Zucchini Bites

I just made the most delicious snack ever.  I’m calling them zucchini bites.  I had recently bought quite a bit of squash at the market.  It was on sale and screaming, “eat me”!  Cut to me at home, scratching my head thinking, what am I going to do with 2 lbs of squash . . .

Luckily, I whipped up a tasty batch of this darling recipe.  I love vegetables, but I imagine anyone who doesn’t, would even like these.  They are magical!  They are essentially zucchini fries.  The outside is salty and crunchy.  The inside is warm and melty.  I don’t know how it happened, but I’m very happy it did.  And they are so easy to make too!  Only a couple of ingredients!  Try these on your picky eaters and tell me if you got them to eat their veggies.

Zucchini Bites

2 cups of zucchini, cut into 1 inch “cubes”

2/3 cup panko bread crumbs

1/3 cup of grated parmesan

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425.  Beat egg in a bowl.  Mix the bread crumbs, parmesan, salt and pepper on a plate.  Dredge zucchini in egg.  Coat the zucchini in the bread crumb mixture.  Place the zucchini on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  Cook for approximately 25 mintues or until outside is brown and crispy.

Sweet Potato Zucchini Gratin

Delicious, creamy, crunchy, savory vegetables.  I love vegetables.  But I only recently discovered this love.   Growing up, I HATED anything with veggies.  Then I grew up and found out the beauty that is vegetables.  I call this a gratin, but there is no cream.  It really is a healthier version of gratin that is just as creamy and satisfying. 

1 medium zucchini

1 medium sweet potato

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Panko bread crumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

Simple, I know.  But delicious. There are 2 simple tricks to making this dish so delicious. Its all in how you cut the veggies and how you cook them in the oven.

Slice the sweet potato and zucchini into thin slices.  The first trick is to keep the slices the same approximate size so they cook at the same time.  Coat the bottom of a 9×5 bread pan with olive oil.  Start layering the zucchini in a single layer on the bottom of pan.  Brush some oil over the vegetables. Then sprinkle a little cheese, garlic, salt and pepper over the vegetables. Then place a layer of sweet potato over the zuchinni. Brush oil over the sweet potato and sprinkle with cheese, garlic, salt and pepper.  Continue this until you have used all the vegetables.  Then top with bread crumbs.

Make sure your oven is heated to 375.  Here comes the second trick.  Make sure you start cooking the veggies covered.  I usually cover mine with foil.  Cook like this for approximately 2o min.  Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.  The vegetables should be soft to the touch.

With these simple steps, you’ll fall in love with vegetables all over again!

Hello world!

This is the beginning of something beautiful – a food blog.  I have been an amateur foodie living in a city of delicious and delectable food for a couple of years now.  After years of reading about food, enjoying it, and experimenting with it, I finally decided to write about my own endeavors in it.

For my first post, I chose something simple and delicious – Zucchini bread.  As you might know, zucchini is a summer squash, meaning it is coming out of most people’s ears this time of season.  Now, I often make savory dishes with zucchini, but zucchini bread is a great way to make your veggies a yummy, chocolaty treat.

I modeled this particular dish after a recipe I found in the Joy of Baking.  Most chocolate zucchini breads have chocolate chips or melted chocolate in it.  I skipped this step because I wanted a slightly sweet treat, but I also wanted to feel like I was still eating something good for me, not just chowing down on chocolate.  Instead, this bread has some nice spice with a subtle chocolate flavor.  It’s actually very light, airy, and decadent.  This recipe could certainly work as breakfast or a sweet after-dinner treat.

1 1/2 c raw, shredded zucchini (one medium zucchini shredded)

1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 c canola oil

1/2 c granulated white sugar

1/2 c light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven.  Grease a 9×5×3″ loaf pan.

In a bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In a bowl beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended.  Fold in the grated zucchini.

Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined.   Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 5o minutes.

Cool completely before cutting.