Zucchini Bread

Even if you don't garden, farmers markets, local farm stands and even your grocery store are chock full of seasonal veggies right now like squash and zucchini. There's so many advantages to buying local food: you support local farmers, cut down down on greenhouse gases because things don't have to be transported from Venezuela, and you'll likely save a lot of cash, too. 

Lucky for me, I have an abundance of zucchini, and off course, I love to roast or grill them up for dinner, but a summer favorite in my family is also zucchini bread. Moist, delicious, and easy to make, it's sure to become your family's favorite, too. And I promise, it doesn't taste like zucchini, so don't tell your kids. Add your choice of nuts or even chocolate chips if you're in the mood. In the fall, I even like to substitute diced apples for the zucchini.

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cup shredded zucchini (usually one large or two small ones will do)
3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg


Mix all the ingredients, except the zucchini. Add that last. Split mixture into two loaf pans and bake one hour at 325 degrees.

Naughty and Nice

 


Josie & Brandon
explore Rebecca's Garden

Gardening can really be a family affair. While my cousin and her children were visiting last week, I showed the kids my garden and they took to it right away. Josie and I digged up a few potatoes and lettuce, while lil' B toddled behind us pulling off lettuce leaves to add to the harvest.

By the time we were done poking around, Josie was already pestering her mom for her own garden. So make sure you get the kids involved in the process. It's good for them to put down the gadgets and get outside, plus they can help with the weeding!

Potatoes, squash & zucchini

I decided to use those potatoes Josie and I harvested to make a delicious potato salad with a recipe I spotted on the back of a blue cheese dressing jar. Yes, blue cheese, so naughty, but so good. But wait, it gets better. The recipe also calls for crumbled bacon, even naughtier and even tastier. To balance out the decadent potato salad, I paired it with something a bit more figure friendly: Summer squash just picked from the vine and chicken, both grilled to perfection. A tasty dinner that's both naughty and nice!

Grilled chicken & squash with
blue cheese potato salad

Blue cheese potato salad



2 lbs of potatoes, cubed and boiled until tender

6 strips of crumbled bacon

1 tsp mustard

4 stalks of celery, diced

1/4 onion, diced

1 tsp parsley, chopped

Fresh ground pepper to taste (no need for salt!)

1 1/2 cup blue cheese dressing

Catch O' The Day

Bass with fresh greens and a homemade ginger-honey vinaigrette

If you're a fish lover this blog post is for you. I've never actually bought fish in the grocery store before, because lucky for me, my husband is an avid fisherman and the waters of the Long Island Sound are an abundant source of striped bass and fluke - two delicious, mild, white fish that are a staple on our dinner plate all year.

My Cap'n

Just like with fruits and veggies, fish is best fresh. Of course you know, a tomato from Stop & Shop in January and one plucked from the vine in July are like night and day. The same goes for fish - essentially any food, really. The closer your food comes from home, the better it will taste. Even people who claim 'they hate fish' are usually fish lovers after getting a taste of Nick's.

Lettuce, arugula and spinach are flourishing in my garden right now, so I decided to grill up some of the striper with just a little salt and pepper, and put it over a bed of fresh greens. I also sliced up some tomatoes (from the store) and some radish (from my garden). But what really makes this dish sing is a delicious homemade vinaigrette that I came up with.

Healthy, easy and so good, this dinner is sure to make your taste buds sing!

Ginger-honey Vinaigrette:
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp chopped thyme
1 tbsp honey
1/4 c olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters Method (of planting)

I stumbled across this planting method during a visit to my local nursery (NOT a big box store, but I will save that rant for another post) and I immediately thought of sharing it here on this blog. Though I certainly have the space, this method promises to be a space saver, so it would be perfect for those of you that don't have that much room. So give it a try and make sure you check back and let me know how it went.

Spring Fever

It's a raw, rainy end to March -- just as it should be in Connecticut.  With unseasonably warm temps for most of the month, heck most of the winter, many people were eager to get out in the garden and start planting. I even warned a couple of folks not to plant anything yet, because it would probably just waste a lot of time and money.  The past week it's dipped down to below freezing several nights in a row -- Small plants are just too vulnerable to conditions like that.