Zucchini Pizza

Back in March I was catching up on one of my new favorite blogs, Eat, Live, Run, and some how came across an old post, "Cheesy Zucchini Pizza That Will Rock Your Face".  With a name like that, how can you resist trying it?  Plus I am a huge fan of zucchini and baking things so I new I needed to try this sometime soon.
I tried her homemade Pizza Dough which was super easy and tasty.  Plus, a wheat crust with zucchini just seems right.  The recipe is enough for two crusts which is very good cause I did manage to screw up at the last minute.  Not thinking, I put the dough between two sheets of wax paper to roll it out, and there it stuck.  Luckily the other half of the dough I had thrown into the freezer had not froze yet and I pulled it out to save the day.  Since you can just buy dough or a crust already done up, you can easily avoid my mess up.
The pizza I made was probably a large, definitely enough for four people.  That said, I had way too much zucchini/cheese mixture to put on the pizza, so it is hiding out in my fridge to become something tonight. (Maybe some sort of quesadilla?) I don't know if my zucchini's were too large or if it is just too much.  I would say you might only need one zucchini and one to one and a half cups of mozzarella cheese. I also added peppers to her recipe and was going to add some of my brother's dried chili mixture, but since my spice sensitive friend was joining me for dinner I decided I had better not. All in all it was really tasty and you think your eating healthy with all the veggies and whole wheat and cheese. Plus, it reheats excellently for next day lunch!


Ingreidents

• Pizza dough! (see link above or buy some)
• 2 large zucchinis, seeds removed 
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• sea salt
• pepper
• red pepper flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees when you begin preparing the zucchini & peppers.  Spray a cookies sheet or pizza baking stone with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. Grate the zucchinis and press with paper towels to soak up the liquid. Mix the zucchini and the peppers with the mozzarella cheese and a dash of salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.
3. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and garlic. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
4. Work the pizza dough into whatever shape your heart desires. Spread the ricotta cheese on top and then top with the zucchini mixture. Add some pepper flakes. 
5. Reduce oven temperature to 450 and bake pizza for about 12 minutes, or until the crust begins to turn golden and the cheese has started to bubble.

Enjoy! 

Amazing Fresh Apple Salsa

I have had this recipe hanging on my fridge for months now probably waiting for me to make it. It is absolutely delicious.  That's really all I can say about it.  Amazing.  
I found this recipe in Cooking Light and I followed it somewhat closely.  I didn't really measure anything precisely, so my measurements are less specific than theirs were and I added green pepper. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.  I was eating it with chips and I made a quesadila with it and some leftover grilled chicken and cheese. Again SO GOOD! 


Fresh Apple Salsa

• 2 apples, peeled and diced 
•  1/4 of a red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 of a green bell pepper, diced 
• fresh squeezed juice from 3 limes 
• 1/4 of a red onion, diced
• about 1/4  cup  minced fresh cilantro
• about 1  tablespoon  honey
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced

Combine all ingredients, stirring well.

Enjoy! 

Lemon-Off Trial #2: Lemon Spagetti with Asparagus

I recently added Eat Live Run to my Google Reader and I think it's safe to say I save almost every other recipe that Jenna posts. (She's also pretty funny, so I highly recommend checking it out.)  A week ago her recipe for Meyer Lemon Spaghetti with Asparagus was sitting in my reader. This is the recipe that made me realize I had to make Lemon the next neighborhood bake/cook-off.  On Saturday I decided I would be testing it out this week to see if it was the one for the competition.  Or really because I am just all about lemon right now.
I really like this recipe. Like, Jenna, I am not a huge fan of asparagus.  My grandma used to have a patch of it growing on the path to her house and she would pick it and try to get us to eat it raw. I think it was the smell that really got to me. Anyway, it is great in this recipe.  The thing that I will probably delete next time is the sun-dried tomatoes. I am not a tomato fan at all.  Actually I would probably include them for flavor again, but not actually eat them, its more the texture that gets me.  The combo of the lemon and red pepper flavors are so excellent together.  For the cook-off I think I need something even more lemony, but this recipe will be frequenting my kitchen from here on out.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz linguine pasta
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (I added a bit more than the original)
• juice of two large meyer lemons to equal about 1/2 cup 
• bunch asparagus, sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until done. When pasta is done, remove noodles with a slotted spoon, reserving boiling water. 
2. Blanch asparagus in water for thirty seconds, until bright green. Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid.
3. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and saute for thirty seconds. Remove from the heat. Add the pasta, sundried tomatoes and asparagus to the pan and toss everything together. Pour in the lemon juice along with additional cooking water if the dish seems too dry. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add the Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!  

Prepping for the Lemon-Off: Lemon Cake

In just a few short weeks we will be having a Lemon-Off in Battle Hill.  I absolutely love lemon and have been seeing a bunch of recipes for sweet and savory lemon dishes. My cravings hit a high and I decided it was time for another bake/cook-off.  I was thinking that I may make this cake and, since I had not made it before, figured I should try it out first.  It is delicious and tasty but perhaps not creative enough for our little neighborhood battle.  The lemon flavor was strong, but I would have liked it to be stronger, like it's soaked in lemon juice.  It was really easy to make and I will definitely make it again.

