Baked Beans

Behold!

The recipe that converted Ryan the-baked-beans-hater to Ryan I-want-to-scarf-down-the-entire-dish.

8 slices bacon, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3/4 cup ketchup

3/4 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 twenty-eight ounce cans red beans, drained and rinsed

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Put a heavy-bottomed pot (with a lid) over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring often, until the fat renders and bacon begins to crisp, about 6-8 minutes. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes more. Stir in the ketchup, tomato puree, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, and cayenne and mix well. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the beans until well coated, cover, and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the lid and continue baking until sauce thickens and the beans begin to brown, about 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving. Serves 10-12.Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe courtesy of Dave Lieberman.

Grilled Romaine

I am constantly on the look out to find new ways to incorporate more veggies into our diet and for them to taste good and be interesting. Here is one of the latest.

Heads of romaine thrown on the grill. Brilliantly simple.

Wash and dry lettuce (leaving heads whole)

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt, and pepper.

Throw on the barbie rotating every few minutes until you get nice grill marks and the leaves just begin to wilt. Sprinkle with additional salt and pepper before serving.

The result: lettuce that actually tastes good!

Sweet Corn Muffins

Let's just cut to the quick:
1) these are basically cupcakes masquerading as muffins and
2)they blow cornbread out of the water (in my humble opinion).

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Albers® White or Yellow Corn Meal
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Grease or paper-line 18 to 20 muffin cups.
COMBINE flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk, eggs, vegetable oil and butter in small bowl; mix well. Add to flour mixture; stir just until blended. Pour into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.
BAKE for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool slightly. Serve warm.

New-kini

What a surprise to see a post about zucchini in August, I know. It's just that time of year. And it's pretty much the only thing actually producing in my garden, aside from my sweet peppers.
Here are just a few things I have done with my zucchini so far this season....the other things got eaten before I remembered to photograph them! Sorry if this feels a bit like Pvt. Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue...
Oh yeah, and the title comes from Kian...I say zucchini, he says new-kini.

Fried Zucchini

First, I cut the zucchini into quarters and halved lengthwise.

Then, I mixed up some regular breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and a smattering of Italian seasoning in a bowl.

Then I cracked and beat an egg in another bowl.

Next, I dipped each piece of zucchini in the egg and dredged through the breadcrumb mixture.

Sometimes I faux-fry these in the oven but since it was already too hot in the house I decided to do the real deal. I heated olive oil in a skillet. When it was good and hot I started adding pieces of zucchini and would turn them to let them brown on each side. Once out, I drained them on paper towels and then spooned more parmesan cheese over them. Now, I am not a huge fan of ranch dressing--but for some reason, these beg to be dipped in it.

These are almost as good as the ones on the pier from Riva in Santa Cruz. Almost.

BBQ'd Zucchini

So easy....Slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/4" thick pieces. Drizzle the slices with olive oil and sprinkle generously with Creole seasoning. Barbecue to your hearts content.

'Sauteed' Zucchini

This is the traditional method my Mom uses to make zucchini. I don't know who showed her this....maybe her Mom?

Slice up the zucchini into 1/8" thick slices. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and bit of butter in a pot. Add the zucchini and stir to coat pieces with oil. Let sit to saute and cook through. Stir every few minutes. It's okay to let the pieces on the bottom brown, in fact, a fight usually breaks out over who is taking all the "brown pieces".