Tag: cookbook

Skillet Mexican Zucchini

This zucchini is incredibly delicious with a little bit of a Mexican kick from the jalapeno then topped with melted queso blanco. It’s also easy and quick, a must try!

I’m a bit of a cookbook addict. It’s a problem as I’m running out of room in my home for all my books, bu that never stops me from buying new ones. But the biggest problem is that I kind neglect them. But this weekend I was thumbing through the Aaron Sanchez’s cookbook Simple Food, Big Flavor^[1] who is also one of the judges on Chopped (one of my favorite shows) and I came across his Mexican recipe for zucchini. I can’t get enough of zucchini in the summer, in fact I have an entire Pinterest Board devoted to skinny zucchini called Yummy Zucchini^[2], so I decided to test this out…

You MUST try this! I only made a few tweaks using less oil, and and rather than making a cilantro pesto, I added Garden Gourmet cilantro paste and minced pickled jalapeno for kick. It totally exceeded my expectations.

Skillet Mexican Zucchini
gordon-ramsay-recipe.com
Servings: 4 • Size: 1/4 • Old Points: 2 pts • Weight Watcher Points+: 4 pt
Calories: 102 • Fat: 6 g • Carb: 8 g • Fiber: 2 g • Protein: 5 g • Sugar: 3 g
Sodium: 211 mg • Cholest: 17 mg

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb zucchini, diced
1 large tomato, cored, seeded and diced
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro or Garden Gourmet cilantro paste
1 tsp minced pickled jalapeño
1/2 cup crumbled queso blanco
fresh lime juice, to taste
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cook
the garlic in oil in a large skillet over medium heat 1 minute,
stirring until sizzling. Add zucchini and cook stirring occasionally,
about 3 minutes or until slightly softened. Add the tomato and green
onion and cook about 3 minutes.

Remove skillet from heat and add
cilantro paste, jalapeño and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste
and top with queso blanco. Serve hot.

References

^{^} Simple Food, Big Flavor (www.amazon.com)
^{^} Yummy Zucchini (pinterest.com)

Homemade (Mayo) with Love

This garlic and basil mayonnaise recipe was inspired by my
friend Jennifer Perillo’s fabulous new cookbook, Homemade with Love. As a
longtime admirer of In Jennie’s Kitchen, I expected her cookbook to be filled amazing
recipes and gorgeous pictures, and it certainly was, but what I didn’t expect
was to see my name and this blog mentioned on page 229!

That’s right, on Jennifer’s homemade mayonnaise recipe, we
were credited with the always-impressive immersion blender method seen herein.
She even called me a genius, which is obviously a very, very slight
exaggeration. I feel kind of guilty since I didn’t invent this technique, but
since I don’t remember who showed me, it’s just going to be easier to take
credit.

Jennifer and I have very similar tastes, and if you like my
videos I’m fairly sure you’ll love this book. I really enjoy when a cookbook
author shares little stories and anecdotes to introduce the recipes, and she’s
done that throughout.

To understand where a recipe comes from, and why it’s
being shared, always makes it more fun to cook and savor. That’s why I talk so
much during my videos. Anyway, for more info, follow this link to Amazon where
Homemade with Love is enjoying rave reviews. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 1 1/2 cups Garlic and Basil Mayonnaise:

(will last about 3-5 days)
1 cup basil leaves
3 cloves finely minced garlic
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp salt, or to taste
cayenne and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil or a lighter tasting olive oil (or a combination of the two)
*For regular plain mayo, I generally recommend a neutral tasting vegetable oil like canola.

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The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Cover Designs (Help Me Choose!)

After a year of recipe testing, manuscript writing, editing, photo shoots, and everything else that goes into writing a cookbook (and let me tell ya, there is a lot!), I’m SO excited to share three cover designs that (fingers-crossed!) I hope you like as much as I do. But I need your help—I can’t decide which one I like best, so I thought it would be fun to let YOU decide!

The design team at Clarkson Potter^[1] worked really hard to come up with a cover that would stand out on the shelves. We narrowed it down to three, all photographed by the very talented Penny De Los Santos^[2].

The three recipes pictured on these covers are:

A) Cheesy Baked Penne with Eggplant
B) Buttermilk Oven “Fried” Chicken
C) Kiss My (Shrimp and) Grits

Please help me choose by telling me which you like best: A, B or C in your comments (please don’t email me)!

And if you haven’t already done so, be sure to sign up for The Skinnytaste Cookbook newsletter. That way you’ll be the first to receive recipes, special offers, and lots more about the book!

References

^{^} Clarkson Potter (crownpublishing.com)
^{^} Penny De Los Santos (www.pennydelossantos.com)