Zucchini Pie

Really easy and full of flavor. Would make a great brunch item.

Zucchini Pie (adapted from squidoo.com)


2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

3 Cups grated Zucchini

½ cup chopped Onions

3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 teaspoon freshbasil

Fresh Thyme

Saltand Pepper to taste

2 Eggs beaten

2 cups Mozzarella cheese grated

1 can refrigerated Crescent rolls


Heat oven to 375 degrees. Heat olive in skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, onions, and garlic cook until tender.Add parsley, salt, pepper, basil and thyme to zucchini mixture, stir.In a large bowl combine beaten eggs and grated Mozzarella cheese, mix well. Add the Zucchini mixture to bowl and stir gently.Separate Crescent roll dough and place into an ungreased pie pan, to form a crust. Press the perforations together to prevent the zucchini mixture from escaping.Pour Zucchini mixture evenly into the crust-lined pan.Bake for about 20 minutes (or until knife inserted in center comes out clean)

Happy Birthday Alison!!

I hope 29 is just as fun (if not more fun) than 27 and 28! Love ya! Can't wait to celebrate with you tonight. <3

Eggplant and Potato Curry

Eggplant and Potato Curry (adapted from Indianfood.about.com)

5-6 baby eggplants, cut into halves or quarters

2 potatoes, cut into quarters

1 onion, chopped

3 tablespoons oil

Fennel

Coriander

Cumin

Tumeric

Cayenne Pepper

Cinnamon

or

Curry Powder

Cilantro

Water

In a deep pan, heat the oil on a medium flame until hot.
Add the onions and spices and sautee until soft and transluscent.
Add the eggplant and potato and mix well. Sauteefor 2 minutes.
Sprinkle water on the vegetables and mix all well.
Cover the dish and cook untilthe vegetables are almost done. Check occasionally.
Remove the cover from the dish and stir. Cook until done. You may need to add more water.
Garnish with chopped, fresh cilantro leaves and serve with hot Naan -- we buy pre-made frozen Naan at an Indian store. It's really good and it saves a lot of time.

Eggplant and Zucchini Galore

This weeks menu was put together to use all those yummy zucchinis and eggplants I have sitting around.

Wednesday: Baingan Aloo Ki Subji (Eggplant and Potato Curry) OR Eggplant and Peppers in a Spicy Peanut Sauce. I can't make up my mind! Help me decide!

Thursday: Zucchini "Lasagna" -- instead of pasta you use thin zucchini slices. I can't wait to make this one!

Also, look for a post to come on the CSA we just joined. :-)

Labor Day Dinner

Jake enjoying his Iowa sweet corn smothered in butter, parmesan cheese, pepper, and salt.

Lean steak, sweet corn on the cob, and the best damn kale I've ever made.

A close-up of the sauteed kale I have perfected!

Sauteed Kale (perfected!)

2 Cups kale

olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

a handful or two of pine nuts, toasted

a few splashes of sherry or a wine of your choice

red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

Blanch kale and drain. Heat oil in sautee pan and add kale, garlic, sautee for 2 minutes; add kale, pine nuts, sherry, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper; sautee for 5 minutes.

Garden Bounty

Ok, I LOVE OUR GARDEN! I never thought I would enjoy gardening as much as this. I love going out everyday and finding a new offering. And, how can you beat a tomato fresh out of the garden? I mean, they are the most delicious things ever. I've been busy cooking up all of our garden bounty and I've had a blast doing it. In the past week I've made BLT's with garden fresh tomatoes and basil, a tomato, pepper, onion, and zucchini stew over brown rice, and a to.die.for zucchini chocolate cake. TO.DIE.FOR.

A healthy BLT made with turkey bacon and basil, served with a side of sauteed garden fresh zucchini with sweet corn and sweet potato fries.

The stew was inspired by a family recipe for stewed okra and beef over rice. I simply stewed together tomatoes, peppers, onions, zucchini, and beef, and served over brown rice. Makes delicious leftovers.

And, finally, my crowning glory, especially considering I'm not much of a baker. I made a chocolate chip zucchini cake! Don't you just love how zucchinis make bread and cake so damn moist? The recipe come from epicurious.com. My changes are denoted in red.

CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI CAKE (epicurious.com, 2002)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting I used 2 1/4 cups flour and 1/4 cocoa powder to make it an extra chocolately cake
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs at room temperature
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (8 ounces)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips I reccomend Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
a 3-quart bundt or fleur-de-lis pan

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter bundt pan well and dust with some flour, knocking out excess.
Sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down side of bowl occasionally, then beat until very smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes more.
Reduce speed to low and add all but 1/2 cup flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
Toss zucchini, chocolate chips, and walnuts with remaining 1/2 cup flour mixture and add to batter, then mix batter with a rubber spatula (batter will be thick).
Spoon batter into bundt pan, smoothing top. Bake in middle of oven, rotating pan halfway through baking, until side begins to pull away from pan and a tester comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes total.
Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes, then run a thin knife around outer and inner edges. Invert rack over pan, then invert cake onto rack. Cool completely.

Vegetable Soup made by Kids

The Earth Heroes at the Club made vegetable soup from some veggies they grew in their gardens. They are quite the cooks! Here's some fun pics from the festivities.

Fried Zuchini From the Garden

The beautiful plant.

A tiny little zuchini right next to the one I picked and fried up.

How beautiful is this? I grew it!!!

Getting ready to get dipped (in egg and milk mixture) then breaded with italian bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

The finished product.

Want to see more pics of my garden? Click here!

This May Explain Things

Introducing Baby Riggs-Larson! A new and exciting blog is soon to come, keep posted for updates. :-)

Happy Earth Day/Earth Week

What a glorious day we had yesterday. We had a HUGE Earth Day celebration at the Club and the kids had an amazing and very memorable Earth Day 2009.

The celebration started with a march/litter pick-up in the community. We had 250 kiddos marching, picking up litter, and chanting, "HAPPY EARTH DAY"! After the march we returned the Club where the kids danced to live music (thanks to the VERY AWESOME Navy Band-- You guys ROCK!), got their faces painted, and wrote earth-friendly messages with sidewalk chalk.

HAPPY EARTH DAY/EARTH WEEK! Celebrate!