Insert laziness

Remember when I told  you I was lazy? Well here is my proof. Even though work has been a little slow (due to summer time). If or when I go to the gym its not until late evening. My social life isn't brimming with tons of events. But I've yet to post anything. It's really that I'm lazy, and sometimes I'd rather not have anything on my to do list. But, as with all good intentions, I've been meaning to post. Thought about it. Started a few sentences. Made a couple of notations. But alas, nothing to show for it until now! 


I had a couple of witty ideas, but my laziness ruined the timing. Sometimes, or a lot of times, timing is everything. So to recoup from my laziness I figured I could just post a few of the recipes/cooking adventures that I've done over the past few weeks. 


Well meant post #1:
"Zucchini part deux"


To answer Suburban Cowgirl's question, here is what I did with part of the left over "Hulk".


Recipe:

This was pre-baked, but you get the idea

• Whole wheat pizza dough (I used whole wheat Boboli, 'cause I was short on time, and it was on sale)
• approx. 1/2 cup of sliced grape tomatoes (or any type of tomato you enjoy) 
• approx. 1 cup zucchini
• 1 clove garlic
• olive oil  (enough to toss veggies)
• herbed goat cheese
• mozarella (I used 2 packs of string cheese, 'cause I didn't have any real mozarella)
• fresh basil
• salt to taste
• I think thats it, but who knows. Add whatever suits your fancy

Heat oven to 450 degrees

Chop garlic. Slice tomatoes in half. Slice zucchini about 1/4 inch thick. Toss veggies, garlic, olive oil, and salt to taste in bowl. Spread on cooking sheet and roast in oven for about 10 minutes, or until veggies look done. The tomatoes should "pop" a little, but not burnt. 

Spread goat cheese on dough and top with roasted veggies, and dot with mozzarella cheese. Lay fresh basil leaves on top of pizza and add salt to taste. Bake for approx 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Then commence eating. 

Well meant post #2:

"Sun-dried tomato creamy pasta"

Forgot to take a picture before I started eating.

Recipe:

• 3-4 cups Pasta of choice (I used whole wheat rotelle, but I usually opt for penne rigate)
• About 1/4cup to 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
• 1 clove garlic chopped, if desired
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shreeded italian cheese (I like the four cheese mix with fontina, pecorino romano, parmesan, and mozzarella)
• Salt to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta cooks, heat medium sized skillet on medium. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes with oil in pan. Not all the oil from the jar, but what stuck to the tomatoes. This should be about 1 tbsp or a little more. And add the garlic. Cook until tomatoes warm, but not burn, watch out especially for the garlic. Burnt garlic is no bueno. Turn down heat to low and add flour. You may need to adjust this depending on how much oil is used. Then whisk oil and flour to make a roux. Once the flour cooks, about 2 minutes or less, add milk in small splashes. Whisk milk and flour until sauce is creamy, not lumpy, and thick enough to your liking. Then add shredded cheese. You can toss the cheese in a little bit of flour which will help it from clumping all together. Whisk cheese and sauce until sauce is all emulsified. Add salt to taste, I usually hold out on the salt here because the cheese is pretty salty. Then pour sauce over cooked pasta and eat :) 

Well meant post #3

"Brussel sprouts made yummy"

Recipe:

• 4 cups brussel sprouts
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp butter

Clean and steam brussel sprouts, set aside. 

Candied pecans:

Heat medium skillet on medium heat. Add pecans, stir frequently (you want to heat the pecans in the pan to release the natural oils). When the pecans are warmed, add sugar and stir constantly. Continue to stir until the sugar adheres on the pecans and the pecans become coated with sugar. Set aside on wax or parchment paper. 

Quarter brussel sprouts. Heat pan on medium. Add butter. Heat butter until browned. Not burnt, but browned. Brown butter is delicious! When the butter becomes brown and smells nutty, add brussel sprouts and pecans. Toss and serve. Then eat, and enjoy if you dare to eat brussel sprouts. 

A few words on my recipes. I'm not a chef, and so my recipes are kinda jumbled. I did my best to be clear and concise, but that's hard when you cook whimsically. I'm not sure if I do cook whimsically, but I like the way it sounded. Most of my recipes are just thrown together. I come up with what I want to eat, then use my small artillery of techniques to execute. When it comes to baking, I try to follow the recipe the first time then adjust as I need (especially if my ADD acts up and I need to improvise). 

I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you try any out and how it goes, and include if you made changes so I can steal your ideas ;)

Dennis and the giant zucchini

My coworker Dennis asked me the other day if I enjoy zucchini. My answer? Why yes, yes I do. Why do you ask Dennis? Dennis then brings me this ginormous (giant/enormous) zucchini from his home garden. It's the size of a friggin watermelon. Not even kidding. I think he adds steroids to his vegetables. Maybe I should dub this zucchini the Manny Ramirez of squashes. Second thought maybe I'll call it the "Hulk". Apparently I like to give my foods proper names.

What do I do with the Hulk? Make zucchini bread of course! Yummy! I love zucchini bread. Maybe because it combines cake and vegetables and the title makes it sound healthy. In case you didn't know, zucchini bread: not so healthy. It does have fiber and the pecans add omega-3 fatty acids. I'll just ignore the sugar and oil that also goes into the batter.

In this baking adventure, I think my ADD kicked in, because while mixing the batter and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I forgot to add the oil in. Ooops. So the batch of muffins I did came out a little wonky. Wonky or not wonky, I have to taste my creations. What if I stumble upon a new fantastic recipe? Not such a fantastic mistake, but not a disastrous one either. I quickly responded once my memory cells kicked into gear and realized that I forgot the oil. This meant grabbing the loaf I put in the oven and dumping the batter back into the batter bowl to then add oil. This is also not such a good idea in the baking world.

Baking usually follows rules. If you don't mix the ingredients in the correct order or the correct temperature, it can equal another wonky creation. Normally my zucchini bread is deliciouso. It's not an original recipe, I got it from this cookbook, which I love. It's really old, but handy.

After baking times had finished, I taste tested my wonky creations. My decision? Pretty tasty, nothing that is going to be a revelation to the baking world, but definitely edible. How edible? Enough that I ate two muffins to "taste".


Now I have to figure out what to do with the other half. Maybe some sautéed zucchini pasta?