The MOST Delicious Salad You'll Ever Eat (Shaved Zucchini Salad) by Anna Hastings

I was so sad not to be able to come last week.  But, if I had, I would have made this, and you all would have adored it.  Seriously.  This salad is amazing.  I got it from a friend, who got it from a friend, who got it from epicurious.com.  You will love this for two reasons.  It tastes amazing and it uses all that zucchini that overpopulated your garden.  In fact you might even start to think your garden should actually produce more zucchini so you can eat this salad for every meal, every day.  Have I talked it up enough?  Well here it is:

Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesean Pine Nuts

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tb fresh lemon juice

1 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

2 lbs medium zucchini, trimmed

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

small wedge of Parmesean cheese

Preparation: 

Whisk oil, lemon juice, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and crushed red pepper in small bowl to blend.  Set aside.

Using a vegetable peeler or V-slicer and working from top to bottom of each zucchini, slice zucchini into ribbons (about 1/6" thick).  Place ribbons in large bowl.  Add basil and nuts, then dressing; toss to coat.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Using vegetable peeler, shave strips from Parmesean wedge over salad.
(And a little P.S.  I've been trying to watch my weight and trying to make recipes lower cal. so I only put in about 1 or 2 TBS of the olive oil and it was completely delicious still).

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been on the hunt for a new chocolate chip cookie recipe and this one is my new fav!! if you like salted chocolate, sprinkle a little sea salt on top after baking!

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
*I only used all purpose flour for my recipe*

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips
*I've been loving the ghirardelli mini's or milk chocolate chips*



Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Add eggs. Stir in vanilla. Reduce to low speed and add dry ingredients slowly, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 24-36 hours (DON"T SKIP THIS STEP). Another thing I like to do is scoop cookies into balls, put on a cookie sheet and freeze until hard. Then put in a ziplok container or baggie to keep in the freezer to have ready for a quick and easy treat.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Peanut Butter Popcorn by Melanie Whiteside

Servings: 4        Prep Time: 15 mins      Total Time:  20 mins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
6 cups popped popcorn

Directions:
In small pan melt together corn syrup and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add peanut butter and melt.  Be careful not to boil mixture too much, the peanut butter will start to burn.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Carefully stir into popped corn.  (Honestly this is just enough for Mom and you can make a second batch for the rest of the family!)

Citrus Lemonade by Melissa Jensen

5 lemons
5 limes
5 oranges
3 quarts of water
1-2 cups of sugar

Squeeze 4 lemons, 4 limes, 4 oranges.  Mix their juice with the water.  Add sugar and stir to dissolve.  Chill.  Thinly slice the last lemon, lime, and orange.  Use these to garish.  You can put them in a large pitcher with the juice or put the slices in individual glasses.

* if limes are small, squeeze extra.  I add a pinch of fresh ginger too.

Kate's Apple Cider

Bring to a boil:

4 cups water
2 cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks (little ones)
8 whole allspice
10 whole clove

Let simmer for 5 minutes
Remove from heat and let sit a few hours (really, as long as you want)

Remove spices
Add:
4 cups orange juice
2 cups lemonade
2 qt. apple juice

Heat on stove til' desired temperature...drink up and enjoy!

Beef-Barley Soup by Laurie Redfearn

1 1/2# beef stew meat (or cut up chuck roast)
1 T oil
1 C thinly sliced carrots
1 C sliced celery
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 C coarsely chopped green pepper
1/4 C snipped parsley
4 C beef broth (dissolve bouillon powder)
1 29-oz can tomatoes, cut up
1 C spaghetti sauce
2-3 T worcestershire sauce
2/3 C pearl barley
1 1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper, or more

Cut meat into 1" cubes. Brown in a large skillet, half at a time in hot oil. Meanwhile, in 5 or 6 qt crock pot combine all ingredients, including juice from tomatoes. Cover; cook on low setting 10-12 hours or high 4 1/2-5 hours. Serves 6-8. It thickens as it sits, so I often thin it with more broth, a can of v-8, or whatever I have on hand.

Mango Coconut Bars by Melissa Jensen

Yield: one 8" x 8" square pan bars

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

ingredients:

for the coconut crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the mango filling

one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup mango juice (you can use mango puree as well)

for the topping

1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut, toasted (you can use large flake or shredded!)

directions:

for the coconut crust

preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to drape over two sides of the pan. set aside.

in a medium bowl, combine the flour, coconut, sugar and salt. whisk to combine.

add the melted butter, and using a rubber spatula, mix until crumbly.

press the crust into the prepared pan firmly.

bake the crust at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until very lightly golden brown.

remove from the oven and set aside.

for the filling

in a medium bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and mango juice. whisk until thoroughly combined.

when the crust comes out of the oven, pour the filling directly over it while still hot.

return the pan to the oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until the filling is set and only slightly jiggly in the center.

remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire baking rack.

for the topping

combine the whipping cream and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. using the whisk attachment, whip on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes.

add the coconut milk, and whip another 30 seconds until firm peaks form.

you can also use a hand mixer or whip by hand, but it will take a bit longer.

spread the whipped cream on top of mango bars evenly, and sprinkle the toasted coconut on top.

cover the top of the pan with foil or plastic wrap, and allow to chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours until the whipped cream is firm.

remove from the fridge and pull the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper.

cut into equal squares and serve.

the mango coconut bars will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

a food + words original