at home with ann

As Jon can attest, I've been experimenting with falafel recipes for quite a while.  Not wanting to deal with deep frying, I use a pan fry or oven bake technique.  I'm not ashamed to admit that my past attempts have been less than amazing.  The last batch was so dry that I had to drown them in hummus and hot sauce.  But no more!  Finally, this twist on falafel is a success, and it's all thanks to zucchini.  If you belong to a CSA, shop at farmer's markets, or can't pass up a sale in the produce section of the grocery store, you might find yourself with some extra zucchini on hand lately.  While I actually like zucchini bread (add enough flour, butter and sugar to anything and it's good), this is something a little different. Zucchini Chickpea Falafel Ingredients: 1 large zucchini, shredded (about 2 cups) 28 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 4 cups) 1/2 medium red onion, shredded 1 egg 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 1/4 cup ground flax seed Handf...

I know this is a bold statement, but I stand behind it.  These are, hands down, the best lemon bars I have ever had.  Way back when I first started this blog I shared a recipe for banana bread that is so good it will help you make friends.  If you can make friends with banana bread, you can use these lemon bars to make someone fall in love with you.  Marriage proposals and declarations of love will ensue.  Engagement Lemon Bars, better than chicken any day.  These are far and away the most requested dessert I make, I've brought them to three parties so far this summer and they are always extremely well received.  My father-in-law has even been known to sneak them off the dessert table before the meal is even served just to be sure he gets one.  Jon and Matt hovered around the kitchen until I let them loose on the "ugly" corner pieces.  I've shared another lemon bar recipe before, which makes an 8x8 pan.  Those are good, but these a...

Here's another "recipe" with one ingredient. Freeze banana chunks.  If you have a weird compulsion to buy all the bananas in the "reduced produce" section because they cost something about 5 cents each, you might have some on hand.  Oh, that's just me.  Let's move on.  Place frozen banana chunks in the food processor and let it whirl.  Stop and scrape down the sides every so often.  It will go through a weird banana pellet stage.  Don't be deterred.  Keep scraping it down and pushing the banana into the blade.  It will eventually become the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Eat as is, or add in cocoa powder, peanut butter, strawberries or whatever you like.  This makes the perfect sweet treat afternoon snack. I shared mine with my sidekick, which is why we used this elegant spoon. He loved it, and kind of dominated the spoon. In fact, this was the expression he made every time I deigned to take a bite. I probably...

As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too much quinoa.  At the market the other day I was trying to decide between buying barbecue ribs for dinner or a giant bag of quinoa.  While I like ribs, I knew I'd get much more mileage (and nutrition!) out of the quinoa, so I did the virtuous thing.  This hasn't stopped me from dropping not-so-subtle hints to Jon about the barbecue stand I want to try, however.  I'll wear him down eventually.  Add anything you want to quinoa, stir in some sort of sauce or dressing, and you have a meal.  Perfect for summer.  This is a combination of fresh summer vegetables topped with the amazingly delicious Lemon Tahini Dressing from Oh She Glows .  We had this on it's own as a light entree one night, and the leftovers as a side dish for burgers.  And, you know me, I topped mine with goat cheese, but that's entirely optional.  Summer Quinoa 1 cup dried quinoa, rinsed 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth 1 larg...

This isn't really a recipe, because the only ingredient is zucchini, but more of an idea.  Zucchini noodles are especially popular with people trying to minimize carbs, because it gives you a good vehicle for pasta sauce.  I myself ate a huge hunk of bread on the side, because that's how I roll.  Get it, roll?  Carb humor.  Please don't stop reading because I make bad jokes.  Step one: wash your zucchini Step two: using a peeler or a mandoline (I used a Y-shaped peeler), cut long strips down the side of the zucchini.  When you get close to the middle, switch sides.  Discard the middle with the seeds. Step three: Either steam in boiling water for a minute, or top and serve.  I steamed mine, but I think next time I'd try them raw, because some strips got a little mushy. Look how pretty they are all peeled and curly! I tossed the noodles with some fresh pesto (I go a little crazy with the basil plants), and a couple roasted cherry to...

