What have you been doing with your tomatoes? Any suggestions?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
how to use up the tomatoes
What have you been doing with your tomatoes? Any suggestions?
bentos nos. 15-20
Friday, September 25, 2009
friday nights: movie and a pizza

fried zucchini
1-2 zucchinis
2 cups milk
1-2 cups flour
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
oil for frying
First cut your zucchinis into desired thickness. Not too thin, but not very thick or it won't cook well. Place coins in container along with the milk. I let them soak for a few minutes, making sure that none of them are stuck together. Next I put the flour into a gallon ziploc bag or a large bowl. I remove the zucchinis from the milk using a slotted spoon and dump them into the bag of flour to coat evenly. You will probably have to break some apart as they like to stick together. Once they are coated evenly, you will dip them one by one in the milk once again and immediately coat with the breadcrumbs. Once all the zucchinis are breaded, they are ready for frying. Place a couple of paper towels on a plate and place a few zucchinis in hot oil. Fry on one side until golden brown, then flip over and fry the remaining side until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel covered plate. Serve with ranch dip if you like.
Here are some other zucchini recipes I might try to mix things up a bit.
Zucchini and Rice Casserole from All recipes
Zucchini Cakes from the Pioneer Woman's friend, Ryan. I think these are also called Zucchini Fritters.
Spinach and Zucchini Soup from 101 Cookbooks.
And last but not least, it's the Zucchini Weenie as seen on Al Dente. Fair Food. I think it actually looks pretty tasty! It would have to be a Hebrew National hot dog for me to eat it though. . .
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
zucchini bread with miniature chocolate chips
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs (I always use medium eggs when baking now. For some reason it seems to work better)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 -3 cups grated zucchini, do not squeeze or drain excess moisture or liquid
1 cup miniature chocolate chips, semi-sweet (optional)
- Grease two 8 x 4 inch bread pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
- Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the wet mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake for 40 to 60 minutes (mine is always at least 1 hour), or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.
garden produce coming out of my ears
Saturday, September 19, 2009
more bento (#10-14)
I repeat a lot of what I put in these. Especially now, during the summer when we have vegetables coming out of our ears from the garden. So grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots are pretty much always in here.
This bento is a little more adventurous than usual. I've got the usual tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots in the middle. On the left, those balls are what's called, Arancini, an Italian food consisting of risotto rice with mozzarella in the middle, covered in bread crumbs, and fried until golden brown. On the right are Banana Bites, chunks of banana covered in melting chocolate and rolled in sprinkles. Both the Arancini and the banana recipes were found in a children's cookbook by Annabel Karmel.
mini waffles, strawberries, mozzarrella cheese chunks on cute little animal picks, grape tomatoes, and cucumbers.
daddy bento: Arancini, cucumber, cheese, grape tomatoes, banan bread, strawberries, a mixture of cheddar bunnies, almonds, and pretzels, and some little Hershey's Hugs.
As you can see, I just use a regular Rubbermaid container for his bentos. It works perfectly.
another daddy bento: leftover roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, the same cheddar bunny mixture with almonds and pretzels, tomatoes, grapes, cheese, and some Ritter Sport chocolate with almonds.
grapes, Annies Cheddar Bunnies, banana bread slice, cheese, grape tomatoes, and a tuna fish sandwich on wheat bread, cut into fish shape with mini chocolate chip for eye, and pretzel piece for smile. Well, kind of smile.