Cheesy Baked Zucchini Crisps

These are so unbelievably easy to make and even those who aren't such big fans of zucchini tend to like these!  Zucchini can be plain on its own, but it makes a fabulous base for blending with other flavors.  The sharp taste of Parmesan cheese pairs beautifully with the seasoned bread crumbs, turning some plain sliced zucchini into a really great side, snack or appetizer. 

I used a little bit over half of a very large zucchini, which yielded about 2 1/2 cups of sliced zucchini.  If you find that you have more than this, increase the ingredients as you see fit.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1/2 cup Italian style bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 1/2 cups slices zucchini (1/4-inch thick)
• solid vegetable shortening (for greasing)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper using a whisk.  Place the milk in a shallow bowl.  Dip the zucchini slices first into the milk and then into the breadcrumb mixture, being sure to coat them.  Place the coated slices on a wire rack coated with solid vegetable shortening or cooking spray.

 
Place the rack on a baking sheet, this will keep the zucchini from getting soggy.  Bake at 425 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until brown and crisp.  Serve immediately or store in the fridge - they're great cold too!

Potato Pancakes (Latkes)

These are a perfect main course or side to breakfast.  The preparation is simple, but can be tedious if you don't have a food processor.  To achieve the best texture, use the shredding blade of your food processor.  Avoid grating the potato and onion with a cheese grater if possible, the end result will not be nearly as fluffy as you want it to be.  The recipe below makes about 8 Latkes.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled (baking potatoes are also OK)
• 1 small onion, peeled
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour (high altitude flour is also OK)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup parsley (this is optional, they taste amazing plain too!)
• 3 tbsp canola oil, divided

Using the shredding blade of a food processor, shred the potato and onion.  Combine the shredded ingredients in a colander over a large bowl, tossing well to combine.  Let the mixture stand 15 minutes, pressing occasionally with the back of a spoon until most of the liquid drains off into the bowl below the colander. 

Remove the colander and set aside.  In the bowl, carefully pour off the potato liquid, reserving a thick white layer of potato starch in the bottom of the bowl.  The potato liquid can be discarded.

Combine the eggs, flour, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add the egg mixture to the potato starch using a whisk to combine.

Add potato and onion mixture and parsley to the bowl, tossing well to combine. 
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium - high heat.  Add about 1 1/2 tbsp of canola oil to the pan, swirling to coat.  Add potato and onion mixture in 1/4 cupfuls to pan to form 4 potato pancakes.  Use the back of your spatula to flatten the cupfuls slightly.

Cook for about 4 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Repeat procedure with remaining canola oil (1 1/2 tbsp) and remaining potato mixture.

Oatmeal Bars With Cranberries

These are perfect for a summer picnic.  There's nothing to melt everywhere when the weather is hot and they make a great healthier snack option.  There are three layers to this bar, but each layer is fairly simple and doesn't take too much prep work.

For this recipe you will need:

For the Crust:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp baking soda (increase to 1/4 tsp for sea level)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 3 tbsp orange juice
• solid vegetable shortening (for greasing pan)

For the filling:

• 1 1/3 cups dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp high altitude or all purpose flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp orange zest (about 1 orange)
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten

 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
To make the crust, measure the flour into a medium bowl.  Add the next five ingredients (through cinnamon) to the flour mixture, stirring with a whisk to combine.  Drizzle the butter and juice over the flour mixture, stirring until moistened (the mixture should be crumbly).  Set 1/2 cup of the oat mixture aside to be used later.  Press remaining oat mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 8 inch square baking dish coated with a thin layer of solid vegetable shortening.

To make the filling, combine cranberries, sour cream, granulated sugar, and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.  Spread the cranberry mixture over the layer of prepared crust.

Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of reserved oat mixture evenly over the filling. It may be a bit doughy, just carefully break it apart into smaller crumbles to avoid creating large clumps.

Bake at 325 for 40 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  Let cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares for serving.

Grilled Polenta - From Scratch

Polenta is very easy to make and in this form makes a wonderful side to just about anything.  It also makes a wonderful component in salad!  My favorite thing to eat with polenta is a nice juicy piece of meat, the polenta soaks up the juices beautifully and tastes delicious.  This recipe makes 8 servings, if you don't need that many just put the un-grilled portions of polenta into a container to store in the fridge (or freezer) until you need it.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/4 tsp salt 
• freshly ground pepper
• olive oil for brushing

Measure the cornmeal into a deep saucepan.  Gradually mix in the water.  Once the water is mostly absorbed, whisk in the salt.  Place over medium heat and bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking often (almost constantly).  Reduce the heat to low and cover partially with the lid to the pan.  Cook at a very slow simmer, stirring often, until the polenta becomes very thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan.  This should take about 25 minutes.  Remove from the heat and season generously with pepper.

