Baked Zucchini Chips

Well I said last week that I'd probably be up to my old tricks by now.

But much to my own surprise, I decided to try another 'healthy' recipe I've been thinking about - zucchini chips!

If you ever look at the sidebar of my blog that lists 'popular recipes' you will see that Apple Chips are number one.

They have been for a while now, but the funny part is that they are number one by a landslide.

Mr. Vittles occasionally looks over my shoulder while I'm reviewing my blog's stats, and he is always so amused by the fact that the Apple Chips completely dwarf every other post.

This fact is absurdly evident by a bar graph that shows the top 10 posts' all-time number of views... basically one long bar, with a whole bunch of short ones beneath it.

Up until this week (when Cheesy Bacon Oven Chips suddenly blew up on Pinterest) the Apple Chips had four times more views than the 2nd most popular post.

So... in light of people's apparent interest in this recipe, Mr. V decided that I need to make chips out of something else.

And the next, most logical thing that came to my mind was zucchini.

To me, these chips taste kinda like thin & crispy pumpkin seeds.  (I guess that shouldn't be too much of a surprise since they are relatives in the squash family).  Much lighter, but the taste is similar.

And the seasoning possibilities are endless - you can tailor them to your liking.  Garlic, paprika, chili powder... use your imagination!  I went with a basic Seasoned Salt and they came out great.  But whatever you choose, just make sure you go easy on the seasonings, and only use a little bit - these do shrink a lot in the oven, so what looks like a reasonable amount on the raw veggies could turn out to be way too much!

Baked Zucchini Chips

• 1 zucchini 
• canola cooking spray
• seasoned salt, or other seasoning(s) of your choice

Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick foil, and spray with canola oil.  Set aside.

Slice zucchini into thin medallions, about the thickness of a quarter.  (You can either use a knife & a very steady hand, or a mandoline slicer.)

Lay out slices on prepared baking sheet, and spray tops lightly with additional cooking spray.  Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice. (A note on seasoning, however - use LESS than what seems appropriate.  These shrink considerably in the oven, and if you use too much it gets very concentrated.  It's better to end up underseasoning and add more later.)

Place in preheated oven and bake 45 minutes.  Rotate baking sheet, and bake an additional 30-50 minutes, until chips are browned and crisped to your liking.  These are best eaten within a couple hours of removing from the oven, as they start to get chewy if left out.  One zucchini makes one serving (1/4 C. - 1/3 C. of chips depending on the size of your squash).

Original Recipe

Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels

In the afternoons, I tend to get really bored driving around by myself for work.  Radio is the only thing to keep me company, and although I was always a strictly-music type of gal, hearing the same songs over & over can wear on you.

So lately I have been listening to a radio show where these two guys, Deminski & Doyle, have people call in and comment about things.  They'll take something that's in the news, something in their life, a political issue, or even just a random thing they saw and turn it into a question.

Like, "What's a movie that you can never resist watching when it's on TV?"

Or, "Should NJ limit the amount of times you can get married?

I have been wanting to call in for a while, and when I heard the question "What was the shortest time you ever held a job?" I knew I had the perfect story for them.

When I was 16, the summer after my sophomore year of High School, I got a job at an ice cream & candy place on the boardwalk.

I showed up for work the first day, and the manager (a middle-aged woman) told me my shorts were too short and to go home, change, and come back.

I was shocked.  My mom was somewhat lenient with my choices in clothes, but she also would never let me leave the house in something completely inappropriate - especially for a job. 

So I stood there dumbfounded for about 10 seconds, then I walked out and never went back.

But the best part of the story is that I just went a little ways down the boardwalk, to a frozen yogurt stand that was managed by a young guy.  I told him the whole story, and asked if he was hiring.

I think he was a little taken aback, but he said something along the lines of "If you work here, you can wear as short of shorts as you like."

And not too long after I started, I became his assistant manager.  It was a lot of hours for a 16 year-old but it was a fun job.  And as I told you a few weeks ago, I ate my weight in frozen yogurt that summer.

