Zucchini and Cookies Don't Mix

As I usually do, I went overboard on my zucchini plants this year.  It's not my fault really.  The seed package comes with so many seeds and you can never really be sure they are all going to sprout (they all always do) so I plant a bunch just to make sure. And as usual, I have a LOT of zucchini.  With no zucchini recipes in the magazine, I, of course, turned to Martha's website.  Bingo, she had a feature on zucchini with 75 zucchini recipes! I chose several to try, the first of which was for Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches http://www.marthastewart.com/349243/zucchini-nut-bread-cookie-sandwiches.  Although I wouldn't normally think zucchini would be the best fit for a cookie, the online reviews were good and the cookies looked really good (here's Martha's picture) so I gave it a shot.

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart

Dough was simple enough.
 

Then the recipe called for the "finely" grated zucchini.  Hmmm, which side of the box greater would be "finely" grated?  I went for the second smallest grate which seemed to result in a product that wouldn't be identifiable as zucchini in the finished product.

And, into the mixer.

At this point Martha directs that we chill the dough for an hour, but she had already instructed me to preheat the oven.  Martha, that's not very environmentally friendly!  So, I turned off the oven and chilled as directed.  After an hour, back to the oven and ... this was the unfortunate result.

As my son would say, "What the heck!"  I followed the directions exactly.  There was even a discussion in the reviews about whether to drain the zucchini and not draining seemed the way to go.  Annoying!  So, I added more oatmeal for the next batch.

Better, but these were a little too puffy.  When I added the cream cheese filling they became these giant cookie ball sandwiches. 

I wouldn't make these again.  Although my kids liked them and my husband even ate all the cookie mush from the first batch, I'm not sure exactly what I did wrong, so I'm also not sure how to fix it.  I guess I could say that at least my kids ate some zucchini, but I have never really bought that idea that disguising vegetables in pile of sugar to get kids to eat them makes any sense. 

I will say that the cream cheese filling was really good.  It just needed some crisp cookies to go with it. 
- Jacqui

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

When we moved into our house there were a lot of rocks.  I mean a LOT.  And, they were nice rocks, not like they happened naturally, but as if someone brought them here, but then just left piles and piles of them.  We'd dig a new area of garden, and have to dig up rocks first. I didn't really want to leave piles of rocks in the yard, so I gave some away , built a rock wall along the front of our property, a rock wall in the back, and two paths using a small fraction of the river rocks that were here.  (My next rock project will be a fire pit using some of the remaining river rocks.)  

I love the paths.  This one only took me a day to make and I think it looks so charming.

Last month, Martha highlighted low-growing ground covers, resilient enough to be walked on and, therefore, used in garden paths. She included Elfin Thyme, Silver Carpet, Bronze Dutch Clover, several others, and my favorite moss. Actually, Martha used Scotch Moss, but in my own rock path I use whatever moss I find in the other parts of my yard. I figure it already likes its environment and it's free!  I have no idea what variety of moss it is, but I like it.

It looks really fantastic in the spring when the weather is much more conducive to moss growing and it fills in between all the cracks.  This time of year in DC the weather can, and has been, brutally hot, so my moss is not up to snuff.  But, I think the path still looks cute.  I also like the way this vinca vine, not usually something you would think of as a plant for a garden path, is growing into the cracks.  Since it seems to be thriving desipite the weather, I'll have to see if I can keep that one going into the path as well.  I like the idea of the Scotch moss too which Martha says has star-shaped white blooms in the spring.  Think I'll have to track some of that down.
-Jacqui

 

Blueberry Dutch Pancakes

First, apologies for the long hiatus.  I returned this weekend from a two week vaction to a chock full in-box at work.  You'd think I would have had some free time to do some blogging on vacation.  No, I have kids.  Anyway, I'm back and ready to tell you about a yummy breakfast treat just in time for the weekend.

Martha's blueberry dutch pancakes http://www.marthastewart.com/901688/blueberry-dutch-pancakes looked delicious and very similar to a french pancake (minus the blueberries) my family has made for years.  I've always used a 9x13 glass pan for my french pancake, but Martha suggested using cast iron - four mini pans or one 12-inch skillet.  I had a 12-inch so went with that. The recipe was super easy.  Mix together 4 eggs, 1 cup of whole milk, 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp lemon zest, and a pinch of salt in a blender.  Heat the skillet over high heat and melt 2 Tbs butter.  Pour in the batter, skatter with 1 cup of blueberries, put in the oven (preheated to 400 degrees) and, viola, 30 or so minutes later (depending on the size of the pan) a perfectly cooked and delicious pancake.




I noticed in the comments for this recipe on Martha's webpage that a reader had trouble with the pancake sticking to her cast iron pan.  Her pan must not have been well seasoned, because the pancake didn't stick at all to my pan (a well seasoned yard sale find.)

When my mom came to visit the weekend after I made the dutch pancake I made the french pancake we usually make but added blueberries to half (my kids requested plain for the other half.)

It turned our well also but the blueberries didn't sink down as much as on the dutch pancake and the blueberry side could have used some sugar. The french pancake recipe doesn't call for sugar, which wasn't missed at all on the plain side but was on the blueberry side, I suppose because of tartness of the blueberries.

In the past I've made the french pancake with a layer of apples with the batter poured on top which is also delicious. When I do this I cook the apples in an oven proof skilled and then pour the batter right on top.  The french pancake recipe is almost the same as Martha's dutch pancake and even easier; wisk 4 eggs, 1 cup milk (can use skim), 1 cup of flour. Melt 2 Tbs of butter in a 9x13 pan while the over in pre-heating to 375, then pour in the batter and bake until golden and puffy. I served both versions with butter and powdered sugar. Either would be great for a special occasion breakfast when you want to impress, but not do a lot of work.  

-Jacqui

The Perfect Garden

I've loved the idea of terrariums for a while now and before Jacqui and I started Deconstructing Martha, they would have just been something I admired from afar.  Martha  featured several in this month's issue, so I was pretty excited to give them a shot.  What's a terrarium, you ask?  A terrarium is a collection of small plants growing in a transparent container.  They can actually be used to illustrate how an ecosystem works.  The whole idea is pretty cool and would be a great project to do with a child.  Unfortunately for me, since the terrarium neither involved a Matchbox car, nor a HotWheels car, this was something I was going to be doing on my own.

I bought cactus soil and some succulents from Lowes and the glass hurricane's from Homegoods.  I was really overwhelmed by the choices of glass and finally, after much deliberation, I decided on larger ones to contain several little plants together. You can also get an assortment of succulent cuttings on Etsy and they tend to be a little more interesting than those available at Lowes.

Not bad for a first try.

I think individual, tiny terrariums would be pretty wedding favors and the larger ones would make a great housewarming, birthday, or 'just-because' pressie.  One of these little guys will be coming up to NY with me as part of my mother's birthday present.  Happy Birthday, Mom! :)

For just a pittance and a little effort, you can easily have a self-contained and very easy to maintain miniature garden.  I ask, what's not to love about this project?

Ali