zucchini tots. winning!

We have so so so much zucchini in the garden right now and I know there's much more to come. I've been on the lookout for new zucchini recipes on Pinterest and yesterday I found a winner. Zucchini tots. The tots require a mini muffin pan, but we don't have one. I doubled the recipe and made them in a regular muffin pan...the result: delicious zucchini cakes. WOWZERS! Only a few ingredients and very minimal prep work. I decided at the last minute to try them and I had all of the ingredients right here (including zucchini fresh from the garden). I'll be making these again - probably this week! 

Foodie PenPals - April

I'm not saying that I have low expectations for Foodie PenPals, because nothing could be further from the truth. BUT, our monthly limit is $15, so I don't expect much - just a little something delicious and fun. Well, my April delivery blew me away. Seriously.

First of all, Leah is from Brooklyn and so was everything in the box. Love that. Local stuff is great because that means it's new to me! Second of all, it was all gluten-free and completely up my alley! She sent a 73% dark chocolate bar, 72% dark chocolate hazelnut balls, organic sea salt popcorn, salty peanut taffy, and an all natural hearty snack blend. Lastly, the stuff is delicious. So much so that I've been hoarding it. I don't want it to end (though in writing this post I realize that most of it can be ordered online!

Check out all of these wonderful Brooklyn eateries and order something. If you need a suggestion, see any of the above listed items!

nutbox
Pret
Mast Brothers
Salty Road

Thank you for being amazing, Leah!  I couldn't love this haul anymore than I do! (If you're interested in seeing what I sent out this month, check out the Jogging Concierge!)

If you're interested in Foodie PenPals program, here are some details:
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. Contact Lindsay to sign up!

huevos rancheros!

I have a love affair with huevos rancheros. It all started about two years ago when I ordered the dish for the first time (in my whole life) at SunnyPointe in Asheville. I had a crazy migraine and I was trying to rally for a day out at the Biltmore with Jose and his family, so I pulled out all the stops by ordering a diet coke and huevos rancheros, simply because it was the spiciest thing on the menu.

It doesn't make sense that I'd never had huevos rancheros before because 1) I really don't like breakfast food and 2) I love Mexican food. This is literally the most un-breakfast breakfast that there is. As soon as I realized that I could have this very delicious dish in place of eggs and bacon or pancakes, there was no turning back.

Since then I've cooked it a half dozen different ways, always declaring that the most recent iteration is my favorite. It just occurred to me that I should start posting the recipes so that I remember for next time.

Ingredients:

corn tortillas, lightly steamed

chorizo (GF, from Whole Foods)

bacon (baked until crispy then chopped)

black beans (with an ounce of recaito cooked in)

shreeded cheese

sour cream

eggs, over easy

I took the corn tortilla and piled it high with all the ingredients, leaving the egg for last. I cut into the egg, allowing the yolk to spill out and make the whole thing more juicy and flavorful.

SO GOOD. Seriously. I don't like eggs over easy unless they are in some version of huevos ranchero. To be fair, I don't really like eggs, so that says a lot about this dish.

Mods for next time: goat cheese instead of shredded cheese. Yes, please!

pizza & subs

Some old favorites are hard to duplicate as gluten-free dishes, but we're getting better at it. Which mostly has to do with finding better products. Against the Grain has FANTASTIC pizza crusts and baguettes, which make pizza and hot subs possible once more!

This is a fresh mozzerella and sausage pie with Jose's homemade sauce (yum!). The sausage was freshly made at Whole Foods and we chatted with the maker herself to find out what was in it, and to confirm that it's GF. Hooray for nice people!

We bought some additional sausage and Jose made meatballs to go with his amazing sauce. We had just enough leftovers for an easy meatball sub dinner. Seriously, that was the best meal I've had in 2012. We used to do the meatball sub thing pretty regularly, but I hadn't been able to have one since last April. Being gluten-free doesn't kill me the way I thought it would, but it certainly does make me appreciate the little things in life!

Mamaw's fudge

I don't really have a name for this stuff...I just call it "Mamaw's chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallow fudge". Not very catchy, is it? I could call it "mmmmm, wow!" or "ohmygod", but for now we'll just call it "Mamaw's fudge". This is the stuff that I think of when i think about the holidays, because Mamaw took any special occasion as a reason to make it. She had a crazy sweet tooth, as evidenced by this made-up candy.

So how do you do it? It's super easy. Here we go.

Ingredients:
10 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
a dollop of peanut butter
1/2-3/4 bag of mini-marshmallows

Melt the chips in a double boiler, or in a medium sauce pan over low heat. Add a dollop of peanut butter when the chips begin melting. Melt both, stir together well. NOTE: I hate when people use measurements like "dollop" or "smidgen", but really, just use as much or as little as you'd like. I probably use 2-3 tablespoons per 10 oz of chocolate.



Once the chocolate is melted, add in marshmallows and stir until coated. I feel like I've added enough marshmallows when there isn't much remnant chocolate left in the mix.

Historically I've poured the mixture in a glass pan, let it set in the fridge, then cut it into squares for serving. This year I decided to use the cupcake tins since they worked out so well for my birthday candies. Worked like a charm. Also, I usually double the recipe because it's for a party or some gathering of peoples. My double batch at Thanksgiving yielded 14 cupcake cups.

Since this is such an insanely sweet treat, I wasn't sure if the Lopezes would be into it, but they were! On day 3 my brother-in-law called dibs on the last piece and I was so incredibly happy. It's tough not to be able to share Mamaw with my new family, so it was nice to share this piece of her.

gluten-free and out on the town!

I found out about my gluten allergy just days before leaving home for some time in Philadelphia. I was worried about finding gluten-free options, what those options would taste like, and whether my normal friends would be able to find something appetizing on the menu as well.

M and I read up on some of the local gluten-free fare (Gluten Free Philly is a great site!) and we decided on an Asian-fusion place called Sampan. Their GF menu looked just as good to me (well, maybe if it had dumplings) as the regular menu did to M. It's a small plates style restaurant, so I had the kobe beef satay, veggie fried rice and pad thai. The portions were so plentiful that I had the leftovers for lunch the next day.




Not to be outdone, M took photos (which she refers to as 'food porn') of her own (non-GF) dishes: Korean bbq satay, soup dumplings, and pork buns. I think the photos live up to the name.



So, "what's the point?" you ask? The point is that we had super-crazy delicious food and you did not. BUT if you're in the Philly area or plan to be, Sampan is a must-try!

roasted red pepper hummus

I'm trying to do a better job of following a recipe to the letter the first time I try it and then making enhancements/alterations in subsequent attempts. This was my first hummus try and I would say it was successful overall. I used a 4.5 star recipe from allrecipes.com, and I've tweaked it a bit and listed my version below.

3 cloves garlic
15 oz garbanzo beans
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup lemon juice
a touch of lemon zest
2/3 cup roasted red peppers
1/3 teaspoon dried basil

In food processor, combine garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon zest and juice. Process until the mixture is smooth. Add roasted peppers and basil; process until the peppers are finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer hummus to small bowl, cover and chill until you are ready to serve.