Listing a List of Lists #6

Food I'm Loving:

There was a bit of a 'heat wave' that rolled through the northwest (FL people, try not to snicker) and I have been completely obsessed w/ iced coffee since.  I started researching and settled on making my own with this recipe which I had to dilute considerably.  If I ever run out of gas in my car, I could use this stuff it's so high octane.  I'll try Pioneer Woman's next but I just don't think the heat will last that long and anything taking up that much fridge space would warrant both of us would drink.  Also, why go through the trouble if I can just buy it from TJ's?  

A friend sent me this overnight oats recipe - chocolate and hazelnuts for bfast?  Woooo!

More good bfast ideas: Raspberry chia overnight oats, scrambled eggs and mustard greens on toast, blueberry pancake granola.

Where was this recipe a few days ago when I had banana that were on the verge of poltergeist status?  Ended up making my favorite browned butter banana bread but I always add walnuts to mine.

Easiest fridge dill pickles.  Steve - where are those damn pickles?!

Strawberry lemonade bars..right up Gabe's alley.  As is this strawberry lemonade cake. 

Bibimbap tacos - drool.

Someone in my household (hint: it's not Kuen) can have a very obnoxiously pretentious vocabulary but even he scoffed at this cherry buttermilk clafoutis.

Did you know July 20th was National Ice Cream Day??  We went to our favorite ice cream place and I may or may not have gone home w/ a pint of their Kentucky Bourbon Ice Cream.

Interesting to Me:

Love this pretty bracelet.  So dainty!

Who else is dying over the Gosling/Mendes baby announcement?  That poor child won't stand a chance w/ those genes.

Finished reading Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill.  It was good.  I guess I had higher expectations considering all the stellar ratings on Amazon and Goodreads but I was meh about it.  The first several chapters were really difficult (graphic) to read.  Just finished reading The Goldfinch which I was recommended by several people - couldn't put it down.  Tell me what you're reading this summer!

If I were 22...

For all us working moms.."You have to cope because you die with guilt."

Thinking about blogging too?  I agree with most of these reasons...obviously don't do this for a paycheck so 6 & 7 are a stretch.  I guess I could just replace those w/ "it's fun"?

Just for Fun: 

Zucchini Cakes

Raise your hand if you buy an ingredient w/ grand ideas of making something fabulous recipe you saw somewhere only to allow the ingredient get shoved behind the mountains of other things in your fridge and find it several days (or weeks if I'm being real) later with spots of mold and rot forming?  

*hand sheepishly raises*

I ended up using FIVE eggs instead so they're pretty hearty.
Could be used on top of salad as a light dinner or as a healthy breakfast.

That was the exact story of these beautiful zucchini I saw at the store after I was inspired by the award winning zucchini bread I posted about a while ago.  Um, yeah..  I read the recipe through and realized I'd only be using ONE freaking zucchini.  Plus, there were so many steps with the streusel, and choices between muffins or cakes, etc., etc., etc. I abandoned that and remembered about zucchini cakes.  

Zucchini Cakes

I did a little research and found several different versions and came up with my own mish-mash (that's a technical term) of several different versions out there using what I had on hand. 

Love the texture on these.

Zucchini Cakes

makes roughly a dozen 3" cakes

2-3 med/large zucchinis, grated and wring dry in a clean dish towel
1 c panko breadcrumbs (I'm sure regular breadcrumbs would work well too)
1/2 c grated parmigiano reggiano
5 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder (you can also use fresh)
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
light oil for frying

As with most cooking (NOT baking), this recipe's pretty forgiving so if you don't have exactly what's written here, don't worry - they should still turn out ok.  If you have more zucchini, add a little more egg, less, subtract and so on.

Grate zucchini on the large shred side of your box grater, should yield about 4 to 4.5 cups.  Next in a clean dish towel or cheese cloth, wring out the excess moisture of the grated zucchini in batches.  You'll want the shreds as dry as possible so they don't end up a soggy mess when you're frying them in the pan.  What's left should be about 3.5 cups of shreds that should be mostly dry to the touch.  Mix eggs, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders together.  Fold grated cheese and breadcrumbs in to eggs then transfer the egg mixture into the zucchini and incorporate.  Let the mix stand for a few minutes.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a frying pan or cast iron skillet on medium heat.  When the pan is radiating heat (not yet smoking), heat 1/4" of oil in the pan until the oil starts to shimmer.  Drop in 3" heaps of the cakes and fry for a few (3-4) minutes until golden, flip and fry for another minute or two on the other side.  This will vary depending on how hot your stove is - I ended up having to turn down to low heat, they're a lot like cooking breakfast pancakes, first batch may or may not be sacrificial.

It's important not to crowd the pan or else you won't get a nice crispy texture on the outside of your cakes.  Transfer to a wire rack and finish frying the remaining batches.  When the cakes are done frying, put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes to set the middle of the cakes.  

Make ahead tips: you can actually freeze these after you've pan fried them and bake from frozen instead of finishing off or split the batch and only stick what you plan on eating in the oven, freeze the rest.  Just bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes until they're warmed through.

These are great w/ ranch or some tzatziki (thx Karen!) for dipping.   

Listing a List of Lists #5

Food I'm Loving:

Grilled pizza seems so intimidating, no?

There have been a bunch of zucchini breads in my feed lately.  Wanna try this one. And anything claiming to be 'award winning' always gets my attention.

I love stratas - this cheesy bacony mushroomy spinachy one is on my list.

Summer snacky.  Can't get enough of Trader Joe's plantain chips.

How adorable are these macarons?  Someone please teach me how to make these.  Oh, and her polka dot icing cake is pretty gorgeous too.

This chickpea salad - looks so yum and refreshing.

Salted caramel apple pie bars.  Daaaaaaang.

Spicy Kale and Coconut Stir-fry.  Drink!

You had me at 'big river of cream cheese' - banana bread.

Jos/Jessie: If you lived closer, I'd totally make this for you (or this) after Charlize is born!  

Interesting to Me:

Honey: please stop reading here.  Everyone else: In honor of World Cup fever, I give you this.  The commentary is almost as good as the photos. I just left the page on #23 for a while.  Then made it down to #20. #15.  #1 - I need a hot tub full of Italian soccer players. Just wow.  I also saw Michael Ballack doing some commentary on ESPN and that dude is pretty damn fine as well.

Storing different types of flour - helpful! 

I'm guilty of this.  Sorry.

Flew through all three Study Series books by Maria Snyder.  I love young adult lit and I don't care if you're judging me for it.  Thank you, WA Post.

For all my pregos out there - go find a doctor like this.

More on Saved By the Bell..I know, I'm obsessed even after all these years and I definitely want to watch this.  But can I just say these guys don't look nearly as hot as the original cast?!

Speaking of which.. still in love w/ Zack Morris.  I remember all those Saved By the Bell references.  Don't judge but I kinda want to read Screech's tell all "Behind the Bell" - juicy!

I think I spent an entire day watching this gif and sent it to anyone who would listen - thanks Karen!

No more microbeads.  NO!

Really enjoyed this TED Talk about how schools kill creativity.  

Just for Fun:

Anyone w/ toddler-aged children has more blurry photos than usable ones.
Kuen in a particularly adorable dress I was NOT able to capture..

4th of July parade!  And yes, we were absolutely the most un-patriotic people there.  Oops!