Zucchini and Carrots Oh my!!!

Soooo back to cooking!  Yesterday was a bad day for me ('cause I wrote this). I didn't even cook, instead we went out to eat which is rare for me/us. One reason is I do love to cook and sometimes to my step-kids' dismay. I'll cook pretty much anything that looks healthy.  Not very much comes out of a box in this house, not that I abhor Rice-A-Roni or the like, there are some very good boxed meals out there and I would love to buy a box of the fried rice and just throw in some cooked chicken and frozen veggies (as I did a great deal when I was a single mom, working full-time and going to school part-time). Alas, my hubby is right about the amount of sodium in said boxed meals (bad for my blood pressure) and I do find great comfort in cooking.  The second reason I cook most of our meals is simply cost.  Going out to eat is pretty much out of the question because I'm not currently working, maybe once a month for something cheap and simple or a little more up-scale for special days.  Other than that, a cooking I will go!

My husband likes to cook too. Poor guy, I tend to beat him to the kitchen though.  Lately, he's been pushing the whole barbecue idea, probably so he can have a chance to cook too, besides that the weather has been beautiful as it usually is in Arizona.  I have to say, we are very lucky here. The summers may be as hot as hades sometimes, but its year-round barbecue season! Tonight was one of those nights he won out.  We ended up having barbecued pork spareribs, homemade barbecue sauce and Zucchini and Carrot pancakes. Trust me that was quite enough!  Since my step-kids are at their mom's this week, it was just me, my hubby and little miss J.

That girl can be the PICKIEST eater! Meat? If its not bacon, she won't touch it, even if its breaded (she picks the breading off and eats that!).  Potatoes? For sure, if its french fries, other than that only when she's in the mood.  Veggies are hit and miss as well as fruit, though I can get apple slices in her and sometimes bananas.  The only guaranteed items are peanut butter and flavored yogurt. There are times that I am so tempted to slather either one of those things on her food just for the chance to get something else in her.  There are cereals, crackers and nuts that she'll eat too, but one can not live on that alone. I know she's two and this is normal (I've read all about it). We supplement with some gummy vitamins and she's growing, so I know she's not under nourished, mommy's just paranoid and digressing.....

So back to the food!   The pork spareribs were simple, seasoned with one of those spice rubs (Montreal Steak Seasoning) and slapped on the grill.  My hubby smoked them a little bit too, because when had some pecan wood floating around and he likes using his smoker (its so cute).  I was whipping up a batch of Ina Garten's Zucchini Pancakes which are very good on their own, but I still have a bunch of carrots to use up before they go all limp and icky.  The recipe calls for two zucchini and since I only had one, in went some shredded carrots! I also tweaked the amount of grated onion, 'cause a whole onion is a little much for me and I only had yellow onions on hand.  I also added in some chopped fresh sage, rosemary (just a little), oregano and parmesan cheese - just cause I happened to have some! YUMMMM!!!!!

I also made Homemade Barbecue Sauce...ok I admit we were out, so why not whip some up?   This is one of those "a little of this and a little of that" types of recipes - if you can even call it a recipe! There are no actual measurements as I just threw in what I had that sounded good at the moment and it worked! Hooray! This is most certainly something to adjust to your own tastes....

Homemade Barbecue Sauce:

In a small saucepan add:
- a couple of good long squirts of ketchup (sorry no homemade - maybe in a month when our tomatoes grow)
- a dollop of prepared cocktail sauce (I like the kind with horseradish)
- a couple of glugs of Worcestershire sauce
- a small spoonful of horseradish (not the sauce kind - just straight horseradish)
- a spoonful of hoisin sauce
- a dash or two of onion powder
- a dash or two of garlic powder
- a squirt of honey
- a dash or two of chili powder
- some malt vinegar (maybe a tablespoon)
- some balsamic vinegar (again maybe a tablespoon)
- a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce
- a couple of tablespoons of teriyaki  sauce

heat through and stir to combine, salt and pepper to taste and serve! (as my youngest says: Tada!)
Again this is completely changeable to suit your taste, start with a little of each and add more of whatever you want. It turned out a little sweet, a little vinegary and had a little kick from the horseradish.  If and when I make this again, I'll try to actually measure the ingredients and make the adjustments.

To top off my cooking adventure this evening, I made a batch of Farmgirl Fare's lovely Carrot and Herb Rolls.  Sadly, I still have about 8 carrots left to use up!

Thank you, Ina and Susan for helping me make a lovely dinner!

Zucchini and Carrot Carbonara

I was watching the Food Network this morning (for those who know me - Shocking I know!) and on "Five Minute Fix" the host was making a spinach carbonara, looked pretty good. So as I was attempting to think of something this evening for dinner, which as usual I didn't start doing until it was close to 5 pm. So it was either leftovers or something utilizing said ingredients. Out popped out this little gem of a dish!

I went on to the FN website and found the recipe from the episode I watched this morning, but I didn't have enough spinach to do that particular one, so a-searching I went.  I found Jamie Oliver's version of Beautiful Zucchini Carbonara.  I did have a couple of zucchini in the fridge, but we still have a couple of pounds of carrots left from a Bountiful Baskets order a week or so ago, so I figured might as well throw those in as well. This is what I came up with:

Zucchini and Carrot Carbonara
This is for two servings, as I wasn't cooking for the kids that night. It can easily be doubled for more....


Ingredients:
-4 slices of bacon chopped
-1 medium zucchini, ends trimmed, sliced lengthwise in half,  then sliced as thin as possible, using a vegetable peeler or mandolin to the seed core then turn one quarter turn and slice lengthwise down to the seed core and repeat. you can discard the seed core, save it for another dish or continue slicing and use it in the dish
-2 carrots, cleaned and peeled, ends trimmed, slice the same as the zucchini into very thin slices.
- 1/4 to 1/2 lb of pasta, I used leftover cooked pasta, in this case spaghetti, though you could use any pasta, but then cut the veggies to about the same size as the pasta
-2 tablespoons of sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil, sliced. (you can use the dry version, but reconstitute before using)
-2-3 handfuls of fresh spinach or approx 1/2 cup of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
-2 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat some salted water to boiling. Slice carrots, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes (if necessary).  Cook the pasta until al dente.  In a separate large pan, start frying bacon.  As the bacon is browning, in a separate bowl, beat egg yolks, cream and 1/2 of the parmesan cheese, until incorporated. Set aside.  (If using left over cooked pasta, wait until the veggies are almost cooked to warm the pasta in the boiling water.)  In the pan with bacon and bacon fat, add the zucchini, carrots, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until the zucchini and carrots are tender crisp, the spinach is wilted.  Before draining the pasta, scoop a ladle of the pasta water and quickly whisk the pasta water into the egg mixture, to temper the egg yolks.  Drain pasta and add to the pan with the veggies and bacon then toss to combine.  Add the tempered egg mixture to the pan and toss quickly to combine, turn off heat.  Serve immediately with a sprinkling of the remaining Parmesan and a nice piece of buttered toast or garlic bread.

Note:
(If you like you can par-cook the zucchini and carrots in the pasta water in the last few minutes of cooking the dried pasta or if using pre-cooked pasta, you can put the zucchini and carrots in the water with the pasta. Then using a pasta spoon scoop out the veggies and pasta, draining them some, then add to the bacon and bacon fat as well as adding the spinach and sundried tomatoes.Then continue with the rest of the steps)