Adapted from my grandmother’s recipe–the honey adds a distinct taste and sweetness.

1 1/2 C All purpose flour
1 C Whole wheat flour
2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 Tblsp Ground flaxseed
1 tsp Salt
3 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 c Sugar
2 Tblsp Honey
3 Eggs
1/2 c Vegetable oil
1/2 c Apple sauce (unsweetened)
2 C Grated zucchini (make sure to squeeze the water out of the zucchini)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 C Walnuts (optional)

PREHEAT: oven to 350° F. Grease loaf pan

COMBINE: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flaxseed and cinnamon in bowl. In separate large bowl beat together eggs, applesauce, oil, sugar, vanilla and zucchini until ingredients are smooth. Stir flour mixture into wet mixture until combined. Fold in nuts if desired. Pour batter into two 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pans.

BAKE: for 40 to 45 minutes.

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1 pound Elbow pasta (I like whole wheat)
3 C Medium-sharp cheddar + 1/2 C (grated)
1 C Monterey Jack (grated)
1 C Parmesan cheese (grated)
4 Tblsp butter
4 Tblsp flour
4 cups Whole milk (warmed)
3 Egg yolks (gently beaten)
2-3 Cloves garlic (finely minced)
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
4 oz Pancetta (cut in small strips)
1 cup Frozen peas (thawed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling, salted water until al dente–make sure it’s slightly undercooked.

In a frying pan cook the pancetta until crispy. Remove pancetta and reserve pan drippings for later.

Next, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter (over medium-low heat) then add garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes (but don’t let the garlic burn).

Whisk the flour into the butter and continue stirring/whisking for about five minutes, making sure it’s lump free.

Next stir the warm milk into the butter/flour mixture and cook until thickened-about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and gradually stir in the cheese (reserving the 1/2 C cheddar for the top). Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Stir cheese mixture into macaroni until coated. Then stir in the beaten egg yolks. Lastly, stir in 1/2 of the cooked pancetta.

Pour mixture into a baking dish. Top with the remaining 1/2 C of cheese.

Bake for approx. 20 minutes. Let sit 5-10 minutes.

When ready to serve, warm the thawed peas in the frying pan with the pancetta drippings.

To serve: top the mac and cheese with the crispy pancetta, warmed peas and a bit of freshly ground pepper.

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This happens every time I go to the farmer’s market-I don’t eat beforehand and end up crazily hungry and overwhelmed by all the food options. And then I eat too much.

I started off with the soft shell crab sandwich from the Hayes Street Grill stand. The perfectly grilled bread really made this sandwich exquisite–that and small smear of mayo.

And because I’m sucker for spiced, cured pork I picked up the sampler cone from Boccalone. While I love the capacolla and soppressata, I’ve never acquired a taste for guanciale-salt-cured pork jowl.

To finish it off there was an ‘old fashioned’ (chocolate cake with boiled icing) cupcake from Miette.

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Jamba Juice takes back the smoothie
In what appears to be a direct poke in the eye to Starbucks and its new Vivanno, Jamba Juice last week announced a limited time ‘Orange Refresher’ all fruit smoothie available as of July 17 for $2.95. The 16 oz. beverage is 210 calories and touted to contain 100% natural ingredients, contain no high-fructose corn syrup and have no added sugar.

According to the release, “Jamba is taking steps to educate the consumer of the benefits of Jamba smoothies, which not only taste great, but are good for you. Jamba believes its product offerings, store atmosphere, and overall customer experience offers a competitive advantage over those whose primary business is serving coffee or hamburgers.”

That’s right Starbucks, they are talking to you. And to further turn up the heat, Jamba is offering coupons for a free smoothie with the purchase of any other smoothie. The coupons will be distributed electronically and also available at www.jamba.com. They are valid from July 17, 2008 through July 30, 2008.

Having your cake and yogurt, too
Yoplait Light introduces three new cake-inspired flavors: Strawberry Shortcake, Raspberry Cheesecake and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake to be introduced nationwide in August 2008

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I spotted Flyer Gold Plane No. 2 (Swiss dark chocolate with caramel) at the checkout counter of the Whole Foods Market (in Providence) and was immediately drawn to the packaging. The combination of a lovely vintage plane image, reminiscent of Pan Am graphics, and the words rich dark chocolate with caramel was too much to pass up.

The chocolate exterior was smooth and creamy and the caramel was absolutely lush and thick. I could taste the butter and sugar in the caramel, as well as the rich, nutty flavor that comes from bringing the caramel just to the point before it burns. This really is more of a high-end bon bon, the type you might find in a French candy boutique, rather than a plain bar. That said, don’t let the 270 calories per bar scare you. It’s so rich a few bites will easily satisfy the sweetest of sweet tooths.

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I’ll be at BlogHer on Friday and Saturday. If you’re attending say hi or send me a note via twitter: offbeat_eating.

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Jamie Oliver gets his game on
The British chef teams with Atari for What’s Cooking? a new game for Nintendo DS to be released in time for Christmas 2008. The game walks players through cooking scenarios including, shopping, chopping and plating. Players can bring the game into the kitchen to try their hand at the 100 recipes included. And with features such as an interactive shopping list (it saves ingredients from recipes, organizes them by food type, and also allows you to add other items to the list using keypad or text recognition), even my non-cooking boyfriend says, “wow a game that’s actually useful and could potentially get Kristin out of the grocery store in under an hour!”

Starbucks renames the smoothie

Another difficult to pronounce word–Vivanno™–is nothing more than a fruit smoothy with protein and fiber powder added. And according to Serious Eats, they taste awful.

Even more cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs
There’s a new flavor out today: chocolate and vanilla combo. Hopefully this will satisfy all the kids in the house.

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My mind works in strange ways. After reading today’s Best Ice Cream in New England post on Serious Eats (and a user comment about frozen custard) I immediately thought about the frozen custard of my hometown, Rochester NY. Spending the first 18 years of my life in Rochester, I ate plenty chocolate frozen custard from Abbott’s .

Even now when I go home to visit there’s only one flavor for me–chocolate with chocolate sprinkles. But because of the softer consistency, I always eat it out of cup and not a cone. It just melts too fast, especially in the hot, humid summers of upstate New York. For those of you who have never tasted custard, it’s creamier and denser than ice cream with an almost velvet texture. Also, it’s not served straight from the machine in the manner of soft serve. Rather the custard continuously flows out of the machine and is deposited into a holding bowl, and is then scooped into your cone or dish. By the time it hits your tongue it’s slightly warmer than your average ice cream, meaning you taste more of the flavor.

Now that I’m even hungrier than when I started this post, my mind wanders to another Rochester tradition–Zweigle’s white hot dogs. Made with beef, pork and veal it has the flavor of a mild bratwurst combined with the fine texture of a hot dog. My favorite is the natural casing white hot dog. When cooked on the grill the skin splits slightly and you experience a crisp ‘snap’ when you bite into it.

There are other Rochester foods that I crave from time to time. But I’ll wait and blog about those next time I return for a visit.

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I had never heard of a quahog (KO-hog) until I moved to Providence in 2001, but quickly discovered that this large clam was on quite a few menus across the state.

(Read the article)

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