Lightly brush an 8-inch square baking pan with oil.  Spoon the hot polenta into the pan and smooth it evenly to the edges with the back of a spoon (to ease the spreading, dip the spoon in warm water).

 Let cool completely before covering and refrigerating for about 24 hours.

Invert the pan of polenta onto a cutting board, tapping the bottom of the pan to release the polenta.  Trim the edges even with a long knife - this will make it easier to achieve even portions for serving.

Cut the polenta into 4 squares, then cut each square in half on the diagonal, making 8 triangles.

Pat dry with paper towels, then it's ready to grill!  You can grill these on the grill or on a grill pan, which works just as well.  I happened to use a grill pan this time, but feel free to fire up the grill!  The grilling technique for this is the same whether you use charcoal, gas, or a grill pan.  Grill the polenta directly over the heat elements you are using (this should be the hottest part of the flames on a charcoal grill), carefully turning once with a large spatula, until crisp and dark grill marks are visible on both sides.  This should take about 5 minutes per side.

Baked Rosemary Dijon Chicken

This recipe is extremely easy and takes practically no time to prepare.  Most of the ingredients for this marinade are probably something you already have in your spice cabinet.  It is important to use fresh rosemary in this recipe in order to stand up to the strong flavor of Dijon mustard.  The recipe below is for two people, be sure to increase the amounts as necessary for the amount you plan to serve.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 very large or 2 small chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp Dijon style mustard
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp Worcestershire
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• chicken broth (3-4 tablespoons)
• dry white wine (3-4 tablespoons)

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the olive oil, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire.  Once combined, add all of the seasonings except for the rosemary and stir until incorporated.  Before adding the rosemary be sure to rinse and remove the leaves from the unwanted stem.  Add the whole rosemary leaves to the marinade and stir just until combined.

Rinse your chicken breasts and pat dry with a paper towel.  Transfer the chicken to a large plastic bag and pour the marinade on top.  Use your hands to move the chicken around in the bag to be sure it gets evenly coated with marinade.

 Place the bag in the refrigerator to let the chicken marinade for 1 - 2 hours or overnight.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Transfer the marinated chicken to a small baking dish.  The chicken should fit snuggly.  Squeeze out as much excess marinade from the bag as possible and add it to the chicken.  After adding your chicken to the baking dish add 3-4 tablespoons of chicken broth and 3-4 tablespoons of dry white wine.  Just enough to create a shallow layer at the bottom of the baking dish.  This is a wonderful way to utilize a lot of the chicken's natural juices to flavor the sauce.

Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Garlic Bread

This is one of my favorite sides, but I am never guilt-free when eating it.  I know there are much better, healthier things I should be eating so I decided to take a risk and make a change in the way I usually make my garlic bread to remove some of the guilt.  Instead of using regular unsalted butter, I decided to use "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" instead.  A lot of the time when you alter a recipe to remove some of the fat content it doesn't ever taste quite as great as the original thing does.  I'm telling you, this tastes the same if not better!  For a recipe like this the amounts really depend on how much you're making and how many people you plan on serving.  In this case, I made only a quarter of my loaf of French bread for two people.  Increase the amounts as needed.  Remember, it's better to make too much than not enough.

For this recipe you will need:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" (enough to fill 1 4 oz ramekin)
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 loaf French bread

I used a toaster oven to bake my garlic bread.  If you are using a standard oven, heat it to 375 degrees.  If you are also using a toaster oven, follow the procedures for baking indicated in the instruction manual.

In a 4 oz ramekin or small bowl, combine the garlic and "butter".  Add in the Parmesan cheese and stir until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Slice your bread in half once, horizontally.  Spread a generous layer of the garlic butter onto each side of bread where the soft side is exposed.  Spread slightly thicker layers of garlic butter where the bread is thicker, allowing more of the butter to be absorbed.   Use all of the spread, don't be shy!

Put the two pieces of bread back together to re-form the original loaf.  Wrap carefully and completely in aluminum foil.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the butter is completely absorbed and the bread is golden brown.

Cool Veggie Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

It's been so hot out lately, I've been craving something cool and easy to make.  This hit the spot!  The chopping is a bit tedious, but there is no cooking time to follow and the dressing can all be poured into one container, eliminating extra mess.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1/2 of a 14 oz can of unsalted garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 generous handful fresh green beans (about 15 green beans)
• 1/2 cucumber, julienne 
• 1/3 yellow pepper, julienne

 In a medium sauce pot, boil water to prepare for the green beans.  While the water heats up, rinse and drain the entire contents of the 14 oz can of garbanzo beans.  1/2 of the beans can be easily stored in any air tight bag or container.  Don't remove too much!

Boil the string beans just until tender.  When finished drain out the boiled water and move the green beans directly to a bath of cold water and ice in a medium bowl to shock them.

