teacher by day - chef by night
Rich LOVES Whoopie Pies. His mom picks them up for him every time we have a trip to the lake & she gets them from a small Amish Bakery stand. The stakes were high so I have avoided making him Whoopie Pies for quite a …
Just the other day I was wishing that I had some Tomatillos because I was craving a green salsa! That day just happened to be a Friday and I was getting ready to go over to our CSA. Lo & Behold we got a pound …
Baba Ganoush is a traditional Mid Eastern dish – similar to Hummus, only instead of being made with Chick Peas – you make it with Eggplant. BUT – cooking is all about being creative, so when life hands you Zucchini you get creative like Hannah did!
We are lucky that our neighbors still like us enough to be sharing their zucchini and other garden goodies (and they are on vacation so we are getting all of their bounty). I am a HUGE fan of Hummus (great after school snack with some veggies) so I had a feeling that I would be really enjoy this. Turn on your oven, roast those veggies, enjoy the smells & get ready to dip!
Adapted from Bittersweet Blog – variation of Baba Ganoush
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Slice the zucchini into 1/4-inch thick rounds, spread a little olive oil on the foil, the lay your zucchini in an even (non-overlapping) layer & drizzle some more olive oil & salt/pepper on top of the zucchini. Place the whole cloves of garlic grouped in the center of the sheet so that they don’t burn. Roast for 30 minutes, until the zucchini are nicely browned. Let cool.
Once the vegetables have come to room temperature, peel the garlic cloves, and toss them into your food processor along with the roasted zucchini. Add in the tahini, lemon juice, cumin, and smoked salt. Pulse to combine, until you create a rough and chunky sort of paste. You don’t want it to be smooth. It should take about 5 – 10 pulses.
Sample the tastes & adjust as needed (I should have added a bit more salt, since I didn’t have the right type I suppose). Transfer the finished dip into an air-tight container, and for the best flavor: let it set in the fridge for a few hours (or even better: overnight). Serve with an additional drizzle of olive oil over the top, if desired.
Makes 1 1/2 – 2 Cups
One Year Ago: Sushi @ Home
And I leave you with this, today’s Question of the day… What is your favorite dip or thing to dip? For Me: depending on the day or my mood I love Hummus or Ranch or Salsa (all with veggies so I don’t feel guilty). So what do you love!?
Dad’s birthday is reason enough to celebrate – but we have another reason to celebrate here at Teacher by Day – Chef by Night! One year ago: August 17, 2010 I posted my very first blog post. I have come so far in this year… taking the plunge getting pictures posted on FoodGawker, gaining readers, being willing to experiment more, and the list goes on.
WARNING: You house will smell AWESOME while this is cooking, so you will be hungry while this bakes
Rich always come home from work hungry. His first move is usually to go straight to the freezer and take out ice cream (sorry Rich – your secret is out). In an effort to try to give him a healthier alternative (in addition to using some of our beautiful goodies from our [and our neighbor’s] garden) I decided to whip up some of these Cucumber Boats for when he got home.
This is the season of carefree entertaining and although I love me some roasted veggies (the house smells awesome from roasted veggies right now – look forward to those posts in the coming days & weeks) we don’t always want/need to heat up the house! This recipe easily serves 1 or 2 as an appetizer, but is obviously very easy to adapt for more. Just count (about) a whole cucumber per person as you adapt this for your next gathering.
Enjoy these the next time you get a few extra veggies laying around – super fast and easy and tasty (and good for you too)
(adapted from Jenn’s Cuisine)
Slice cucumbers in half vertically, and core out the seeds. Three of these halves of these will be the “boats” to serve the salad in. Take one of the halves and peel the outside, then dice. Dice the tomatoes with the same small size dice you used on the cucumbers. Mix in a bowl diced cucumber, tomato, onion, mozzarella, and the dressing ingredients. Let sit about 10 minutes. Drain the liquid & carefully scoop into the 3 cucumber boats and serve.
And I leave you with this Question of the Day… What is your favorite “after work snack” and how do you fix your unhealthy cravings and turn them into healthy ones?