Surprisingly, I really never got too tired of eating it, but every now & again I needed a break.  Luckily, the stand next door sold giant soft pretzels and the Latino guys that worked there would trade us yogurt for pretzels.

I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has passed so it's ok to tell you that now ;)

But those pretzels.... ugh. Insanity. 

Eating just one probably exceeded your weekly allotment for carbohydrates, but it was sooo totally worth it.

And ever since then, soft pretzels have been on my (long) list of food weaknesses.

I got it in my head recently that I wanted to try to make soft pretzels at home, incorporating whole wheat flour.  I haven't had the best luck with yeast in the past so I typically try to avoid recipes that use it, but I threw caution to the wind.

And if you read my post a few days ago, you would know that the first attempt was pretty much awful.

But Take Two came out perfect.

I was about to throw "thankfully" into that last statement ... but I'm not exactly thankful that I ate half the batch in one afternoon?

Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels

• 1/2 C. + 2 T. warm water (about 110 degrees)
• 1 1/2 t. rapid-rise, dry active yeast
• 2 T. brown sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C. whole wheat flour
• 1/4 C. baking soda
• 1 1/2 C. hot water
• kosher salt for sprinkling
• melted butter, for brushing tops after baking (optional)

Dissolve yeast in warm water, and let sit 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease a baking sheet.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine brown sugar, salt, and flours.  With mixer on low, pour in yeast & water mixture, and mix only until well-combined and no flour streaks remain.  Dough should form a smooth ball.  (However, do not knead – the dough will become overworked & tough).

Cover bowl with plastic & let dough rise until doubled, at least 20 minutes.  (FYI – I was too impatient to let the dough rise, but the pretzels still came out great.  Just sayin’.)

Divide dough in 6 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a skinny rope, applying even pressure to get a uniform width, until about 18 inches long.  Grab each end of the rope and cross one hand over the other to form into a pretzel shape*.

Once all pieces are formed, make the dipping solution: Dissolve baking soda in hot water, and pour into a pie plate or other shallow dish.  Dip each pretzel into mixture, front & back, then place on greased baking sheet.  Sprinkle tops with kosher salt (or other toppings) OR you can bake them plain then brush melted butter over tops before sprinkling with toppings.  Place in oven and bake about 10 minutes, until pretzels are puffed & browned.

Remove from baking sheet and cool slightly before eating (or adding toppings).  Pretzels are best when consumed immediately, but they can be frozen or kept in an airtight container for a day or two and reheated later.

*Note: There’s no need to limit yourself to just a pretzel shape.  You can get creative and make your dough into letters, braids, nuggets, etc.  Just make sure you adjust the baking time if you want bite-sized pieces – check after 5 minutes for doneness.

Recipe Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Nutella Caramel Corn

So I don't know if anyone else has noticed this trend, but I feel like recipes using Nutella have been EVERYWHERE recently.

For anyone that doesn't know what that is - Nutella is a hazelnut & chocolate spread that's smooth, like creamy peanut butter.  It's sort of like a spreadable Ferrero Rocher candy. 

In other words- incredibly delicious.

I've been dying to get in on the Nutella action for a while now - I had a little bit left in the cabinet from some recipe I made months ago.  But I wanted to make something I haven't seen yet & nothing has really come to me.

Until now.

This week I had a serious hankering for popcorn... which, actually, happens on almost a daily basis... but this time I wanted caramel corn specifically.

Then I got to thinking - what if I made a Nutella caramel corn?  That could be awesome.

And... it is.

I only had a half of a cup of Nutella left, though, so be aware that caramel corn made from the recipe below only has a hint of the chocolate hazelnut.  Mr. V really liked it, and he said he could tell that it was not regular caramel corn - but he was not able to pick out the Nutella flavor specifically.

I think if you wanted a stronger flavor, you could probably increase the amount to 2/3 or even 3/4 of a cup and still have a caramel with the right consistency.

But hey - "experimenting" will just give you a good reason to eat a bunch of caramel corn.

