Vegetable Tart

The inspiration for this adventure was a recipe for a Zucchini and Tomato Tart I found in a magazine a few years ago and never made. I kept going back to it every summer, but one thing was stopping me. I didn't own a tart pan!

I am happy to say I now own a tart pan! It was a gift for my bridal shower, which was last November and I finally got to break it in.

I used a variety of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and onions (all from the farmers market).

1 pre-made pie crust

Cow Girl Creamer Mt Tam 3 cream

Vegetables

Spray tart pan with non-stick cooking spray, line with pie crust, bake for 10 minutes at 400. Then layer cheese on bottom (see picture below). The pile the veggies on and cook at 350 for approximately 30-40 minutes.

Yum!!! Even fabulous husband approved.

Banana Pancakes

My fabulous husband loves to make waffles. Not belgium, regular as he would say. He has his own waffle iron and I often buy him mixes. He makes outstanding waffles. Feel free to come visit and request them!

More than I love waffles, I LOVE banana pancakes. Fabulous husband tried to make banana waffles and they weren't bad, but they weren't what I was dreaming about. This past weekend, he made me banana pancakes and they were to die for. I don't have the recipe, except to say that he would pour the batter into the pan, place the banana slices on it and cook. I added some cinnamon to a few of them and oh it was heaven.

What's my obsession with banana pancakes? A few years ago I was in Negril, Jamaica and there is a fabulous little place there called Selinas and they made the best and I mean BEST banana pancakes i've ever and will ever have (sorry fabulous husband). The coffee, the pancakes, the tropical setting, the good friends...what memories.

Still do this day... how many years later... 5 or so I dream about banana pancakes. Jack Johnson even wrote a song about them! Well not Selina's but about banana pancakes... how could you go wrong, unless you don't like banana.

Anyhow, I digress, here are some pictures of fabulous husbands banana pancakes....

Farmer's Market

One of the requirements for the location of our new house was that there be a farmer's market within a reasonable distance. Turns out the town over from us has one every Saturday starting mid-June. I have fallen in love with our Farmer's Market. It is more important to me this year because I was not able to plant a garden, and so I am completely relying on the local farmers to provide me with some outstanding Jersey produce. I hit pay dirt.
Aside from produce there is a local bakery that has the most amazing bread(s). There are farm fresh eggs, cheese, flowers, coffee, meat etc. It is sponsered by the Food Shed Alliance and they do a really amazing job. http://www.foodshedalliance.org/

One of my favorite participant's is Godlewsky Farms. Their produce is AMAZING! Everything but the peaches is from their stand. http://www.godlewskyfarms.com/

The peaches below are from Bests Fruit Farm. They are so juicy! Look for a peach cobbler recipe to be coming soon using them!

If you are ever in the area on a Saturday, be sure to check out the market: http://www.foodshedalliance.org/btownmarket_homepage.html

Cookies N' Cream Cupcakes & A new camera!

My new camera (Nikon D5000) arrived in the mail yesterday, so of course I had to bake. Okay, I was already planning to bake, but the camera arriving was a bonus.

Here is my attempt at Cookies n' Cream cupcakes. The recipe is from my daily cupcake calendar which got it from the book 500 Cupcakes...

Cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
10 crushes oreos

Frosting
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened
Pinch of salt
10 chopped oreos

Preheat the oven to 350. Place 18 foil or paper baking cups in muffin pans. Combine all cupcake ingredients, except the cookies in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and pale, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the cookies.

Spoon the batter into the cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pans from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a wire rack.

To make the frosting, beat the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and salt using an electric mixer. Spread the frosting on the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with chopped cookies on top.

Store unfrosted in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

I followed the recipe pretty exact. I did cut it in half since I have no need for that many cupcakes, and in doing so overcooked the cupcakes. They were still tasty, but noticibly overcooked. Ooops. They made for a lovely photo session!

Zucchinni Season Continues... Zucchinni Cakes!

Here is the inspiration recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Connies-Zucchini-Crab-Cakes/Detail.aspx

Here is what I did:

Ingredients:
2 cups zucchini
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon smart balance, melted
¾ cup seasoned bread crumbs
Old Bay to taste
1/3 cup of whole wheat flour
Vegetable oil for frying

In a large bowl combine zucchini, egg and smart balance. Stir in seasoned bread crumbs and seasoning. Mix well. Shape into patties, dredge in flour. In medium skillet, heat oil over medium high heat until hot. Fry patties in oil until golden brown on both sides. Blot oil with paper towel.

*Inspiration recipe calls for onion. The first time I made these, I included, but after omitting it yesterday, I don’t think it really needs the onion.
*I used my 4-cup food processer for the zucchini. I found that having it a little more chopped than shredded worked really better.
*Whole Wheat flour substituted for all-purpose gave a nice flavor.
*In the past I have used Old Bay bread crumbs, if you do this I recommend NOT adding Old Bay spice as it kills the flavor. I stick with seasoned bread crumbs and Old Bay spice.


We served it with grilled pineapple (drizzled with balsamic vinegar and pepper), grilled pork chop (with an applewood rub) and applesauce. Delicious!! We were both craving more zucchini cakes! Dessert was a store bought strawberry ruhbarb pie with homemade strawberry ice cream.

Semi-Failure in the Kitchen...

It's zucchini season here in NJ and last week I hit paydirt at the local farmers market. I had grand plans, but then a heat wave hit and all motivation ceased. However, last night inspiration struck and baking I did.

This is the inspiration recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lemon-Zucchini-Bread/Detail.aspx

This is my take:
2 cups shredded zucchini
¾ cup white sugar
1 egg
¼ cup of apple sauce
¼ cup of evoo
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ tsp of salt
½ tsp of baking soda
¼ tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
2 tsps lemon zest

1. Preheat over to 325 degrees F. Spray 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan with pam.
2. Beat together the zucchini, sugar, egg and oil in stand mixer. In a separate bowl , sift together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder; stir in cinnamon and lemon zest. Add flour mixture into zucchini mixture until just blended on low setting. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake 45 minutes in preheated over or until knife comes out clean. Remove from heat, and cool about 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.


Except I forgot to add the sugar last night! Whoops. It's still very good, not as sweet, but otherwise tasty. I will be making a few more loaves over the weekend and will be sure to include the sugar!

Grilled Turkey Burgers Topped with Onion Caesar Style

Here is the link to the inspiration recipe:

http://http//www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/grilled-onion-topped-caesar-burgers/bffdebed-8754-4104-b3be-31d453f8e67f?WT.dcsvid=NDY1MzcwOTIxMQS2&rvrin=9D528F94-2F99-4B52-9824-3C19956D188F&WT.mc_id=Newsletter_DME_07_01_2010

I made a few changes:

-used ground turkey breast in place of bee

-used lite caeser

-used bib lettuce fresh from the farmers market

-used fresh rolls from the farmers market.

They were amazingly delicious. I should also note I added some parm cheese into the burger patty and DID NOT put dressing on while grilling.

I put some dressing on the warm bun, put the patty on, lettuce, onion and some cheese and served with a side of grilled seasoned fries.

Here are some pictures!