Parmesan Zucchini Crisps!

Unless you are completely unaware of your produce department, you probably know that zucchini is in season and you can get it for WAY cheap right now. I love zucchini. I love zucchini grilled (esp. when I marinate it in the very best EVERYTHING marinade), sauteed (esp. in fried rice!), I mean pretty much any way you serve me zucchini I'm going to love it. Topping it with cheese and baking it has to be my favorite so far though. The cheese forms a crispy crust and they become little cheesy chips. Veggie chips. HEALTHY chips! I could eat an entire plate of these (In fact I just removed the plate from my reach so I could attempt to save some for later). This would be the perfect way to introduce a non-veggie eater to zucchini, it's like a sneaky veggie costume. 

The recipe is written using just 1 zucchini for 2 servings, however like I previously stated I could eat this entire batch by myself. I suggest doubling it if you are making it for more than one person!

Ingredients:
1 zucchini
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 C. shredded cheese (I used an Italian mix of mozzarella, Parmesan, & Provolone)
1/4 C. breadcrumbs
pinch salt
pinch black pepper

Step 1: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Cut the zucchini into 1/2 in. rounds.

Step 2: Toss zucchini rounds with olive oil until fully coated.

Step 3: In a separate bowl combine the cheese, breadcrumbs, salt, & pepper. 

Step 4: Cover each zucchini piece in the cheese mixture. I did this by pressing the zucchini into the cheese mix, turning it over and pressing down again, and then I topped it with a little extra mixture on top.

Step 5: Place coated zucchini on the baking sheet, bake 20-25 minutes or until cheese is golden brown and crispy.

Unbaked chips...

Golden, crispy finished chips!

Enjoy with a side of marinara sauce for dipping if you'd like! The marinara pairs well, but I found myself just eating these by themselves. They're that good. :-D

 

{Football Food Week} HOT (or not) Baked Teriyaki Wings!

Okay y'all, I don't think I've ever been SO excited to write a blog post. These came out SOOOOOOO Good. Way better than I could have ever expected. I'm not typically a "wing" person-- eating anything off the bone kinda freaks me out. Makes me feel like a wild animal. But after I took one bite, I went all primal on these babies. THEY WERE SO GOOD.

I knew if I was going to do football recipes I would at some point have to cover wings. Like I previously mentioned I'm not a wing person so I wasn't super syked about this but whatevs. Wings are football food, had to be done. I knew that I didn't want to fry them but I wanted them to be crispy and I knew I wanted Teriyaki wings. Teriyaki wings are my fave. So I treated these little wings the same way I treat my potatoes when I want to get them crispy in the oven, liberal amounts of olive oil and a hot hot oven. As Borat would say "Great Success!" To really take it up a notch I made a homemade Teriyaki sauce that will rock your socks, added a little heat and it was on like donkey kong. The sauce can also be made gluten free super easily- just use a GF soy sauce. If you don't like spicy, just leave out the Sriracha sauce and the red pepper flakes and you will have a great traditional Teriyaki sauce. 

You could use the basic wing idea and dress these up in a variety of sauces, obviously, but you should really try the Teriyaki! It's phenomenal!

Ingredients: 
3.5 lb chicken wing sections
1 Tbsp. olive oil (or enough to coat all the wings completely)
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper

For the Teriyaki Sauce:
1 1/2 C. cold water
3/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic powder
3 Tbsp. corn starch
2 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place wings in a large bowl and add olive oil, toss to coat all wings completely adding more olive oil if necessary.

Step 2: Add seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper to wings. Toss to coat.

Step 3: Spread wings evenly on a baking sheet. Cook in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Step 4: When wings are finished transfer them to a Tupperware container. Add sauce to the Tupperware, close the top tightly and shake to coat the wings.

CRISPY wings from the oven.. Told ya!

Oh Yeah!

ENJOY!

For Teriyaki Sauce:

Step 1: Whisk together water, brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic powder, corn starch, sriracha sauce, and red pepper flakes in a medium sized sauce pan. Turn heat to medium high heat. Watch your sauce and whisk frequently, as soon as it starts to boil whisk continually until it thickens and remove from heat.

NOTE: I didn't make the full recipe- I only cooked about 1 lb. of wings because it was just me at the house! However, I did make the full amount of Teriyaki sauce so that I could save some in the fridge for some grilled chicken this weekend :-)

My leftover sauce... Yes! This will be so good this weekend!

{Football Food Week} Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges!

Football food week continues at Unbearablygood! When I was brainstorming on what makes the very best tailgate fare a couple things continuously came up- potatoes, cheese, bacon. So, ultimate football food? Bacon & cheese topped potato wedges. Binggggoo! These are so good. And way easier than you probably think they are. And they're baked not fried (not trying to say they're exactly healthy, but you are saving yourself some calories). And I can't think of one single person who wouldn't like these... unless maybe you don't eat bacon. In that case you could skip the bacon. Maybe add jalapenos or some chili? There's just not much that's better than a crispy potato topped with cheese. Add bacon? H-e-a-v-e-n-l-y!

If you're watching the game at home (or if you're just making these at home, no game required!) toss them into the oven like I did below. Want to take them to a tailgate? Cook the potatoes before you leave, put them in a baking dish, top with cheese & bacon, cover with foil- when you get to the tailgate just toss the dish on the grill with the foil still on top until the potatoes are heated through and the cheese is melted! 