What could be wrong with that?

Nutella Caramel Corn

• 4 quarts plain popped popcorn*
• 6 T. butter
• 1/2 C. light corn syrup
• 1/2 C. brown sugar
• 1/2 C. Nutella spread (see note above)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. vanilla

Place popcorn in large roasting pan and preheat oven 250 degrees.  (I covered my pan in foil first to minimize cleanup).

In medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, Nutella, and salt, stirring to blend.  Bring to a boil, then boil five minutes while stirring constantly.  You will see large bubbles in the mixture.

Remove saucepan from heat, then stir in baking soda and vanilla until combined.  Mixture will become light and foamy.  Pour over popcorn, and mix with a spatula to coat.  You will be cooking & stirring the popcorn a few more times, so don't be too concerned with covering all the corn fully at this point.

Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Line your countertop with a few sheets of waxed paper and dump corn out onto paper.  Being careful not to burn your fingers, separate the pieces as desired.  Store in an airtight container.

*Note: 2/3 C. of unpopped popcorn should yield 4 quarts of popcorn for you.  You could also use microwave popcorn, but just make sure you get one that's plain NOT buttered.

Original Recipe

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

As I've already mentioned, Halloween is my favorite holiday - it has been since I was a kid.  I still love it for much of the same reasons as I did as a child... namely, being scared and eating lots of candy & pumpkin seeds.  I mean, costumes are fun too but horror movies and treats take the cake!

As long as you don't eat too many and get a big belly...

I know.  You wish you could look that good in a penguin suit.

I don't dress up much these days, but I did make an exception for my nieces' joint birthday party yesterday - they turned one and three years old.  Here they are with their dad and grandpa (better known to you as my stepdad Chris Vittles):

I thought about resurrecting The Penguin but instead went as a witch.

Mr. Vittles was a hockey player, which is not much of a stretch, as he "dresses up" in that costume about once a week for his Mens' League hockey games.  But I thought we might have another hockey player on our hands when Chloe asked Mr. V if she could borrow his hockey stick:

Are elephants and Winnie the Pooh balls are allowed on the rink?

After the party, Mr. V and I finally picked up some pumpkins for carving.  We didn't get any when we went apple-picking because we were afraid they'd be rotten.  But then apparently we waited too long, because every place we tried to get them Friday night was all out!

We did eventually find them yesterday, and we each got one to carve.  Considering today is Halloween and it was already so late in the day, I planned on doing something simple.  But Mr. V (who is apparently a bird whisperer now) said that our parrot CJ "told him" she wanted me to carve her likeness into a pumpkin.

I'm pretty sure the only thing CJ tells anyone is "Hi," but I can't resist a good challenge.  So I made a silhouette of her on a branch outlined by the moon.  It certainly won't be winning any prizes but you get the idea:

Mr. V made a very creative one as well - he decided to pay tribute to our boat:

However, during the carving process I noted that he is definitely not down with the pumpkin seeds.  He wanted nothing to do with picking them out of the pumpkin guts, apparently because he doesn't like to eat the roasted seeds. 

Now I love me some pumpkin seeds, so I was dutifully fishing each one out and saving them in a plastic colander.  But at that rate, Mr. V would be done carving his entire pumpkin before I finished, so I suggested that if he wasn't going to help me pick out the seeds then he should clean out the inside of my pumpkin.

Naturally he chose seed hunting, but he was not a happy camper.  "This is a pain in the *#$," he complained.

I pointed out, "So are you."

"That's true," he conceded, "it takes one to know one.  But so is this."

We only do this one a year though, so it was all worth it.  CJ agrees.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Boil seeds in heavily salted water for 10 minutes.  Drain in colander, and spread seeds on paper towels.  Blot dry.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Spray rimmed baking sheet with nonstick Canola oil spray.  Spread out seeds in a single layer and spray with more Canola oil.  Sprinkle generously with salt.

Bake 45 - 60 minutes or until browned, stirring seeds every 15 minutes and re-spraying & salting as necessary.

Recipe origin unknown