FAUX crabcakes, yo

faux crabcakes. made with summer abundant zucchini. these were good and simple to prepare. a bit time consuming with the draining & the chillin', but with all the spice of a real crabcake. get your veg on. here’s how:

you’ll need:

large hole grater
colander
food processor
4-5 zucchini, grated, salted & drained to = 4 cups grated
1 cup, freshly made breadcrumbs (stale bread, crusts removed)
1 egg, beaten
2 green onions
¼ cup red pepper, finely diced
1½ teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon mayo or plain yogurt
cayenne or red pepper flakes

for frying:
veg oil & butter

you’ll do:

grate zucchini. place in colander, sprinkle lightly with salt and let drain in sink for 30 minutes. after the 30 mins, pick up and squeeze out excess water. pat dry with a paper towel. you should have about 2 cups zucchini here.

in a food processor, drop in cubed stale bread and whiz. make about 1 cup breadcrumbs.

in a large mixing bowl mix all ingredients (EXCEPT the oil & butter that you will use for frying). slowly stir in the breadcrumbs until you get a nice dry consistency. dry enough so you can form a patty.

form into 7-8 patties, to resemble crabcakes, and place on parchment/wax paper on a sheet pan/cookie tray that will fit into your fridge. let chill for an hour or so or up to several hours. hell, the day before, just cover with cling wrap.

make sauce here.

heat oil & butter in large skillet. when oil/butter mixture is hot, lift paper up and dump patty onto a pancake turner/spatula. these are delicate! then slide them into the oil/butter. fry until brown then turn them by using a fork with the spatula to get them flipped over to brown the other side. when nice & browned remove from oil and place onto paper towel to drain.

i served mine on a bed of arugula dressed with vinaigrette and topped with sauce. yum.

sauce recipe:

½ cup mayo
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish sauce
1 squirt of ketchup
1 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon lemon juice

delicious VEGAN blueberry muffins

vegan blueberry muffin!

delicious VEGAN blueberry muffins à la gwyneth paltrow. moist. sweet. tender. no flavor is missing here. do it. here’s how:

you’ll need:

½ cup almond milk
½ cup veg oil
½ cup light agave nectar
¼ cup real maple syrup
1 cup white spelt flour
1 cup whole spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
2 ½ cups fresh blueberries

you’ll do:

preheat the oven to 375℉

pour wet ingredients into a large bowl in the order above, that way nectar & syrup will easily pour from measuring cup after the oil.

stir in the dry ingredients. do not over mix! just stir a few times.

fold in blueberries.

divide among muffin cups. should make about 12.

bake for 25-30 minutes. do not over bake, you want them moist!

allow to cool. eat. yum.

hot niçoise salad

hot niçoise salad

hot niçoise salad. a super simple, light, summer meal made all on one sheet pan (easy clean up, people! ~ yell that like oprah). use frozen tuna steaks ($6.99 for 2 steaks at whole foods) or tuna steaks from the seafood case ($25.99 per pound). this recipe was adapted from apple & moses’ mom’s cookbook, my father’s daughter that i picked up at the library. we made this using the grill instead of the oven and the result was perfect. here’s how:

you’ll need:
1 lb fresh green beans, stem end cut off
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
½ cup niçoise olives, pitted (tiny black olives, i had to pit them myself, got 'em at the whole foods olive bar)
7 tablespoons olive oil
1 handful basil
1 red pepper, roasted & peeled
1 yellow pepper, roasted & peeled
2 anchovies, spanish, olive oil packed, flat anchovies (optional)
2 tuna steaks, approx 6 ounces each
black pepper
salt
2 eggs
½ lemon
1 sheet pan
2 ramekins

you'll do:

preheat grill or oven to 400℉.

get ingredients in order.

defrost tuna steaks by setting in a bowl of cold h2o. (if you bought frozen kind)

broil or grill red & yellow peppers until skin is blistered black. place in zip lock bag or a bowl with cling wrap covering. allow to cool.

cut tomatoes in half.

pit olives if needed.

cut off stem end of green beans.

remove skin from peppers. cut peppers into strips.

spray ramekins with Pam or oil with fingers. crack 1 egg into ramekin. salt & pepper egg.

steam green beans + 3 tablespoons of water in a zip lock bag (or covered dish) in microwave for 6 minutes on high. DRAIN.

place egg filled ramekins on sheet pan - pick 2 corners and place.

dump tomatoes, olives and steamed green beans in the middle of sheet pan. toss with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. add salt.

add roasted peppers, torn basil and anchovies, if using. place tuna steaks on top of veggies in the middle of the sheet pan. add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to each steak, rub in and then add salt & pepper. add a drizzle of olive oil to each egg.

put sheet pan on 400℉ grill and close the lid for 12 minutes, checking after 10 minutes OR in 400℉ oven for 12 minutes. when done, eggs should be set and tuna will be moist with a center of pink. squeeze lemon over and serve. eat. yum.

lemon blueberry squares!

lemon blueberry square!

lemon blueberry squares! after picking the fresh blueberries, i had a culinary vision. this is one you'll want to make. here's how:

you’ll need:
1 9 ounce box lemon wafers (365 everyday whole foods)
2T butter, melted
1 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 small can sweetened condensed milk
2-3 lemons, zested & juiced
 
you’ll do:
preheat over to 300℉.

in a food processor, dump wafers in & whiz until crumbs. add melted butter and whiz a few times. it will look like wet sand.

place parchment paper into a 9”x13” glass baking dish. it won’t fit perfectly. leave some overhang on the ends so you will have “handles”.

pour wafer/butter mixture onto parchment paper. use a metal measuring cup to press out the “crust” evenly. don’t forget the corners!

bake for 15 minutes. let cool COMPLETELY.

after crust has cooled:

in a medium mixing bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the room temperature cream cheese until fluffy. add sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice & lemon zest (use a microplane to zest). mix until smooth. pour mixture into crust. cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. using “handles” lift out of glass dish. place on cutting board. cut into nice squares. top each square with blueberries. serve. eat. YUM.

blueberries, bitches!

Blueberries ripe Pickers needed - $2 Jessieville near Hot Springs Village

Date: 2011-06-25, 5:44AM CDT
Reply to: sale-4axuz-2414959424@craigslist.org


Blueberries are ripe, we need pickers to pick for us or for you pick, we pay .75 cents a pint if you pick for us or You pay us $2 a pound if you pick for you, might even barter U pick one for U and One for Us. Let us know if you are interested, and let your friends know too. We are Located in Jessieville about 12 miles from Hot Springs Village Front gate. Not to hard to find. Also looking for someone to do some vegetable canning for us. We will also have vegetables for sale, heirloom tomatoes, squash, zucchini, okra, cucumbers,beans. Our # Is 9 8 four - 5 four 9 8

Location: Jessieville(near Hot Springs Village)
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

blueberries!

when i read the above craigslist ad, it was on. i picked 7lbs in about 2 hours. this was not hard work. the bushes are tall, so you don’t have to bend unless you want to. it was fun. i’ve been drinking blueberry soda ever since. here’s how:

you’ll need: 
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
handful of blueberries
1 muddler
soda water

you'll do:  
make a simple syrup. in a saucepan, heat 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water until sugar is dissolved.  cool. put in a cute pitcher & set aside.

add a handful of blueberries to a glass. using a muddler, smash the blueberries. use muscle for this. add simple syrup and soda water. stir. add ice. drink. YUM.