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!

Roof Decking & Baby Showering

This is more of a weekend update post…hence the super random title.  Sometimes I’d rather just have titles like this (straight and to the point), rather than “clever” titles that leave you confused as to what the post is about.   Showering on a Roof?…not so much.

Anywho…

Friday was a gorgeous day in the Boston area.  Temps were warm, but not unbearably hot like other recent days (and today!).

The day started as many others do…with a yogurt bowl:

The peaches lately have been DELICIOUS!  They aren’t local quite yet (I think these were from Georgia), but that’s not going to stop me from enjoying them!

• 0% Greek Yogurt
• honey drizzle
• chopped fresh peach
• sliced almonds
• crumbled piece of Nature’s Valley honey oat bar

…and the day ended like this:

 

Brian has been working at his company’s Boston office for the past couple months, and Friday was his last day there before they move to their new office back our in the ‘burbs.

I decided to meet him in the city to grab dinner!

I’ve recently seen many of my favorite local bloggers talking about the roof deck at the new Legal Harborside down in the Liberty Wharf/Seaport area in Boston. 

Most of these blog posts have also included lobster rolls, which is what I had my mind set on for Friday night. 

Of course, gorgeous night in the city + new fabulous roof deck = line out the door. 

We weren’t really in the mood to wait in line, we more so just wanted some dinner so we opted to sit at one of their kitchen bar seats on their first floor.

The new Legal Harborside has 3 floors:

1. First floor is standard Legal Seafood's menu, with a bar area, lots of tables overlooking the harbor, and a take out area.
2. Second floor is fine dining, with a new menu.  Still lots of tables with great views
3. Third is the largest open air roof deck in the city!  The roof even retracts, and the “walls” (all window) can close so this area can still be open in the winter!  On this floor you can order off a limited bar menu.

We ate:

Lobster roll for me with a side of spinach instead of fries…  classic, delicious, but next time I’m ordering this:

The Portuguese fisherman's stew!  I stole numerous bites from Brian…it was DELICIOUS!  So flavorful!!

As we’re paying our bill, I start listening in on our waiter telling the guys next to us about the roof deck.  He noticed I was listening and asked if I had been up there…I told him that was our plan but we didn’t feel like waiting in line tonight…

Then he told us to come with him :)

Roof Deck!!

BIG thank you to our waiter!!

Unfortunately I  didn’t even take any photos of the decor, but it was very classy and relaxed up there.  It’s actually really nice how they don’t let a ton of people in at once…it wasn’t overly loud or crowded.

There were many tables, couches, and stools to sit at and view out at the harbor. 

We could even hear the Peter Frampton concert going on at the Pavilion next door!

We just relaxed with a drink for another hour and watched the sky turn into a beautiful sunset

Dear Roof Deck, I will return. 

Saturday

My friend, Erin’s, baby shower!!  I love showers :)

    
Me and mommy-to-be

 

college roomies… (minus 2)

 

And a delicious lunch at Restaurant 45 in Medway, MA.

• Antipasto salad
• chicken, broccoli, ziti
• rice
• steak tips with onions and mushrooms
• baked stuffed shrimp

It was all so good! 

Then cake of course:

Happy Shower Erin!  Can’t wait to meet the little princess!!

Showers…love ‘em?  Hate ‘em?  I love planning them the best!!

Sunday, was not nearly as interesting:  Breakfast, dance rehearsal, grocery shopping…etc. 

How was your weekend??

A Grilled Pizza Success!

Happy Thursday friends!

If you’re in the New England area, my guess is that you too are waking up to some GORGEOUS weather!  Last night was the first night this week without AC, and it’s even a bit cool waking up.

I even decided to make myself a hot cappuccino this morning.  A nice change from the iced versions I’ve been enjoying all week…

Iced cap with the rest of a container of 0% Fage + banana + raspberries + cereal + homemade blueberry sauce.

And…

FOAMY iced cap with a protein pancake topped with PB + AB, with bananas + raspberries.

I love how the cappuccino still has the espresso settled on the bottom and, then some milk mixed in, and foam on top…triple layered!

My workouts this week have all been DANCE! 
I love when that happens!

I know I’ve mentioned before, but I am in my friend’s dance company this summer.  It’s mostly contemporary, which is new for me, and so far I am loving it!  The show is Sept 9 & 10 in Milford, NH and it will be awesome!  If anyone’s interested just let me know ;)

Dance also makes me the most sore out of any exercise I’ve ever done…and the best part is that you don’t feel like your “working out'”.  But really, somehow the part of my body from my armpit down to my ribcage is SO SORE, its a struggle to just lift my arms!  It’s weird when you’re sore in a new place…I still don’t understand how it happened.

I had rehearsal Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday…each for 3 hours.  Then 3 more hours this coming Sunday.  At least I won’t feel bad if I don’t get any other workouts in!

Wow, talk about sidetracked…the star of this post is PIZZA!

I’ve always wanted to be able to make pizza on the grill.  However, I have only had many failed attempts. 

The worst was a few years ago when I was living with my bff in Somerville.  We tried on a charcoal grill that was clearly WAY to hot.  The dough just immediately charred the second it went on.  Fail.

Then my issue seemed to be flipping the dough.  See, you have to put the plain dough on first, cook one side, then flip, add toppings, and finish cooking. 

What I need is a huge spatula or maybe just a metal pizza peel.  Either way, the other night things actually went fairly well!

