Fried Zucchini Blossoms

Last year when we moved I started a vegetable garden with the hopes of figuring out the hell I was doing and maybe getting something (one thing) edible for my efforts. Considering it was started in late August, I didn't get that much out of it. A few pea pods, and lots of sprouts that either died during the "winter" or are still growing today. But one thing we did have a lot of was zucchini blossoms, so we took advantage of that and had many many fried blossoms for appetizers and with dinner. Here's some tips and recipes for eating them.

When harvesting, only pick the male ones because female ones are the ones that produce fruit. You'll know the difference because the female blossoms will have little round things underneath the blossom (that's your zucchini that's starting to grow!). Also pick them when they start to open up, but eat them within 24 hours otherwise they'll shrivel up. You can save the blossoms for a day or so longer if you keep them in ice water or a cold damp paper towel. Make sure you clean them out before eating (I like to make sure there's no pollen on the inside, and obviously no bugs!). Blossoms from other squash plants aren't so great.

What you need:

- Zucchini Blossoms
- Bread crumbs
- 1 Egg
- a dash of milk
- Flower
- Oil
- Mascarpone and Blue cheese

1. Mix together some Italian seasoned bread crumbs, flour, egg, and just a little bit of milk until you get a nice thick batter.
2. Put a little bit of mascarpone cheese and a lot more blue cheese on the inside of a blossom. (We've tried several different cheeses, and due to the mildness of the blossom, a cheese with a little bit more kick to it works best.) Twist the ends together to close up the blossom. (Side note, if you use mascarpone cheese on it's own, it will explode and drain everywhere when you bite into it.)
3. Dip the blossom in the batter (you'll know if it's too thick or too thin based on whether it sticks to the blossom at all or runs completely off.
4. You can either bake them or fry them. If you fry, preheat the oil and when it is very hot, drop the blossoms in. They only need a minute or two to cook. Remove with a slotted spoon when browned and let cool on a paper towel. If you bake, bake in a in a tin with walls (either a cookie tin or a cake tin) with some olive oil in preheated 400 degree oven until batter is cooked.

And if that was enough effort for one meal, here's a quick and easy pasta dish that you can eat these next to (ie. not part of).

Make spaghetti the way it says on the box and drain. Add some olive oil and butter, garlic (fresh or powder is fine), parsley, basil, nutmeg, and parmesean chesse. The end.

Recipe: Pasta with Peanut sauce

It's been forever since I've posted a recipe, and since I've recently become re-obsessed with one I made up last year I figured I should share it so all you peanut fans can love it too!

Ingredients
- 1 box of spaghetti (I especially like whole wheat with this, and Barilla pasta plus in particular)
- 1 red pepper sliced into long strips
- 1 medium sized onion, also sliced into thin long strips
- 2 table spoons of butter
- 1/2 cup of peanut butter
- 4-5 TBSP soy sauce
- 4-5 TBSP honey
- 1/3 of a block of extra firm tofu
- olive oil

1. Melt butter into a hot pan. When melted add onions, then about 1 minute later add peppers. Add olive oil to make sure there is enough moisture to cover all the veggies.
2. Around this time start pasta.
3. Before working with your 1/3 block of tofu, let it drain. You can either put it in a strainer and let it sit for several minutes, or you can cheat like me and squeeze it between some paper towels. Then cut into little cubes.
4. When the veggies look like they are 3/4 of the way to being cooked, add the tofu.
5. Once the tofu is added, add the soy sauce, then the peanut butter, then the honey. Stir and remove the pan from heat.
6. When the pasta is done, you'll probably want to put everything into a serving bowl and stir it in there (from my picture you can see I put everything into my pan, and made a huge mess everywhere as pasta flew in all directions).
7. It's important to note that the "sauce" depends largely on how many veggies you put in there and how you want it to taste. I like mine to be on the peanuty sweet side, but others may want it more salty so you would need more soy sauce. I would start with the ingredients here and add more as necessary to your liking.

I think would also taste good with some orange and yellow peppers too and maybe some mushrooms. And if you want to substitute tempeh for tofu you could totally do that, just add the tempeh in when you add the peppers in. And if you want it spicy, add a few dashes of hot sauce!

Enjoy! I know I will be...until I'm so sick of it I don't eat it for awhile!

Smoked Gouda and Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

My favorite way to cook is to take the basics of a recipe and change them around to make my own. Growing up, my parents generally cooked the same things all the time so I learned how to make those things just by watching them, but if I wanted to expand and learn to make all sorts of other yummy meals I had to figure them out myself. I think that tweaking things to make it your own is the easiest way to develop your own set of recipes and yourself as a cook because you've got the basics laid out in front of you, you just need to take it and run with it. I'm now at the point where I just reference my standard cookbooks for temperatures and times of how long to put things in the oven and use my specialty cook ones for ideas.

One cook that I love is Ina Garten (from the Barefoot Contessa Food Network TV show). I'll admit, for some she can be hard to take, but I love french food and I love how she presents everything. So she's one of the shows I like to watch a lot (along with Sandra Lee, Giada De Laurentiis, and Paula Dean). This is a recipe for a more adult version of Mac and Cheese that I have surprisingly found that all the picky eater kids in my family absolutely love. Must be the bacon...

You will need:

* 1 pound cavatappi
* 1 quart milk
* 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, divided for sauce, and 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) for breadcrumbs
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (2 cups)
* 8 ounces Smoked Gouda cheese, grated (2 cups) (in all honesty, this cheese is the star of this dish. You need at least 8 ounces, but if you put in more, this will only taste better. I recommend going for the biggest block you can find in your store and going from there. I think Trader Joe's has the best for the cheapest price and Whole Foods is over priced, so if you can't go to TJ's then just get it from your regular super market.
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/2 pound bacon (this also tastes just as good without the bacon if you don't eat meat)
* 1 1/2 cups fresh potato bread crumbs (4 slices)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Make bacon in a frying pan, and only cook it about half way. When it's done, after letting the bacon cool a little while, chop/rip it up in to little bite sized pieces.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. In a large pot, melt 6 tablespoons of butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. Still whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Add the Gruyere, Smoked Gouda, and nutmeg while sauce is on the lowest heat setting. This is the most labor intensive part of the dish and takes the longest because that is a lot of grating. I get my husband to help me with this part because otherwise it would take me almost 2 hours from start to table.

While you're making the sauce, make the pasta according to the box.

Put the macaroni and bacon in to your very large casserole dish. Then add the sauce and stir well.

Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. You can make the fresh bread crumbs by just putting them into a food processor. It's really important you use fresh bread crumbs because dried ones with or without seasoning ruin the taste and texture. The fresh bread crumbs become really sweet and crispy and dried ones don't absorb the flavors as much. If you don't want to do it, then just skip the step. Don't use the other stuff!!

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Enjoy!