Crab-less Zucchini Cakes

Thank you Nanny.  Yes it was my grandmother who told me about this recipe. 

She hadn’t actually made them, but she had seen this recipe in one of those inserts that comes in the Newspaper sometimes.  I don’t get the newspaper anymore, but I’m glad she does.

I read it and was instantly intrigued.  Healthy zucchini cakes that tasted like crab cakes?!

Oh yes.

I immediately copied it down on a recipe card and took note of where it came from… Relish.com!  I’ve never heard of this website before, but I think now I will take a closer look.

Turns out I could have just found the recipe online, but I like having the card to put in my little recipe box from my bridal shower :)

We suddenly have an influx of zucchini popping up in our garden so I need to use a lot of it up right now. 

I’m pretty sure another batch of these are on their way soon!

Zucchini Cakes
from Relish.com with my modifications

Ingredients:

• 3 cups coarsely grated zucchini
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (from a baguette)
• I used whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise or plain yogurt
• I used olive oil mayonnaise
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 teaspoon butter

Place grated zucchini in a colander; sprinkle lightly with salt and let stand 30 minutes. Press with paper towels to remove as much liquid as possible. Zucchini should be fairly dry, and you should have about 2 cups. Place zucchini and remaining ingredients (except oil and butter) in a bowl. Mix well. Form into 8 patties the size of crab cakes. Chill.

Heat oil and butter in a skillet.

Add patties to skillet and cook on both sides until browned. Drain on paper towels

In the head-notes of the original recipe, it suggests serving with a quick sauce of chopped fresh herbs (such as chives and dill), lemon juice, and mayonnaise.

We had all those items on hand so I took:

• 3T reduced fat olive oil mayo
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• approx 1 tsp chopped dill and chives

Perfect.  The combo of the sauce with these cakes was DIVINE! 

They REALLY DO taste like crab cakes!!!  The Old Bay + the texture…amazing.  Bonus point for only having 140 calories per serving (2 cakes). 

So happy my grandmother told me about this one!!

Make these!

Weekend Recovery

Hey Guys!  This past week Brian and I spent some time relaxing on the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina!  I’m still working on a vacation recap, but all you need to know was that the beaches are amazing and the ocean water is a perfect temp!  Being a life long New Englander, we are used to FRIGID water.  I recall the days when I was younger we’d have to “get numb” before we could play around in the water…yeah I don’t do that anymore ;)  So this water felt AMAZING.

For now this beautiful sight

Another beautiful sight was this one that I saw when I walked in the door Saturday morning after an awesome run.

Oh yes, he did!  I ran about 3.8 miles around Lexington (part of which I did on the Minuteman Bike Trail!)  Then when I walked in the door I discovered a beautiful breakfast was minutes away!

We had a bag of red potatoes leftover from the trip and Brian mentioned something about home fries but I didn’t really think much of it. 

He made home fries with fresh oregano and thyme from our garden.

Then made delicious Caprese style breakfast sandwiches with egg, fresh mozzarella, and tomato and basil from our garden!

I added some sliced banana and strawberries to round it out.

It was just the thing to re-fuel after my run and it was delicious!!  A big THANKS to my awesome husband :)

The rest of the weekend consisted of re-organizing, errands, and more delicious food!

It was surprisingly cool and rainy today (which is actually a welcome change…maybe my lawn will turn back to green soon!), and it totally put me in the mood to cook and bake!

Also brought up a craving for a hot cappuccino…mmm foam

A compromise of a soup for a cool day but summer fresh ingredients were found in this Cooking Light recipe: Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

The actual recipe in the magazine had this soup served with bruschetta which I also made.      

The bruschetta was simple:

• mix chopped tomato, basil, a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a sprinkle of salt
• toast bread/baguette on a baking sheet in the oven at 425 for 6 minutes.
• after removing from oven, rub a fresh garlic clove on each slice
• then top with tomato mixture

 

The soup had a fresh sweet flavor that was brought out by the corn!  I used mostly fresh corn off the cob as opposed to frozen.

The blended corn + milk gives a great creaminess without any actual cream.

The best part is of course the toppings of sharp cheddar, bacon, and scallions :)

I also baked up some tasty apple walnut muffins based on the Moosewood Muffin recipe, but I am not liking how the pictures came out (still working the new camera when there’s no natural light).  So, I shall do another muffin photo shoot in the morning with the sun shining in :)

It’s great to be home, but I am not looking forward to work tomorrow…boo!  At least I had muffins to look forward too!        

Enjoy your last hours of the weekend!

New Toy

So many bloggers have nice cameras.  I’m always jealous of some of the gorgeous pictures they take. 

However I just could not justify spending the money…at least not right now.  I like my little point and shoot Canon and for the most part I like how my pictures come out!

But then it was like fate…my good friend emails me telling me that her husband bought a new fancy camera and is going to sell his on craigslist!

I hardly needed to think about it…it was almost half of what he paid when he bought it and I knew it would be in great condition still.

