Foodie Friday: Zucchini

I absolutely love Zucchini. It is one of the best vegetables to put with everything and Zoodles are a blessing from the food gods! Here are some recipes to try out with your zucchini!

• Baked Zucchini Tots
• Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake
• Garlicky Shrimp Zucchini Boats
• Keto Zucchini Bread
• Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Bread
• Zucchini Brownies
• Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Zucchini Dessert Squares

Gosh! There are so many ways to use Zucchini. I saw cakes and muffins and chocolate bars! I saw numerous savory recipes. Type in a protein with zucchini and you will find anything you desire. Hopefully some of the above will prove delicious enough for you tonight!

Share your recipes and pictures!

Foodie Friday: Avocado

Avocados are one of those superfoods that everyone swears by. But have you gone all in beyond using it by smashing it on toast or making it into guacamole? Here are some ideas to try out in your kitchen today.

First, let's see how to try to get the best avocado.

Recipes:

Now a little Jamie Oliver (or as some of us remember him as... The Naked Chef):

(Yes... it's toast... but it's breky.)

Desserts:

Don't like avocados? Neither does she, but she's testing some Buzzfeed recipes!

You can do quite a bit with avocados and there are even more recipes out there! Share what you're making so we can all drool along with you!

Foodie Friday: Cocktail Concoctions

Try to regain some happiness after so many troubling events by making a cocktail that represents who you are! Also, I had watched Patton Oswalt's stand-up special on Netflix "I Love Everything" recently where he talked about how the barman for his wedding offered to make a custom drink that represented him and his wife. It was pretty cute and I recommend the special. Maybe watch it while you make your drink!

I have a few sites to look at that might help you make the perfect cocktail. I do just want to remind you that cocktails do NOT have to contain alcohol. It's what makes it perfect for you! (Kiddie Cocktail anyone?)

First, I have a BuzzFeed survey that might help you figure out a base to start from. Just watch out for the ads, they can make you think you're done or load on you quick.

Then I have two sites that recommend drinks based on your personalities: The Florist and SpoonUniversity.com

I offer these purely to help you get a foothold on what you want to make. If you already have a drink that you love and it fits you and you think it screams ME, then use that or build off of it.

This is also fun to do with kids, just remove the alcohol. Ask them to start with some sort of base (a juice or soda) and then start asking them what they like. Have you or kids you have or know ever done they "every soda from the fountain" drink? Yep! Think of all the fun they could have. I like those soda fountains that now let you pick your base drink and add flavors. Those are so fun, it's dangerous.

So slip on your Mixologist hat and try to create a drink that you like and that would be your signature drink (alcoholic or not). Don't forget to share your photos/recipes!

What did I make? I have two for each side of my personality:

My relaxed drink: Barefoot Sweet Red with Diet 7-Up/Sprite and a slide of orange. (Like a Sangria,but for me, I need to relax and just dump things into a giant Spider-Man cup! I use the small bottles of wine.)

My have-a-good-time drink: Pineapple Juice, Sugar-Free Cranberry Juice, and Coconut Bacardi Rum. It's a tropical rum punch!  I'm sweet. My bitterness is hidden beneath the sweet. My silly and careless demeanor will hit you slowly as I come out of my introvert shell. Then it'll punch you right in the face as your suffering of being exposed to me comes full circle. 

Foodie Friday: Hard Boiled Eggs

Eggs are known to be some of the versatile food items out there. The possibilities are endless, but what about those eggs you hard boiled and have leftover. Maybe you didn't want to make another batch of egg salad or another plate of deviled eggs or add some more crumble to that Cob Salad. There are so many things you can do with a hard boiled egg that you might not have even known about!

First, we have the cook the perfect hard boiled egg. 

We all have our methods, but I recently learned the best and most foolproof way that works for me HERE. It took me 3 tries to perfect what worked the best for my pot, stove, and whatever else. I'm never going back!

Now that we've created our hard boiled eggs, let's see what types of amazing ideas are out there for these eager little guys.

Just so we're clear, there are so many different types of deviled eggs you can make... I'm not going to list all of the excessively crazy ones here, but trust me... everything from buffalo deviled eggs to shrimp and pumpkin deviled eggs are out there for you. 