Once the green beans are cool, transfer them from the ice bath to a cutting board.  Trim the beans top and bottom and cut in half lengthwise to expose the center (try to go along the crease of the bean).  Cut in half horizontally to create easy to eat bite sizes.

Rinse and peel the cucumber.  To julienne the cucumber, start by slicing it into rounds as you normally would for a salad.  Stack three or four slices on top of one another and bring the knife down to create thin strips.  Be sure to hold the stack firmly, cucumbers are slippery!

To prepare the pepper, cut off the top to remove the stem and trim the bottom to create an even surface.  Remove 1/3 of the pepper to use in this recipe.  Store the rest in an air-tight container to use another day.  To julienne the pepper carefully cut it from top to bottom into very thin strips.  If your strips are a bit long for bite sizes, cut them in half once horizontally.

Transfer all of your chopped veggies to a medium bowl and toss to mix.  Add lemon dressing (recipe follows) and toss to coat.

Lemon Dressing:
for this recipe you will need:

• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
• pinch sea salt
• pinch freshly ground black pepper
• splash Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
• thyme leaves (to taste)
• 1/8 tsp garlic poweder

Add the 1/4 cup olive oil to a small pitcher (I used a 1 cup sized measuring cup to measure the olive oil in first and then added all of the rest of the ingredients to it).  Add the rest of the ingredients to the pitcher and stir with a fork until well combined.

Use the dressing to coat the veggies.  Serve immediately or let sit for an hour in the fridge before serving.  Reserve any extra dressing to use on future salads.

Carrot Cake (for Denver altitude)

For those that have tried, I don't need to repeat that baking at High Altitude is extremely difficult.  Especially when it's a cake with batter as thick as carrot cake batter is.  Often the issue is that the outside of the cake bakes too quickly and results in burning before the inside gets a chance to cook, leaving it uncooked and inedible.  After trying this recipe the first time and failing, the solution became clear; use a Bundt pan!  The issue is that the middle takes too long to cook because of the high density of the batter, this problem can be completely eliminated by taking out the middle as a variable - literally.  This is the perfect job for a Bundt pan.  If you do not have a bundt pan on hand, split the batter into two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.  If you try to use one the middle will turn out quite raw and runny.

The first place where things can go wrong is how you prepare the pan you're using for baking.  It doesn't matter if you're using two cake pans or one 9 1/2 to 10-inch Bundt pan, you absolutely must coat the entire pan with solid vegetable shortening, dust with flour, and tap our the excess.  Yes, you still need to take the time to do this extra preparation even when your pan is non-stick.  At high altitudes, baking situations can get extremely sticky very quickly.  It would be an absolute shame to execute the rest of this recipe successfully only to have your cake be torn apart by your failed attempts to remove it from the pan.  Trust me on this one, your hands will get messy but it will be well worth it later when it slides out of the pan effortlessly.  Your pan should look something like this when you're finished.

For this recipe you will need:

• 8 - 10 carrots, peeled and grated (using a box grater or a food processor)
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped medium fine (you can use raisins as a substitute if you don't like or have an allergy to nuts, but something is needed to provide some texture)
• 1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds (this is optional, but it's delicious when you include it!)
• 1 1/2 cups canola oil
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature (place eggs in a bowl and run under warm water to save time warming)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup wheat bran (check the baking isle at your local grocery store) 
• 2 cups high-altitude baking flour (it works much better than regular all-purpose in this case)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position the rack in the lower third of your oven.

Thoroughly rinse the carrots and cut off the top and bottom ends, exposing the best part of the carrot.  Peel off the entire exterior to prepare for grating.  You can grate your carrots using a box grater, but using the grating disc of a food processor is a lot easier.  If using the processor, push the carrots through the feed tube one by one.  Be sure to scrape off whatever extra carrot is left on the blade between loading each one.  If you leave the bits stuck to the blade you will have a lot of difficulty as your push more and more carrots through.  Remove the grated carrots from the processor and transfer to a large bowl.  If your grated carrot pieces look a bit long, replace the grating disc with the regular steel cutting blade, add the carrots once again and pulse to shorten them (don't mince!).

Put the carrots in a bowl and add the chopped walnuts and sunflower seeds (or whatever other solid you decided to use).

Add the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and wheat bran to a large bowl.

Stir with a whisk until combined (it's important that you don't over-mix).  Using a sifter or strainer, measure the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices into the oil-egg mixture.  Whisk gently until combined. 

Once combined, use a silicone spatula to stir in the carrots and nuts.  Carefully pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and level the top.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the top is springy to the touch ad a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the cake in its pan for at least 20 minutes before sliding a knife between the cake and the pan to loosen it.  Quickly invert the pan onto a plate and lift off the pan.  Let cool completely before frosting (cream cheese frosting recipe is below!).

