Zucchini Cookies

 I'm not really much of a baker, but I'm currently all about trying to eat healthier and lighter.  These little low-fat jewels are a great alternative to regular chocolate chip cookies.

My sister-in-law B made these ones.  My only complaint was that she didn't use dark chocolate chips.


Oatmeal Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe:

• 1 C Sugar
• 1/4 C Butter
• 1/4 C Applesauce
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp Sal
• 1/2 Tsp Ground Cloves
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 2 C Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 C Oatmeal
• 1 C Grated Zucchini
• 1 C Chocolate Chips

Directions

1. Cream together sugar, butter, applesauce and egg until well blended.
2. Add dry ingredients, zucchini and chocolate chips and mix until combined.
3. Spoon onto cookie sheet sprayed with pam. 
4. Bake at 375 for 10-12 min. Makes about 3 dozen.

Spain is the new France

How did I become a foodie?  Well, I started learning to cook out of necessity.  Living in Spain for two years at the age of 19, away from my family and my mom, meant I had to learn to cook (at least a little bit).

At least I was in Spain, and not Zimbabwe or something (no offense to Zimbabwe).  Spain has awesome food!  I grew up in rural Utah, so I wasn't really exposed to classic french cooking in my house (my mom was/is a great cook!  I'm just saying it wasn't that type of cooking).

Spain, on the other hand, was a place where everyone still made very traditional foods from scratch, with fresh ingredients bought daily.  I took quite an interest in the food there.  I learned to like a lot of foods I didn't like yet, and I even learned to cook some of them.  I didn't exactly leave there a master chef, but I left with an appreciation for good traditional food and a few basic skills.  I could make a paella or a spanish tortilla, but I probably couldn't bone and truss a duck.

Did you see the Spain episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel?  I don't have the exact quote, but I think he said, "Spain is the new France."  In fact, if you google "Spain is the new France" you will quickly find that a lot of people are saying that and have been for a while.  So, it's official.  When it comes to culinary avant-garde, Spain is where it's at.  Of course I was there from 1994-1996, so maybe her culinary prowess was not yet fully developed, but either way, it was probably a little more developed than Blanding, Utah's.

So thank you Spain for sharing your Mediterranean cuisine with this country bumpkin.  One of these days I'll bring my family back and introduce them to you.

Jeremy & Julia

So, the other day I mentioned to my friend Craig that my wife was trying to get me to do a food blog.  He asked if I was going to call it Jeremy & Julia.  For those that don't get the reference, there's a movie called Julie & Julia.  I hadn't seen it when he asked me that.  I subsequently rented it.  It was worth it.

If you're a foodie (Foodie:  "Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news.  Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food^.  For this reason, foodies are sometimes viewed as obsessively interested in all things culinary. There is also a general feeling in the culinary industry that the term gourmet is outdated. 'Foodie-ism' is a modern, popular way of engaging food culture for the general population."-Wikipedia) at all, you should watch it.  You'll like it.

So, yea, I'm doing a food blog, but it's not called Jeremy & Julia.  And I'm not going to spend the next year making all 500+ recipes from Julia Child's 1961 Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

That's what I'm not doing.  I'm not completely sure what I am doing.