Cooking Show: Summer Produce

Our recent cooking show focused on summer produce.

More specifically, recipes to make if you have an overabundance of summer produce!

My friend, Lisa, cooked with me. Lisa loves to cook as much as I do!  It didn't take long before our assortment of seasonal fruits and vegetables turned into a mouth-watering array of delicious dishes.

(Click on the titles to be taken to the printable recipes.)

Stuffed Eggplant Parmesan

If your garden is overflowing with eggplant, then this is the recipe for you!

My husband did not grow up in a house where eggplant was served and he has a very strong aversion to unfamiliar foods.  He does not even like the word "eggplant."  However, his absolute favorite dishes are chicken parmesan and veal parmesan.  I knew he would like this if only he would try it!  

The first few times I served him eggplant, he ate it without complaint and grudgingly said, "I guess I would eat anything if it had enough tomato sauce and cheese on it."  

I would be kidding myself if I said that this is now one of his favorite foods, but I do know that he really likes it!  

Watermelon Margaritas

Okay, maybe you don't have watermelon growing in your garden. Watermelon is one of my favorite summer fruits, and it only seemed right that while it's in season and at its peak we should feature this drink!

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

There is no printable link for you to click on here because there really is no need for a printable recipe!

Here you go: heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, balsamic glaze, basil.

Got that? Four ingredients!  Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella, drizzle it with balsamic glaze and sprinkle with finely shredded basil.  SO GOOD.  Excuse my shouting.  But it's SO GOOD.  Is there anything better than fresh-sweet-heirloom tomatoes in the summertime?  I think not.

Lemon/Blueberry Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze

If you are lucky and have an overabundance of zucchini and blueberries on hand you can make this today.

If not, go to your supermarket and get yourself a small zucchini and a half pint of blueberries so you can make it today.

I can not tell you how long this bread will stay fresh because in this house it is always devoured within 24 hours.  The last three times that I made this bread I shared it with three different people and all of them asked me for the recipe.  It's that good!  No matter how often I make it (even three times in one week), it disappears fast.  

Pumpkin Gingerbread

Happy first day of fall!  How should we celebrate?

With another pumpkin recipe, of course!!

This Pumpkin Gingerbread is so good.  The flavor-- though still predominantly ginger-- isn't quite as intense as typical gingerbread.  The addition of pumpkin tones the ginger flavor down a bit while adding lots of substance and body.

Add a drizzle of maple glaze...it's a perfect celebration of fall.


Today's Playlist

• "Rebel Rebel"...David Bowie
• "Troublemaker"...Weezer
• "I'm Yours"...Jason Mraz
• "Dani California"...Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"...Green Day
• "Love Interruption"...Jack White
• "In One Ear"...Cage the Elephant
• "What A Wonderful World"...Joey Ramone
• "Story of My Life"...Social Distortion
• "All Day and All of the Night"...The Kinks

Pumpkin Gingerbread with Maple Glaze (makes one loaf)

Printable Recipe

Gingerbread ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 10 tablespoons melted butter (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

note: additional butter and flour needed for greasing the pan (or use non-stick cooking spray)

Maple Glaze ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• pinch of salt

Gather your ingredients.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

Butter and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, or use nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, ginger, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl until combined.

In a large bowl, stir the melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla together until thoroughly combined.

It will be very liquidy and runny.

Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture just until incorporated.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan.  Bake for one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (or with only a few moist crumbs).

I can say from experience that this gingerbread takes about an hour and ten minutes in my oven, but I usually set the timer for one hour just in case.

And then I stick a toothpick into it, which comes out completely coated in wet batter, so I put it back into the oven for an additional 10 minutes.  

I just can't bring myself to bake it for one hour and ten minutes right from the get-go!  

While the gingerbread is baking, prepare your maple glaze.

Gather your ingredients.  You can see that there is some crystallized ginger in the photo. 

 I was thinking that I would chop the ginger and sprinkle it over the glaze, but a lot of thoughts went through my head as the gingerbread baked and by the time it came out of the oven I wasn't in the mood for crystallized ginger anymore.

Feel free to sprinkle your gingerbread with crystallized ginger if you have it. Or chopped pecans.

To prepare the glaze, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium/high heat until it's bubbly.  This will take about a minute.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup and vanilla until combined.  It will bubble at first, but as you whisk it will calm down.

Whisk in the confectioners sugar and a pinch of salt until smooth.  Set aside until your gingerbread is finished baking.

Ta-da!  It finally passed the toothpick test.

I let the gingerbread cool down for about 10 minutes and then place it onto a serving platter.  Serve it while it's still warm, or after it's cooled.  Either way, it's out-of-this-world delicious!

You can either drizzle the glaze on top of the loaf (like the photo at the top of this post), or drizzle it over the slices as you serve them.

Enjoy.

Strawberry Bread with Almond Glaze

I wasn't planning on making strawberry bread.

My plan was to bake banana bread.

I needed three over-ripe bananas.  I always buy more bananas than I think we could possibly eat, hoping that there will be three left by the time they get soft and turn so brown that no one would possibly want to eat them. Three is the magic number for banana bread.

At 7:30 a.m. there were three brown bananas.  A half-hour later:

Ahem.  I should have known better than to count my brown bananas before my husband packed his lunch. 

I'm sure that he thought he was doing me a favor by taking a banana that he thought nobody else would want to eat, leaving better ones behind.

Yes, he left behind eight primo bananas.  And so the cycle begins again--once more, I think I bought more bananas than we can eat, I hope there will be three left by the time they turn brown and mushy.

Not enough bananas. I was forced to change my plans.  Fortunately, I had all the ingredients for strawberry bread on hand!

Cranberry-Pistachio Bread

I'm surrounded by red and green, everywhere I look.

The last of my amaryllis bulbs has finally started to sprout.  Overnight, it just shot up.  Two shoots from one bulb........I don't always get that lucky, so when it happens it's a pleasant surprise.

This last bulb grew so fast, it's already passed the three bulbs that were beginning to sprout last week.

Remember earlier this week when I transferred these bulbs?  The good news is, two of them have started to sprout, and they also have two shoots coming from each bulb.  

The not-so-good news is the third one has barely budged, and they are all growing so slowly that I can't imagine they will bloom before springtime.

At least the red and green ornaments in the planters are pretty to look at.

Speaking of red and green........

Chock-full of cranberries and pistachios, this bread is such a festive display of red-and-green that it begs to be part of your Christmas baking line-up.

It's so extraordinarily good, however, that I'd bet you'll be baking it year-round!

Put on your favorite Christmas CD and play it loud while you do your baking.