nutella cookies, need I say more?  These will be done very soon....before the diet or life style change commences.

(unfortunately can not give credit, where credit is due)

Nutella hot chocolate.  1 c. milk in a saucepan, heat it up add 2 T. nutella, add a pinch of cinnamon and whisk until frothy.  Top with marshmallows and whip cream.  It's so cold in Florida right now, I think I will be making this tonight!

Some other projects I have lined up are twine covered wine bottles.  I plan to put candles in them.  I already have the twine, and the empty bottles.  Like 3 or 4....maybe 5.  OK the holidays just passed and I made some sangria and maybe indulged a little......

Of course I am still wanting to make more artwork from my millions of tp rolls.  Just bought a 36 pack of tp rolls, so I will have a good supply saved up again! ha ha

So anyone have some projects or yummy recipes lined up this new year?

*Allie

P.s. I totally have kept up with one of my resolutions and that was not to eat food at work!  Holler!