Sunday, May 26, 2013

If I'm going to eat clean and healthy, it's going to have to taste good

I admit, I have a meh attitude about a lot of things.

As in -

Pesticides on the affordable vegetables? Meh, I'll wash them really well versus paying over double for 'organic'. However, that's mostly because I have my doubts about whether 'organic' is really 'organic' anyway.

Anyway, this particular attitude ended up with the fam and I at the Farmers Market this weekend. It was our first time at the Asheville Farmer's Market so I wasn't sure what to expect. We drove around and looked first, then parked and walked around only to discover that in the outer areas, it was cash only.

Fair enough, but then we had to go up towards the main building to get cash and we ended up walking through that building to take a look. That's where the bakery and assorted vendors are, you know the ones that sell honey, quilts, odds and ends, various forms toys and things. Everything in that building is more expensive.

Back we went to the outer stalls where apparently, a gallon of strawberries costs $5 more if the person selling them speaks English as a first language. The cheaper Spanish speaking strawberries looked better anyway. They probably got an extra dose of pesticide. It's okay, I'll wash them twice.

My find of the day was a bucket of zucchini and squash. I've been trying to find some decent looking specimens for ages and the grocery stores I frequent have a poor selection so far.

When we got home and unpacked everything, I eyed up my zucchini and decided I wanted to make this recipe I saw on Facebook via Pinterest where you top the zucchini with tomatoes, parmesean, and olive oil and bake them.

So, I did that today! Yay! Also - pinterest success story! (Trust me, I have many failure stories!)

Without further ado, here is my version of zucchini pizza boats:


Aren't they beautiful? I sliced two very large zucchini in half

 I used the small end of a melon baller to scoop out a shallow trough

 I mixed a tablespoon of olive oil with some garlic powder, italian seasoning, and pepper, then brushed it over the zucchini.

I crushed up 8 whole Ritz crackers and mixed them with about 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese

I sliced and diced roma tomatoes and spread them out on top, then sprinkled the parm/cracker mix on top

 I baked them at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. (Next time I'm going to bake them at 350 for about 25 minutes or so instead)

End result? Oh. My. Gosh. They were super yummy. I could only eat one half, though. 

The kids wouldn't try this, but Robert and I loved it and can't wait to finish them off tomorrow. The next time I make them, I'm going to slice the zucchini into circles instead of halves and make them appetizer sized. I think if we grill the zucchini first and then top and bake, it will be even more yummy because they wont get soggy from the romas. 

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