The Best Zucchini

Squash season is upon us.  Since we'll soon have more of these than we know what to do with, I figured I'd offer up a great way to cook zucchini that I cook over and over again. The idea here is to keep the texture of the zucchini while still getting a nice sear on it.  This is one of my theories as to why so many people love grilled zucchini, because there is almost no way it can get soggy.  If you cook with high enough heat and be sure not to crowd, you'll get the same affect in the pan.  This recipe is incredibly simple and is one of my favorite ways to prepare this vegetable. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 small to medium zucchini, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp good paprika



Directions

Heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add zucchini to the pan making sure almost all slices have surface contact to the pan.  Add salt but don't stir.  When zucchini slices are just beginning to turn brown(1-3 minutes), flip them over.

Let them cook for 1 more minute, then stir in paprika and pepper and cook 30 more seconds.  Remove from heat.  Serve hot.

Beer Craving Website Launch!

I've been working on a new website called BeerCraving.com for a few months now.  The website is a photo gallery of what some are calling "suds porn."  It's a way to catalog all your beer conquests around the world and share them with a community of beer enthusiasts.  Each photo links you to more information about a particular beer.  It's pretty addicting, especially for all the tastespotting.com and foodgawker.com fans out there.  Here is a screenshot of it:

Earth Worms

We just added some red wiggler worms to our garden to help out with the extremely sandy soil.  As mentioned in a previous post, the soil in our garden may have never seen much love from anyone.  We've added a ton of compost but it has begun to get quite expensive.  While searching for a solution to this problem,  we've decided to go back to the basics.  Worms may be the ultimate composter and nutrient supplier out there.  They're able to consume 4 to 6 times their own body weight each day and reproduce fairly quickly.  They process what is typically seen as garbage and convert it to "black gold".  While supplying plants with incredible nutrients, they also help to aerate the soil allowing for better root growth.

We've added about 200 worms to our garden and bought a home worm composter with 2000 worms to help with our food scraps.  We'll add the worm castings and worms to our garden as time goes on and the soil is able to support more life.  There are some things we feel that nature got right in the first place.  This is exactly why we've opted to fertilize our garden using worms rather than some chemical like miracle gro.  We've also added flowers around the perimeter of the garden to help attract bees.  I'll keep you updated on our progress.  So far so good though.  Things are flourishing even in what you can barely call soil.