Boo yeah!!

SO EXCITED and I have NO idea how to work the damn thing hahah!

I played around a bit this weekend, had a little 5 min crash course from my cousin and am VERY slowly getting the hand of it.  For this post I shall label which pics are from the new camera or old camera :)

Saturday – Bootcamp blast with my bff!  I love working out outside, esp on gorgeous days like we had on Saturday.

I made sure to wake up with plenty of time for breakfast and man I was craving some Kodiak cakes. 
I love how 1/3 cup of the Kodiak cake mix has:

• 130 calories
• 1 gm Fat
• 4g fiber
• 2g sugar
• 7g protein

Not much different than a piece of whole grain bread!  Okay so I don’t usually put maple syrup on bread but still…

(above: old camera)

On one cake I did banana and a little almond butter + raspberry syrup

(above: NEW camera)

The other larger cake was eaten classic Bridget style…chocolate chips on top, so they melt, and then dipped in maple syrup.

Made an iced Americano as well…no dairy before workouts for this girl.

(all the pancake pics are with NEW camera)

Sunday, after a fun night out dancing (maybe too fun haha) for my friends bday…we went in search of pastries Sunday morning :)

FINALLY got myself to Tatte!

Look at the adorable display of mini brioche breads on old stairs… 
(above: old camera)

We shared a cinnamon pecan “rose”…like a cinnamon bun

(above: old cameras)

We also stumbled upon a great Jewish bakery in the area and bought a loaf of Whole Wheat Challah bread!  I hadn’t had Challah in AGES!

This loaf was basically the size of my head…ridiculous.

(above: old camera)

And a random pic with the new camera…Watermelon!    

Beefsteak tomato from the garden…this was with a flash.  I wasn’t liking the yellowish tinge I was getting without the flash…hmmm?

Dinner!

• Garden tomatoes
• Garden cucumber
• yellow pepper
• Feta
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

(both above: new camera)

Well that was another fairly random post, for a random weekend haha!

Fun blogger event tomorrow!  Let’s hope I can scoot out of work in time!

Side note:  I’m watching the Teen Choice Awards as I write this (yeah yeah I know…), but there was a dance number from Step Up 3D…O.M.G. INCREDIBLE!!  I kind of want to see it!!!  No I REALLY want to see it haha!

So how was your weekend??  I had such a fun night out dancing Saturday night…haven’t been like “out on the town” in a while, and I LOVE to dance :)

Fergalicious

Got a last minute invite to the Black Eyed Peas concert last night!!  SOOO FUN!!!

I'm pretty sure the only type of concerts I’ve been to in the past are laid back rock show (DMB, Guster….etc), this was my first Hip Hop show and it ROCKED!  Basically a dance party the whole time and the BEP have enough hits to make a whole concert out of them!

We were up in the nosebleeds but who cares!

Then whilst I was out shaking “My Humps” (haha couldn't resist), my BFF Jocelyn talked me into an impromptu week day beach day!!  Of course I wasn’t really playing hooky too much, because I went into work for the morning, but then we headed up to Gloucester for some relaxing time on the beach….best.idea.ever.

On our way up we grabbed coffee and bagel sandwiches from Bagel World.

I love Bagel World…BEST bagels I’ve had around here.  Nice chewy smooth exterior with delicious soft yet still chewy interior.

The star was definitely the Chicken Salad on a Whole Wheat bagel, scooped out, add all veggies.

sandwich heaven.

Other Summer Randomness:

yogurt and berries :)

These were the berries from the farmers market, plus some wild blueberries I picked up from a little shop in Cambridge. 

teeny tiny strawberries!   

TJ’s non-fat Greek yogurt, berries, sliced almonds

Then we have a summer dinner I made for my mom who came over this past weekend…

Wild Alaskan Salmon

• grilled in foil with:
• olive oil
• lemon slices
• garlic
• fresh parsley
• salt & pepper

Corn Salad

• 2 ears of fresh corn, cut off cob
• In medium skillet heat:
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• add sliced sweet white/yellow onion
• after 4-5 min add corn
• and 1 sliced zucchini
• salt and pepper
• serve over salad of:
• Baby Spinach and whatever else you’d like!

This corn lately has been RIDICULOUSLY sweet!

Also, clearly pulled one of my carrot plants too soon…

Carrot Nubs.  And that’s why I call the garden a “learning experience”

So far the garden stars are: Basil, Cucumber, Summer Squash, cherry tomatoes, mesclun lettuce, Mint, chives, parsley, sage, oregano, thyme

Garden fails: snap peas, dill, peppers, cilantro (used to be good, now it’s done)

Wait and see:  I thought Zucchini was going to be a fail, but this week we’ve started sprouting!!  The bigger tomatoes are coming, slowly. 

Our first Beefsteak next to a “nub”

So glad tomorrow's Thursday!  Almost time for the weekend :)

My little cousin’s bday party is Saturday, anyone have a great idea for a gift for a 5 year old boy???