  Cake:

• 1 lemon
• 3 cups  all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons  baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon  salt
• 1 cup  milk
• 1 container (6 ounces)  lemon yogurt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1-3/4 cups  sugar
• 3 large  eggs

  Frosting

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 16 ounces confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons  lemon juice (from Cake) 

Cake:

1. Heat oven to 350°. Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line pans with waxed paper (Trace cake pan on waxed paper. Cut out circle; repeat for second pan. Fit waxed paper circles into bottoms of greased pans); spray paper.
2. Zest lemon peel (about 2 teaspoons). Juice lemon.
3. In medium-size bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a measuring cup, whisk together milk, yogurt and vanilla. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
4. On low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture in three additions, alternating with milk mixture. Beat well after each addition. 
5. Fold in zest. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.
6. Bake layers at 350° for 35 minutes or until cake springs back when pressed lightly. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully invert cake layers directly onto racks, remove and discard waxed paper and let layers cool completely.

Frosting:

1. Once layers are cool, beat butter, 1 cup of the confectioners sugar, the reserved lemon juice (about 2 tablespoons) and 2 tablespoons water in a large bowl until smooth. 
2. Gradually beat in remaining confectioners sugar until good spreading consistency.  
3. To frost cake, place one layer on a plate or stand. Spread top of layer with 1 cup frosting. Stack second cake layer on first and begin frosting side of cake. Continue around side of cake, then finish top, swirling decoratively. 
4. Serve immediately or refrigerate before slicing and serving. 

Enjoy! 

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars

I have been a little MIA lately. I have been baking and cooking, but since I had to make a hasty trip back to South Dakota, Grandma and Mom have been doing most of the work this past week or so, or the pizza delivery guy.  Before that, I was making simple things that I have already blogged about like turtle cookies and my zucchini, squash and chicken dinner.  
There have been several batches of turtle cookies. Grandma made another batch this morning and I decided I needed to make something to go with them for our little road trip to the state basketball game tomorrow.  After going though the recipes on my computer  I came across Cranberry Oatmeal Bars on My Recipes an thought they would be semi healthy for the trip. Plus I love anything with cranberry and orange!

Crust:

• 4.5  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
• 1  cup  quick-cooking oats
• 1/2  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 6  tablespoons  butter, melted
• 3  tablespoons  orange juice
• Cooking spray

Filling:

• 1 1/3  cups  dried cranberries (about 6 ounces)
• 3/4  cup  sour cream
• 1/2  cup  granulated sugar
• 2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1/2  teaspoon  grated orange rind
• 1  large egg white, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 325°. 

2. To prepare crust, weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through cinnamon) in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle butter and juice over flour mixture, stirring until moistened (mixture will be crumbly). Reserve 1/2 cup oat mixture. Press remaining oat mixture into the bottom of an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

3. To prepare filling, combine cranberries, sour cream, granulated sugar, and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring well. Spread cranberry mixture over prepared crust; sprinkle reserved oat mixture evenly over filling. Bake at 325° for 40 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Enjoy! 

Time for Key Lime

A few weeks ago The Pioneer Woman tweeted something about Key Lime Cupcakes in Salt Lake City and I thought the idea was brilliant.  The odd thing is that I don't think I have ever had true key lime pie.  I just really like the idea of it.  Over Christmas I made a quick version key lime pie I found in a magazine, but it was not very good and I decided it was too much of a failure to share.  It did not ruin my desire for key lime and I am glad for that.    

 

Immediately after reading this tweet, I jumped online and into my 500 Cupcakes cookbook for recipes.  I found many that were like the one I am going to share with you and others had actual key lime cream filling with meringue for frosting.  I thought about combining these recipes to some degree by mixing different cakes with the different frostings, but in the end I decided to stick with the recipe I found on Bon Appetit.  I was feeling lazy and didn't want to deal with a six step process to make cupcakes.  I will someday, just not now. 

 

These are delicious and I had enough batter to make 18 cupcakes instead of 12 like the recipe said.  They didn't rise very much, but maybe they were not suppose to, I'm not sure and I can't really tell from their picture if theirs did or not. It took me forever to actually bake these because I kept missing one thing or another and I kept missing the fact that the butter and cream cheese need to be at room temperature.  I also added coconut to the tops of half of them.  I think it was a good addition.

 

Cupcake Ingredients 

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
• 1/4 teaspoon neon-green food coloring
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting

• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted utter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• Coconut if desired 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar; beat to blend. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then next 3 ingredients (batter may look curdled). Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner.
2. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.
3. FROSTING: Beat all ingredients except coconut in medium bowl until smooth. Spread over cupcakes. Spinkle coconut on top. 
   
    
   ENJOY!  

Crab Cakes with Lemon Aioli

I hate winter. Lemons are acting as my sunshine replacement lately...and I've been incorporating them into everything. Keeping with that theme, I was inspired to make one of my favorite warm weather dishes recently. Crab cakes make me remember how lovely summertime can be and help me cling to hope that it will soon return. I've got my fingers crossed and sandals at the ready.

Crab Cakes (adaptations from Healthy Appetite and Big Girls, Small Kitchen)

16 oz crab meat (I found this in a can but I'm sure it would be better fresh)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
fresh parsley, chopped
scallions/green onions, chopped finely
lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
few dashes cayenne pepper or seafood seasoning (like Old Bay)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 egg, lightly beaten
salt and pepper
olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Form into 2 inch diameter patties (or whatever cake size you desire). Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a skillet. Brown each side of the crab cakes.

Lemon Aioli (adapted from the Neely's recipe)

1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons lemon juice
lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dill
salt and pepper

Wisk all the ingredients together. Serve cold as a garnish for your crab cakes.

Pair with an ice cold Corona (+ lime) or some other quintessentially warm weather drink. Summer here we come!