WARNING: I made a smaller batch with just 1 potato because I just don't need to have an abundance of these fries laying around.... my 20 year old brother and a friend walked in just as they were coming out of the oven and they were devoured in approximately 30 seconds. I had 1 fry. They will go FAST. Trust me. Make more than you think you need...!

Ingredients: (4 servings- double for a crowd!)
2 baking potatoes, washed & scrubbed!
1/4-1/2 c olive oil (enough to coat all of the potatoes)
2 tsp. seasoned salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
4 pieces of bacon, cooked & crumbled
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese


Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. To cut potato into wedges: (you could also cut it into fries or whatever shape your heart desires!) 
Cut in half length-wise

Cut the halves in half width-wise:

Cut vertically into about 1/4 in. thick wedges:

Step 2: Toss wedges into a bowl. Add olive oil (you could use canola or veg. oil as well) and toss to combine until all wedges are fully coated.

 Step 3: Add seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper and stir to combine.

Step 4: Place wedges in an even layer on a baking sheet or in a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake 30-40 minutes or until golden and crispy, flipping once halfway through.

Before cooking...

Golden & Crispy!

Step 5: Transfer to a smaller baking dish, top with cheese and bacon.

Step 6: Return to hot oven for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

ENJOY!

{Football Food Week} Hot Turkey Sammies!

This week on the blog I am dubbing it "Football Food Week"! Football season is a BIG deal in my family. We are may-jor fans. Last Friday night was our first preseason home game {Go Jaguars!} and you can bet your bottom dollar I was in the stadium. It was SUCH a good feeling to have football back, I've missed it all off-season! Thus, I am inspired to pull out all of my favorite tailgating recipes this week to share with you! Even if you aren't a crazy football fan like me, these recipes can be enjoyed by you & yours at your next gathering! I've tried my best to put together recipes that are easily made for a crowd- at home or at your next tailgate party!

My brothers and I before the game Friday night!

Today's recipe, day 1 of Football Food Week, is a real winner. I know you've seen the little ham sammy recipe on pinterest, made on Hawaiian rolls. This is my version- with turkey instead of ham (I hate ham) and with yummy melted provolone cheese! If you are a ham fan, just replace the turkey with ham- or even better why not try ham and turkey! The sauce on top is just bananas and ties all the flavors in perfectly. The BEST part of this recipe though is that it literally takes 5 minutes to put together- you can throw it in the oven like I did here if you're having a home party, or if you're tailgating you could prep it at home, wrap it in foil, and throw it on the grill at the tailgate! Easy peezy, feeds a bunch, tastes fantastical, and is a literal no- brainer to put together. Sounds like a Super Bowl champ to me!

Ingredients: (Makes 12 sammies)
1 package of Hawaiian rolls (12 rolls)
1 9 oz. package of turkey
4 pieces of provolone cheese
1/4 stick butter
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. soy sauce

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13 in. dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cut the rolls in half length-wise. {I used a sharp knife and just set them on their side and cut down}

Not a real clear picture, it was an awkward angle to hold a camera AND a knife!

Step 2: Place the bottom half of the rolls in the baking dish. Top with the turkey. 

Step 3: Top the turkey with cheese.

Step 4: Place the top half of the rolls on top. In a saucepan melt the butter on medium-high heat. 

Step 5: Whisk mustard, onion powder, and soy sauce together with the melted butter.

Step 6: Top rolls with the butter sauce. 

Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and tops are golden brown. 

ENJOY!

"Fat Witch" Brownies!

Confession, I, like most human beings, love brownies. Specifically I have always had a penchant for brownies from a box. It's embarrassing. I tell everybody, everywhere they need to be cooking more homemade goodies and here I am making brownies from a boxed mix. There's just something I could never attain from homemade brownies. They weren't moist enough, or chocolatey enough, or I don't know something enough. Well, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed readers of the blogosphere- I have discovered homemade brownies I LOVE. I found this recipe from Plain Chicken here: http://www.plainchicken.com/2012/07/cocoa-brownies-fat-witch.html. {I LOVE her blog, I subscribe- you should too she's terrific} She got the recipe from the "Fat Witch Bakery" cookbook. The Fat Witch Bakery is a legendary bakery in New York City renowned for their brownies, are you in? You should be... they're sooooo good!

Immediately after devouring a brownie, I boxed these up to give away. Pure security measure- had I left them in the kitchen I'm quite sure I would have annihilated them. The ONLY thing I would change next time would be to add walnuts. That's just me- I'm a walnut-brownie girl and I think that would take it over the top for me. You could also add chocolate chips, white choc. chips, butterscotch, fudge, etc. It's just the perfect base recipe. ENJOY!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter 
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt butter in a saucepan. 

Step 2: Remove melted butter from heat, pour into a heat-proof bowl and let cool for 5 minutes. While butter is cooling gather remainder of ingredients.

Step 3: Whisk cocoa powder and sugar into melted butter.

Step 4: One at a time whisk eggs into butter mixture until combined.

Step 5: Whisk vanilla into batter.

Step 6: In a separate bowl stir together flour and salt.

Step 7: Add flour mixture to batter and stir until combined. Pour into greased pan {I used a 9x13 baking dish}. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

mmm!

Add a glass of almond milk {or you choice of milk, but you should definitely have milk!} And ENJOY :-)