Grilled Steak + Caramelized Onion + Gorgonzola Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust

First the dough.  I used Sabrina’s recipe, only I used WHITE whole wheat flour instead of regular whole wheat flour.

I think I like using regular yeast better than instant.  I actually used this Hodgson Mill Active Dry yeast that is specially designed for whole grain flours!

I turned her dough recipe into 3 dough balls, 2 to be frozen for later use.

Other ingredients:

• Pizza dough of your choice
• Steak – either leftover, or we bought thin sliced steak, grilled it quickly before, then cut into pizza topping sized bites
• caramelized onions (the faster method)
• 1/2 medium onion (yellow or white) sliced thin
• Cook in 1T olive oil + 1 tsp butter over low/med-low heat
• cook, stirring occasionally and watch temp so onions do NOT brown.
• about 8 min later, add 1 tsp sugar
• cook for another 5 min, or until they seem ready and delicious to you :)
• part skim mozzarella
• gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• chopped fresh rosemary
• olive oil

I didn’t really give quantities, because everyone likes more or less toppings on their pizza!

1. Heat your grill to med-med high (I have a gas grill, so I’m not sure the best method for other types)
2. Roll out your dough, place it on a pan to bring to the grill, and brush one side with olive oil
3. Get all your toppings ready, and set them up right by your grill…you need to move fast once the dough is flipped.
4. Now, place dough OIL SIDE DOWN on grill, and turn down the heat to low/med low.  You’re grill will still be hot enough from the heat up to cook the dough just as fast.
5. Now quickly brush the other exposed side of the dough with olive oil.
6. About 1min or so later, or once the dough starts to get golden on the bottom…FLIP!  This took team work with Brian and I to make sure the dough flipped.
7. Now quickly top your pizza!!  Brian and I just grabbed toppings and went to town as fast as we could.
8. Get that lid back down to make sure the cheese melts!
9. Our pizza only took a few more minutes at this point.  Keep checking it so the dough doesn't burn!

We were SO excited that it was working!!

and in no time, we had fresh pizza!

Still not the prettiest thing in the world, but SO delicious.

We also had some grilled zucchini and summer squash (firsts from our garden!).

um, yeah we easily devoured that whole pizza :)  It really wasn’t as big as it looks.

I LOVE LOVED this pizza.  The toppings were so flavorful.  I think next time I’d double the caramelized onions…because really they were the best part. 

The dough was delicious as well.

We both couldn’t get over how good this was!  And now we’re no longer afraid of grilling pizza!

Have you ever grilled pizza??  Any tips?? 

Time to take my little Pup-cake for a walk!

Plans for the weekend??

• I have my friends baby shower Saturday
• Dance on Sunday!

Island Hopping

What can I say, I’m a lucky girl this summer!  First I was able to spend a week on Martha’s Vineyard with my bff and her family, and just recently Brian and I returned from 3 days on Nantucket!  This time we were able to stay with my aunt/uncle/cousins who rented a house for a few weeks :)

My aunt & uncle used to have year-round house on the island when I was growing up and I was able to go much more frequently.  However, up until last year when Brian and I visited Nantucket for our first anniversary, I hadn’t been in over 10 years!! 

With only 3 days on island, we were always doing something fun and there was never a shortage of delicious food.  I know I’ve told you that I come from a family of great cooks!  That includes on vacation :)
I LOVED the house!  It was Nantucket meets French Countryside as far as decor goes.  I snapped some photos but you’ll have to excuse the mess…we were rolling 12-13 people deep at any given time!

 
LOVE LOVE the countertops…

That little wooden “shed” out there is actually the outdoor shower.  A MUST on a Nantucket vacation.  There is nothing like taking a nice hot shower out in the fresh air!  Wish I had one at home!!
 
Food!
Fresh bluefish we cooked for dinner with grilled veggies


The remains of clams “casino”…actually it’s clams “(my aunt/uncles’s last name)” as they are their version made with prosciutto!

Famous tomato basil eggs

The gist of this dish is: 

• Heat some olive oil in a pan with a little garlic/herbs/salt+pepper
• Add fresh sliced tomatoes, cook for a few min
• Crack fresh eggs on top, cook to desired doneness
• top with fresh basil
• serve with toast

Wow.  This is Brian and my new favorite breakfast.

It reminded me of bruscetta + eggs.   SO good!


Monster-sized sandwich at the beach, from Something Natural

Brian and I split that, it was roast beef on six-grain bread with all the fixin’s.  They make all their own bread…delicious. 
Salad on the ferry ride home

Sadie and my cousin!  Sadie made Bromley seem huge when we got home!

Brian

Rolling 10-deep in the Suburban

Beach

The water was actually REALLY nice!  Usually too cold for me, but I went in :)

And last but not least…The Brewery!  You can read my full recap about Cisco from our trip last September.  One of the best spots on island!


That was their Pechish Woods!  The newest member of their “Woods” series.  Like the Cherry Woods, it’s also a sour ale, but the peach wasn’t as prominent as the cherry is.   Still loved it.
Also fell in love with their Triple 8 Distillery’s Blueberry Vodka.  This is unlike any “blueberry” vodka you’ve ever had.  It tastes like fresh blueberries, and that color is all natural.

Perfect with club soda and a splash of lemonade.  Definitely bought a bottle to bring home. 

 
BYOFood.

Well I think that about sums it up!  Fun, family, food, beach, beer…am I missing anything? 

Till next time…