Wednesday, February 16, 2011

"Fried" Zucchini

Do you like crunchy zucchini dipped in ranch? I grew up going to Carl's Jr. and getting those salty babies. But it has been years since I have gone to Carl's Jr. and would not have a good conscience getting them now with all the calories. So here is a healthy version of the same babies. I love to make these and they are best fresh out of the oven. If you need to rewarm them do it in your toaster oven to crisp them up again otherwise they will not have the same crunch. And make sure to use a low fat ranch dip or marinara sauce otherwise it won't be low calorie.

This is what the recipe said but I'll tell you later how I altered it. (I am really bad at using a recipe! Unless it's you Karen, then I try to follow your recipe since I know you have altered it to perfection!)

2 small or 1 large zucchini, cut into spears or 3/4 inch rounds.
1 1/2 tsp flour
2 tbs bread crumbs (I use Panko since they get brown and crunchy)
1 1/2 tsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp finely chopped parsley
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 large egg white


Preheat oven to 425

Mist a baking sheet with olive oil or cooking spray. I use a silpat or parchment. Put flour in a shallow bowl or a plate. (I didn't even use the flour but it probably would have made my crumbs stick better. I use a special romano cheese sprinkle from Penzey's called Brady Street cheese sprinkle so I omit most of the spices and such. I basically cheat since I'm lazy. But I have followed the recipe before and remember I loved it which is why I have started making them again.)

Mix together the next 7 ingredients and put in plastic bag or you can just put in a shallow bowl. Beat egg white till bubbly in a small bowl. Dip both sides of zucchini in flour then roll it around real good to coat it. Shake off excess flour then dip it in egg whites. Drop in crumb mixture or shake in bag till coated then place on your baking sheet in a singe layer making sure they do not touch...no touching (that temporarily brought back memories of long car rides where my Dad had to keep telling us not to touch one another). Lightly mist the tops with cooking spray. Bake for about 7 minutes then flip and bake until lightly browned. (I never turned mine and they were brown on both sides, again, I am lazy like I said or was busy doing school and forgot about them cooking until I could smell them and remembered to check them.)

Give them a try! Yummy!

Valentine's Day








What a joy it was to try to make Valentine's day special for my family. It was a bit challenging on me physically being sick and having one child that had been sick for almost two weeks. Although I did not do everything my mind would have liked, it was a blessing to see them enjoy the little extra touches that Mommy did to say "I love you". Steve and I had gone out a couple days before and enjoyed a yummy dinner, holding hands, looking into each other's eyes and well all that lover stuff!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

December 2010 and January 2011

Time keeps flying by and I have not blogged in a while. Since school started all the little extras are hard to get to. We are enjoying the kids and each of their ages is so fun in their own way.

On Saturday we took a trip to the Aquarium since we have passes that will expire in a couple months. The weather was gorgeous and we had such a great time! I love the underwater world and seeing the creativity of our Creator. I love this picture of Steve, he takes my breath away. Those blue eyes that sparkle, the lines around his eyes when he smiles, and his cute dimples.


Jack is my little helper. When the kids are in school we have a great time bonding. He was so eager to help with raking one morning. Notice his little sand toy was his dust pan. I love seeing his creative mind at work and spending some alone time with him each week.



Did anyone notice the rainbows on December 22nd? There were two in our neighborhood. The heavens declare the glory of the Lord!

There are not many Christmas pictures. We all get so into the day that we forget to take some. I think the best gift was Larry and Bob given to Jack. He carries them around most of the day singing "Silly songs with Larry". Carter and I played Battleship during the Christmas break and drank hot chocolate.


Friday, December 17, 2010

Candied Pecans...not your ordinary nut

These are so yummy you won't be able to stop eating them unless of course you have self-control...which you should.

1 lb pecans

Whisk together 1 egg white, 1 tsp cold water and pour over nuts in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp salt. Pour over nuts to evenly coat and spread in a single layer onto a cookie sheet with parchment or a silpat. Cook at 225 for an hour and stir a few times if you feel like it.

I use the 2 lb bag of pecans from Costco and just double this recipe while I am at it.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Thanksgiving






We went to my parents for the Thanksgiving weekend and enjoyed a lot of snow!

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Last couple months

Well since school started blogging stopped. I enjoy seeing other's blogs but don't think to update mine since I put most pictures on Facebook. Here are some random events from the last couple of months. I still can't figure out what is wrong with my blog so it's hard to label them since I can't see the order of the pictures. But from what I can remember I did include a picture of my new niece first that I got to go see in WA just last weekend. We also got to cheer daddy on while he ran the SC Half Marathon. We made our first homemade donuts with the donut pan my Mom gave us. We also set up Jack's toddler bed which he loves. I think there are lots of pictures of Jack since he seems to be the comedy around the house. Also we had Lukas VanDyke take some Christmas pictures so I included a funny one of the kids. Enjoy the random pictures of our family!









Saturday, September 18, 2010

Busy Season

Well we are full swing into lots of activities, school being the biggest one. The kids started a Charter school this year so they go twice a week and I homeschool the other 3. Then there's AWANA, baseball, gymnastics starting next week, a morning bible study for mommy, a biblical counseling class for daddy so just about every night is accounted for the next few months. We just had Carter's 1st Little League game today and those little boys were so cute trying to figure out how to play the game.