I heard somewhere you could eat the male flowers from the zucchini plant, so this had the wheels turning all morning, and I decided we’d try it… because what else would we do with those precious flowers? - and apparently picking them off could double our yield for zucchini… so off I went to look for a recipe!

After a long day of housework and thinning the over planted garden, I scurried off to the kitchen to whip up an experimental dinner with deep-fried zucchini blossoms over a bed of lettuce, asparagus - pancetta mozza with sundried tomato mayo on focaccia and fried zucchini with toasted pistachios, baked with parmigiano reggiano cheese.

I’m lucky that Marty is adventurous to some extent with what I make, because it’s not every guy (or girl for that matter) that will chow down, willingly, on flowers for dinner.
Nonetheless, everything was eaten… Marty didn’t really like the sundried tomato mayo used on the sandwich & I didn’t like the pancetta… once I removed it from my 2nd half, the sandwich became way less salty and therefore I could taste the flavors of the tomato mayo that much more.

I think next time I make this, I’ll try a roasted red pepper pesto instead - and leave out the salty pancetta. The zucchini we ate was picked from the garden that morning, as well as all the blossoms that were fried up.
I will defiantly make the blossoms when I come across flowers again, they were pretty cool. The sandwich just needs a little perfecting, but after all, it was an experimental dinner with some positives… glad I made lots - we have lunch for today too!

yes, I made that mistake.

Now, I know some of you are just shaking your heads thinking “there’s NO way she could made that mistake” … alas, I did.

After finding a tasty recipe for chicken satay but when I tried to find chicken at the store labeled “tenders” I failed… so I picked up a package of chicken that was equally unfamiliar and figured it could be the same thing…
I also subbed apple sauce for the juice as that’s what I had at the time.

Gizzards are secondary stomachs used by birds to grind their food before digestion. Because birds don’t have teeth, they must fill their gizzards with small stones to achieve the same goal. Gizzards contain a very tough inner membrane, surrounded by a muscular pouch which provides the grinding action. Gizzards are part of the group of foods called offal, which also includes beef tripe, chitlins (pork intestines), and hearts.
Gizzards are definitely chewy, since they are primarily a membrane more than a muscle. The muscle tissue itself has a subtle flavor similar to chicken liver.

Contrary to gizzards, “Chicken tenders” are the same as chicken fingers, or chicken strips. Made from strips of chicken (white meat) usually from chicken breasts, chicken tenders are usually pre-cut and breaded or cut from a breast at home before cooking.

The recipe was awesome, and because we just couldn’t handle the chewiness of the gizzards, I froze the leftover satay sauce.  I will defiantly be making this again, but next time with tenders!

Chicken Satay

(click link above for recipe from the Food Network.com)

The last time I candied almonds, we were up at the cottage and I made the mistake of using wax paper which stuck to the almonds - my recommendation is to instead use a greased cookie sheet to cool the almonds - this works MUCH better.

Last night I made a wonderful salad with bbq chicken, field greens, goat feta, red onions, red peppers, tangerines and a balsamic-oil vinaigrette, topped with candied almonds. I candied the almonds using just sugar but was pleasantly surprised with the result when Marty asked me how they were done and if there was any alternative to using sugar… this morning I did some research and found the following recipe at allrecipes.com, so next time I candy almonds I’m going to try this out.

INGREDIENTS (aprox 8 servings)

1/2 cup whole natural Almonds, roasted
2 tablespoons honey
1-1/2 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS

• Over medium heat in medium saucepan, heat honey and butter to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low, simmer 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add almonds; simmer and stir 2 minutes.
• Using slotted spoon, transfer almonds to baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with nonstick cooking spray; spread in single layer and cool slightly.
• Toss almonds with sugar to coat using a medium plastic food storage bag.

*To roast almonds, spread in an ungreased baking pan. Place in a preheated 350 degree F oven and bake 10 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant; stir once or twice to ensure even browning. Note that almonds will continue to roast slightly after removing from oven.