I am certainly no raw foodist, but I am willing to give just about anything a try. My sister brought this veggie pate to a party a few months ago, and I loved it.  A combination of nuts, vegetables and healthy fats in the form of olive oil and tahini, with a little sweetness from raisins to balance it all out.  This is incredibly filling, and a great raw, vegan option.  So often we are feeding people with special dietary requirements, it's good to have a few options in your repertoire.  I made half the recipe, partly because I didn't need several cups, and partly because I was sneaking cashews out of the fridge for a few weeks before making this.  I feel like I have only recently discovered how amazingly delicious cashews are.  Too bad they are also amazingly expensive to be chowed down by the handful.  Raw Veggie Pate slightly modified from Ani Phyo Makes 4 cups Ingredients: 1 cup almonds 2 cups cashews 1 Tablespoon grated ginger (you might...

I may have mentioned this before, but when we got married (3 years ago on the 18th!), my husband wanted wedding pie.  A bit of a stickler for tradition, I wasn't on board and we had a lovely and delicious lemon wedding cake instead.  Everyone loves pie, though.  Pie is also a great make ahead dessert, because a few minutes back in the oven during dinner and you have warm pie.  Warm pie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it's pretty much perfect. We celebrated my aunt's birthday at the beach this past weekend, so I made birthday pie.  When we arrived on Saturday morning I discovered that they had eaten pie the night before.  Good thing you can never have too much pie.   It's peach season, so peaches are ridiculously cheap at the market right now.  I bought a batch last week and we were barely able to eat them fast enough.  There's that 1-2 day window of peach ripeness, and you do not want to be on either side of it.  This batch...

Six Months?!  I know I say this in every update, but it comes as a complete surprise to me that I have a six month old baby.  I think back to when Colin was first born, and we would talk about things that happen at six months, it seemed like ages away.  I think back to last July, when I was just out of my first trimester, finally able to eat things other than egg sandwiches or pb&j, and sharing the news of my pregnancy.  This month has been a busy one.  Little Mr. Roly Poly never stays in one place anymore.  This made for a couple rough weeks when he would wake up in the night, and then instead of going back to sleep, rolled over onto his tummy and yelled at me until I rescued him.  I'm happy to report he has now also mastered the front to back roll, and things are going much more smoothly.  I don't feel as comfortable leaving him lying on our bed for very long anymore, though, because he rolls and scoots and I'm worried he's going to fall o...

This is a delicious dressing that is chock full of avocado, herbs, lemon juice and a topped off with a little olive oil.  All those healthy fats, your skin will glow!  I originally made it to go on chef salads, but also used it to top black bean burgers, and as a vegetable dip.  It's very versatile.  I also licked the spatula as I was transferring it out of the food processor, but that's not an official serving suggestion. Avocado Herb Dressing 1 large avocado 1/2 lemon, juiced 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar Handful each of basil and parsley (about 1/2 cup each) Kosher salt Black pepper Water, as needed In a food processor, combine avocaod, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and herbs. Blend well until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add water until desired consistency. (More for a pourable dressing, less for a scoopable dip.  I did something in the middle, about 2 Tablespoons.) Season with salt and pepper to taste. This keeps in the frid...

I consider coleslaw an exclusively summer food.  I can't imagine eating it in the winter, but in the summer it reminds me of barbecue, burgers, and fresh seafood.  I know some people can't stand mayo, in which case I direct you to the sweet and sour vinegar slaw here .  Since we served this alongside crab cakes, I thought the mayo dressing would compliment nicely and we could skip any tartar sauce or remoulade. The original recipe that inspired me was cumin based, but I thought using Old Bay would nicely mirror the crab cake seasoning.  Creamy Old Bay Coleslaw inspired by Bobby Flay 1 head Chinese cabbage, shredded 2 medium carrots, grated 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced 1/4 small red onion, chopped or grated (I omitted this because I was serving someone who is anti-onion) Dressing: 1/2 cup mayo zest of one lime 1/4 cup lime juice (2 limes) 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 Tablespoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4...

This recipe was kind of, sort of, inspired by Tyler Florence.  In the midst of one of the many feeding sessions during the day, I turned on Food Network.  Tyler's Ultimate was on, he was making a roasted salmon over ratatouille, and it looked delicious.  It used to be that Colin would ignore the TV when he was eating, because, you know, eating is his favorite; but now he'll fling himself back to look around and smile at me.  This is adorable, and all well and good, but I'd really rather he focus on the task at hand, so my TV watching might need to be put on hold.  We just had salmon, and while I'm happy to eat it every week, I thought it would be good to try something a little different, so I picked up some haddock.  The summer squash and herbs were from the CSA, and they were fresh and delicious.  The Saucy Squash is really just a tomato sauce with summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes and basil.  I'm using the leftovers to make french bread pizz...