Monday, July 18, 2011

Zucchini Pickles

Combine 4 cups 1/8” zucchini slices, 1 cup slivered sweet onion and 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves in a glass bowl. Bring 1 cup white vinegar, ½ cup sugar, ¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1 teaspoon mustard seed and ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt to a boil; pour over zucchini mixture. Cover and chill 24 hours.
~Source – Cooking Light

Patti’s Notes: I used summer squash and a 1 quart mason jar. When I poured in the liquid it only went to the half-way point so I brewed up another batch of liquid. It only took a few minutes and wasn’t a big deal, just sayin’…
If you use a glass bowl the veggies would be more spread out and maybe one batch if liquid would be enough. I wanted them in a jar.
OH*MY*GOODNESS, these are super delicious and easy smeasy. Tangy, spicy, a little sweet and a lot of crunchy. Actually these are pretty spicy so if you don’t like the heat you might want to back off a little on the red pepper flakes. I like them as is.

Look out Benihana Chefs, I’m a Summer Squash Samurai
Garlic and onions ready to join the party.
Aren’t they pretty?

Honorable mention: summer squash, garlic and onions from Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm. It doesn't get any fresher than that! http://tonopahrob.com/

Friday, July 15, 2011

Summer Squash, Carrot, Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup oatmeal
½ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 Tbs canola oil
1 egg
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup shredded squash
Preheat oven to 400°. Spray 15 foil muffin cups or muffin pan with non-stick spray (i.e. Pam).

In one bowl add dry ingredients: a.p. flour, w.w. flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix to combine.
In another bowl add wet ingredients: milk, oil, egg, applesauce. Mix to combine.
In another bowl put the shredded carrots and squash. No need to mix.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together. It will look a little dry. Add the fresh veggies and mix. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and place on wire rack. It’s okay to leave them in the papers if you’re using foil muffin cups instead of a muffin pan.

~Source – I made this one up.

Patti’s Notes: These aren’t very sweet but I do that intentionally. You may want to add more brown sugar or some honey or agave. You could also add Spenda for Baking but I eat clean the majority of the time and I try to eliminate artificial anything as much as possible. (Which was not the case in some of my older recipes posted.) You could use regular milk but I pretty much only buy almond milk anymore. These are moist but they are not cupcakes, they are muffins so expect them to be a little dense and not light and fluffy. That being said they aren’t heavy belly bombs. ;~)

Health-O-Meter: Starting with farm fresh ingredients (squash, carrots, egg) from Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm is an added bonus. All naturally grown with no pesticides, etc. Another added bonus with farm fresh: no need to peel the carrots! I’ll have to figure out the calorie count and come back to post it.

Easy Meter: Not difficult. PSA: Use a box grater with caution. They like to grate fingers and knuckles! I managed to get away with a nick. :oh happy day: