Fancy Zucchini Bread

I love to make zucchini bread to give to friends as gifts. It is a simple yet delicious bread that can be eaten for breakfast, as a snack, or jazzed up with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce for a dessert.

Ingredients
Makes 2 loaves

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 1/4 cup white sugar
3 tsp vanilla
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cups crushed hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 325.
Combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon into one bowl. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla. zucchini, and pineapple. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once well combined add the chocolate chips and nuts.

Pour into two greased and floured 4 x 8 bread tins. Bake on on 325 for about 45 minutes. It may need to cook a little longer depending on your oven. Check the middle with a toothpick to be sure its is completely baked.

Once completed remove from oven and let cool for about 10-15 minutes. Once you can safely handle the pans and bread turn them out of pans and let cool on a baking rack.


And finally ENJOY!

Gandules Salad

This recipe is based on my favorite appetizer from La Isla,, a Puerto Rican  restaurant in Ballard. This simple yet robust salad can be used as a side dish or a garnish. La Isla serves it as a garnish to plantain cups. I recently took it to a party and served it with tortilla chips as you would a salsa. I think it would be great as a side dish for pork or as a chilled summer salad.

The base of this is Gandules also known as Pigeon Peas. Gandules are a high protein legume and also contain many amino acids. You can usually find them in the Latin Foods section of your grocery store.

Ingredients

1 15oz can gandules, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 white onion, diced
juice from one lime
sea salt, chopped garlic, and fresh black pepper, to taste
white vinegar
olive oil

Combine all of the vegetables and lime juice into a bowl. Add about 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup white vinegar, mix well. Once well combined add your spices. You may want to play around with the vinegar and olive oil ratio to get it to a point that you like. I prefer a little more vinegar for a more tart taste. Starting with 1/4 cup of each though is a great start.

Chill until ready to serve

http://www.laislaseattle.com/menu.aspx