• Beet Pickled Eggs
• BLT Egglette
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cob Salad Pizza
• Creamed Egg Toast
• Curry Eggs Over Rice
• Deviled Egg Dip
• Dirty Rice Scotch Egg
• Egg Puffs - pastry
• Fried Deviled Eggs
• Hard Boiled Eggs Benedict
• Italian Easter Pie (savory)
• Jammy Eggs with Feta & Flatbread (Jammy Eggs are really neat, so definitely check this out.)
• Mardi Gras Deviled Eggs
• Pickled Eggs (Basic)
• Potato Scotch Egg
• Raised Pork & Egg Pie (by Paul Hollywood you Great British Baking Show Lovers!)
• Reuben Egglette
• Russian Cabbage Pie
• Scotch Egg
• Soy Marinated Egg (can use in all sorts of things)
• Spiced Egg Puffs
• Sriracha Egg Salad
• Thai Fried Hard Boiled Eggs

Other ways to experiment with your eggs:

• Add them to some different types of salads
• Pair smoked Salmon and Hard Boiled Eggs in a dish together
• Tuna and Hard Boiled Eggs work well
• Test out your own Egglette Sandwich idea
• Get some puff pastry and make an egg pocket combo
• Look for some of those Ramen recipes and add some egg

Jammy Egg - Yolk cooked, but stilly "gummy"	Egglette Sandwiches - Above are Reuben
Scotch Egg	Potato Scotch Egg (no meat)
Soy Marinated Eggs	Paul Hollywood's Raised Pork & Egg Pie

I think it's interesting all the different things you can do with an already hard boiled egg. I suppose it's helpful at Easter, but eggs are a staple in my house, so having interesting new ideas for how to use hard boiled eggs is perfect. These are rather Egg-celent ideas!

Share what you made or what you want to try! 

Foodie Friday: Pickles

Sounds a little weird, right? Pickles, though, have quite a few great dishes to their credit.  

Your activity for today is to make a pickle dish! Anything you want. Just don't make the pickle a topping.

As someone who has been on the Keto diet, I have found that pickles can be a dieters best friend. Because of this, I've labeled the Keto friendly dishes. Sorry other diets... I can't tell. Well, Diabetics and Low-Carb foodies would be fine with the Keto items, too.

• Bacon Wrapped Pickles (tons of online recipes; Keto Friendly)
• Bacon Wrapped Pickles - Take 2 (stuff the pickle before you wrap it; Keto Friendly)
• Chocolate Pickles (Could be made Keto Friendly with some adjustments)
• Dill Pickle Popcorn or Pickle Pop (I get the Kernel Seasoning one.)
• Ham, Cream Cheese, and Pickle Rolls (Keto Friendly) - Picture Below
• Ham, Cream Cheese, and Pickle Roll Dip (Keto Friendly)
• Loaded Dill Pickle Soup
• Loaded Pickle Chips
• Pickles in a Blanket
• Pickle Cheesecake?!?!?!
• Pickle Chips (air fried, deep fried, oven baked; tons of online recipes) - Picture Below
• Pickle Cupcakes
• Pickle Dip (Keto Friendly)
• Pickle Egg Rolls
• Pickle Guacamole (Keto Friendly)
• Pickle Mozzarella Sticks
• Pickle Pizza (Could be made Keto Friendly with some adjustments)
• Pickle Pops (Keto Friendly with sugar substitute)
• Breaded Pickle Spears (spiraled on a stick, basic breading, etc.; several online recipes)
• Pickle Sandwiches (Use a giant pickle cut in half as bread; Keto Friendly) - Picture Below
• Tuna Melt Pickles (Keto Friendly)
• Tuna Salad Pickle Boats (scoop out the middle of halved giant pickle and put in your tuna salad; Keto Friendly) - Picture Below
• Pickle Sliders (Could be made Keto Friendly with some adjustments)
• Pickle Sushi (Keto Friendly)

I prefer Buddig Beef and  to slice my mini-dills into quarters.

One of the biggest trends is using pickles in place of bread for things like cold cut sandwiches and hot dogs. Go ahead and test it out. It's pretty good when done well.

Now, you can pickle pretty much anything, but I stayed away from those recipes. I also didn't include food where you add pickles as a condiment instead of it being at the heart of the dish. Additionally, I did not include anything Bloody Mary related, but there are tons of fun things you can do with pickles for that.

Let my conclude with one of my favorite books from my childhood: Pickle Things by Marc Brown.