To make cream cheese frosting:

• 8 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature (I used store - brand with 1/3 less fat)
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, or as needed (yes, you really must sift the sugar or you will have lumpy icing)

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, blend together the cream cheese and butter until very smooth and creamy.

Beat in the salt and vanilla.  Gradually add the sugar, beating until smooth.  Don't over-beat or your frosting will be too soft (chill to harden up if necessary in warmer weather). 

Ice your cake and enjoy!

Smoky Potato Salad

Potato salad can be made a million ways, but I love the smoky flavor of this one.  This recipe takes virtually no time to complete and the results are delicious.  It is best served chilled, but can stay at room temperature for about two hours or so.  I used some super fresh small red potatoes from a local farmers market.  I estimated their weight to be approximately 2 lbs total, but it may have even been slightly less.  This recipe makes a small batch for 2-4 people, feel free to increase the amounts as needed for a larger batch.

For this recipe you will need:

• 2 lbs small red potatoes (leave the skin on, but be sure to clean thoroughly! Cut into 1-inch pieces)
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 2 slices bacon (uncooked, chopped)
• 1 medium sized Vidalia or other sweet onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (the cheap store-brand stuff works fine)
• 1 1/4 tbsp mayonnaose
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• parsley (add as needed, just eye-ball the amount)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Clean the potatoes before using and let dry in a colander while cutting into small 1-inch pieces.

In a small bowl, coat the potato pieces in the olive oil, salt and pepper.  Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan or edged cookie sheet (you don't want the excess oil falling to the bottom of your oven).

 Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Go over the potatoes about half-way through done-ness with a spatula to keep them from sticking too badly to the pan and to ensure they cook evenly.  Remove potatoes from baking pan and transfer to a large bowl when cooked.

Chop the two bacon slices while raw and cook in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan, reserving about 1 tbsp drippings in pan.  Transfer the bacon to a small bowl and set aside.

Add the diced onion to the drippings left in the pan.  Cook for about 12 minutes until the onion is golden brown and caramelized. stirring frequently.  Add garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the onion mixture and bacon to the potatoes and toss gently.  Let stand for 15 minutes to cool down a bit before adding the dressing.

To make the dressing, combine the mustard, mayonnaise, honey and vinegar in a small bowl.  Stir with a whisk or fork to combine.

Add the mustard mixture to the potatoes and add parsley, to taste.  Toss everything together gently, be sure everything is coated evenly.  Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator.

Cheesy Baked Farro

This recipe originally comes from Giada De Laurentiis.

There are a lot of different components in this recipe, requiring you to utilize multiple burners at once.  This is multitasking at its best and does require quite a bit of prep work so be sure to give yourself plenty of time before you want to eat to be sure it's ready on time. Farro cooks much slower than pasta does, so be sure to plan ahead! You probably won't find farro at your traditional grocery store so you will have to seek out a Sprouts or Whole Foods to find it, but once you do it's not too expensive.  Follow the directions on your package of farro to prepare it for cooking.  On the package I bought it said to soak the farro in cold water for 25 minutes before using for cooking (this is included in that prep work I was talking about earlier).  If you absolutely cannot find farro anywhere, barley is a good substitute.

For this recipe you will need:

 For the sauce:

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (high altitude flour is okay)
• 2 cups warm milk
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the farro:

• 6 cups (1 1/2 quarts) low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups farro (let soak for 25 minutes if necessary - follow the directions for preparation on the package)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 2 cups assorted mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (I used button and portobello)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper (I always use Kosher salt)
• 3/4 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup (4 ounces) grated Gruyere cheese
• 1/2 cup (about 1 ounce) grated Fontina cheese
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or rub on a thin layer of vegetable shortening (Crisco).

Prepare the farro by letting it soak in cold water for 25 minutes while you ready the rest of your ingredients.  Slice the mushrooms and tomatoes while the farro soaks, before starting the rest of this recipe, it will make your life a lot easier.

For the sauce: In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and whisk slowly until smooth.  Gradually add the warm milk, whisking constantly to prevent lumps.  Simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly until the sauce is think and smooth, this should take about 8 minutes.  Do not allow the mixture to boil!  Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.

For the farro:  Using a large stockpot, bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium-high heat.  Add the farro, lower the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally until tender.  This should take about 25 minutes.  Drain if necessary (I had to drain mine, but if yours absorbs all of the stock, it isn't necessary).

 You should have sliced your tomatoes and mushrooms already.  Heat up the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.  Cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes or until tender.  Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until tender.

In a large bowl, combine the Parmesan cheese, Gruyere cheese, Fontina cheese, and thyme.

Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture and set aside.  Add the cooked farro, sauce, and mushroom mixture to the cheeses.  Stir until combined.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the 1/2 cup reserved cheese mixture.  Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake until the top is golden brown and forms a crust.  This should take about 25 to 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before digging in!