When the weather gets hot, the hot girls bake in their underwear. (aka blog post with 1 million hits)

So I was chilling with my good friend Francesca and we realized, zucchini rules. So we made zucchini fries. But it was really hot. So we made them in our underwear. While sipping Pinot Noir. It was very refreshing. Enjoy! :)

Baked Zucchini Fries

(Adapted from http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/01/baked-zucchini-fries/)

About 4 large zucchini
2 c. Italian-seasoned panko bread crumbs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese (the crumbly stuff, not shreds)
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2.Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

3. Whisk 2 eggs together in a shallow pie plate and set aside.

4. Cut the ends off the zucchini and then cut the zucchini in half so you have two short, stubby pieces. Set one piece on its end and cut it in half lengthwise. Cut that half in half, making 2 planks. Repeat with the remaining halves (so you’ll get 16 planks per zucchini). Stack 2 planks on top of each other and cut into strips. When all the fries are cut, blot the pieces with a paper towel.

5. Working with a small handful at a time, dip the zucchini sticks in the egg, shake them to remove any excess, and then roll them in about 2-3 tablespoons of bread crumbs at a time, adding more as needed; you just don’t want to work with all the bread crumbs at once because they’ll soak up moisture from the egg and won’t stick to the zucchini. Place the coated strips on the prepared baking sheet and repeat until all the zucchini strips have been coated.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the prepared oven then remove from oven, flip the fries, and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until the zucchini is not soggy and the coating is crisp and golden brown. 

Almost as beautiful as 2 Italian girls in their underwear... almost. ;) 

6. Sauce- We used a can of diced tomatoes mixed with dry salsa in a blender, but almost any tomato or ranch-based sauce will do. Enjoy!

Crack in a pan

BAKED MASHED POTATOES 


5lbs potatoes
3 tsp. salt
12 oz. pkg. soft cream cheese
16 oz. container of sourcream
2 tbls. butter 
6 tbls. parsley 
1 tsp pepper


First, peel potatoes. If you are left-handed and not using a dual peeler this is SUPER FUN GUYS!! 

Make sure to cut out all the eyes and spots. Boil potatoes for about 45 minutes until they are thuroughly soft and fall apart when poked with a fork. 

Drain into collinder and return to pot. Mash 'em up real good. 

Then pour in 1000 calories of cheesy goodness, butter, and pretty green stuff. Basically everything on the above ingredients list.

Grease 2 qt. baking dish with MORE BUTTER WOOO and spread potatoes into dish. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until golden brown on top. 

Top with PAPRIKA. aka Salt n Peppa's love child on blue's clues. Makes it extra impressive looking but adds no taste value.

Can be made ahead of time and baked later

Serves 8 to 16 people depending on how many are pigs. ;)

7 Steps to Zucchini Heaven

Fried Zucchini. Delicious, not nutritious. Solution: Baking! The thing it's almost impossible for me to mess up (unless it's chicken... chicken hates me). Thus, I searched for baked zucchini on Pinterest (the best website ever for recipes... and also pictures of Ryan Gosling. Not that that's why I spend so much time on it or anything... I'm learning to cook Mom, get off my back!). Anyways, this is the first one I found so I went with it. Mangia!

Zucchini Boats

1. Cut a zucchini in half lengthwise and trim a little off the bottom so it sit still in a baking dish
2. Scoop out the center where the seeds are with a spoon
3. Brush the surface with a mixture of crushed garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper
4. Arrange halved grape tomatoes into the grooves

5. sprinkle with (LOTS of) bread crumbs and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes
6. Remove and place diced fresh mozzarella in between the tomatoes, place them back in, but now under the broiler til golden and bubbling

7. Remove and add a sprinkling of grated parmesan.

Perfection.

Original Recipe can be found here: http://prouditaliancook.blogspot.com/2010/05/tiny-tomatoes-big-taste.html

Kebabs for America!

Strawberries, Bananas, and blueberries on skewers. Simple. Epic. Your Welcome.

Napa, Davis... Gotta complete the trifecta of dining reviews: CHEESEBOARD in Berkeley! :)

Eat here.

No seriously you guys. One time i ate here and all they had was green tomato and onion pizza and it was still the best pizza ever. My all time favorite was the cauliflower and pistachio!!! Sounds awkward, but sooooooooo good. I went a couple weeks ago on my way to Marin (Slight detour, so worth it) and they had this awesome montalban cheese and arugula with lemon. Also amazing. The best part is they always give you an extra half slice free! or 2 extra half slices if you get a whole pizza. Not that Alex and I ever ate a whole pizza there. That would just be ridiculous. ;)

http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/

Here's the website! They post their flavor day for each day weekly, similar to yoloberry, but all their ingredients are local and organic. They also have salads and beer! and pretty sweet live music. The line is always huge but worth it. Only 20 for the whole pizza.

Food Porn!

The cauliflower and pistachio. Heaven!

 

Eating half a pizza is totally healthy when it's covered in green stuff, right? ;)

Paesano's Happy Hour

Special guests Moira and Nick were gracious enough to double date with us for this installment, so we could sample many a selection! They were seasoned pros but this was my first visit. Some things I noticed:

BOMB calimari. Not the best ever, but for the price I approved. They polenta fries rocked too.

Bruschetta-- It tasted like hot dogs. Literally, like hot dogs. Vegetarians should eat it if they miss meat but like animals. That similar. I like hot dogs though so of course I ate it haha :)

Fruity drinks were yummy and a good deal, but right before happy hour ended we ordered a round and I needed a second to decide, then when the waitress returned with everyone's drinks and I ordered mine, she told me it was over! Every place i've been too warns you when you are ordering, she even said oh take your time, i can come back. Very misleading since the normal price was twice the cost. Plus they didn't have coke and didn't tell me until they returned with my drink and called it a Jack and Pepsi?! Weird. I would stick to the food and fruity selections, not well drinks.

Other than that though, it's always nice to try something that's not sushi for a change! haha. Here's some awesome food porn from the evening:

Calamari! 

hot dogs. No really. ;)

Polenta fries with balsamic ketchup and blue cheese dipping sauce

Firewood Cafe- A Napa Favorite

Haven't posted in a while cuz I've been swamped with work, so expect a lot of catch up posts in the next couple days. Without further ado...

Firewood Cafe! Loveeeee this place! It's fairly new to Napa, only a few years, but it's quickly become a family favorite in my household. Perfect for light Italian cuisine on a budget. For you Davis folks, it has a similar vibe to Rostini. 

Highlights on the menu: PROSCIUTTO ARUGULA PIZZA. So bomb. I prefer my prosciutto pizzas with fig and balsamic reduction, but this is by far the best arugula one I've had. They firewood pizza oven gets the thin crispy crust just right, and the prosciutto is always fresh and delicious. 

Looooooook at the cuteness! 

They have great pastas too, but the sauces are so rich I usually accompany my pizzas with a salad instead. They have a great deal going where you can pick your toppings and dressings to personalize it! Similar to Pluto's but on a smaller scale.

Then of course, the grand finale... This place has the BEST tiramisu I have ever had in the United States. Even when Alex and I went to Reno to one of the "Top 10 rated" italian places in the country their tiramisu wasn't better. Order it. You won't regret it. 

Pro tip, ask for a complimentary dish of assorted olives when you order :)

Yummy salad! :)

<3 Jenny