Farmer's market bread salad

What a week, friends. We're staring down the barrel of a huge house move and the world seems to be devolving into complete chaos. To combat all of this uncertainty, I'm organizing. Or, organizing as much as possible when life feels like a giant snow globe: One flick of the universe's wrist and everything that makes me feel grounded will be flying around every which way.

As someone who claims to be unsentimental about "stuff" and who has become pretty cutthroat about culling after 15 years of living in one, two, or three-room (not bedroom, room room) apartments, we still have a lot of unnecessary crap. Why do I have receipts for jeans I bought two years ago? Why are there face creams I've never used in my medicine cabinet? I'm not terribly worried about getting rid of things because we're moving to a house with plenty of space, but seriously future self: STOP BUYING PARENTING BOOKS YOU WILL NEVER READ. No one has space on their nightstands or in their brains, house or no house. 

I've also been trying to keep the food easy and nutritious since we don't have time or energy to cook anything complicated and I don't want to feel terrible after a heavy meal when we have so much to do. Enter, bread salad with fresh raw veggies from the farmer's market and a quick basil dressing. I am the queen of buying bread that looks great, forgetting about it, and realizing it's there a week later when it's hard as a rock. Bread salad is the perfect way to resurrect stale loaves and is a great alternative to leafy salads. You can make a huge batch of bread salad and eat it all week without worries about wilting. Also, I've never met a toddler who wanted to tear into a salad of leafy greens. But a salad that features bread and tomatoes and can be eaten with your fingers is a win with my kid.

A couple of notes: I tend to make this salad with heavy, thick whole grain bread, but it can easily be made with a stale baguette or something lighter. Use your discretion with the amount of dressing you add to the bread: A thicker bread will require more dressing while a lighter, airier bread will turn to mush with the same amount of liquid. The goal of adding dressing to the bread is to revitalize it with liquid without turning it into a liquid. So, start with 1/2 of the dressing and add more depending on how dense your bread is.

I like to eat this salad as is for lunch, but for dinner, feel free to add cheese, grilled chicken thighs, shredded rotisserie chicken, hard-boiled eggs, or grilled shrimp to make this into a more well-rounded meal.

Farmer’s market bread salad

8 oz very stale bread
2 ears corn
1 medium zucchini or other summer squash
½ large red onion
1 pint cherry tomatoes

For the dressing:
2 large handfuls of fresh basil leaves (I used about 75 leaves, or about 1 cup slightly packed)
½ cup olive oil
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 large garlic clove
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt

Make the dressing: Blend all dressing ingredients in a food processor until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Check for seasoning and set aside.

Chop the bread and place in a large bowl. Add ½- ¾ of the dressing (See note above to determine how much dressing) and toss. Set aside.

Chop the rest of the raw veggies and add to the bread mixture. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When ready to eat, drizzle with leftover dressing before serving.

Spicy chocolate zucchini muffins

These chocolate muffins feature zucchini and blackberries for some extra moisture (and yet another way to use up a zucchini if you find yourself with a bumper crop) and chocolate because…chocolate. With one bowl and about forty minutes, you can have a super muffin for breakfast, snack, or dessert.

Take me to the muffins!

These muffins are really incredibly easy. No need to drain the zucchini or use separate bowls for the mixing. They can easily be made vegan by swapping in two flax eggs and some vegan chocolate chips. The batter is thick (almost like a brownie batter), but puffs up with a light, airy, and not-at-all dry crumb.

I added some cayenne for the slightest of kicks and some cinnamon or the slightest of warmth, but you can leave out BOTH and have a more straightforward chocolate muffin that is equally delicious.

**I use half white and half whole wheat flours, but feel free to use all white, all whole wheat, or all gluten free 1-to-1 flour instead.

This batch only made 11 muffins because Sticky Fingers here kept munching on the blackberries and chocolate chips I'd measured out. All of my other batches made an even dozen.

Spicy chocolate zucchini muffins

2 cups shredded zucchini (from one medium zucchini)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar (granulated, cane, and coconut work well)
½ cup oil (canola, coconut, olive, and avocado all work fine)
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup white flour*
¾ whole wheat flour*
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp cayenne or chili powder
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
1 small container fresh blackberries, or 1 cup frozen berries (not defrosted)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the shredded zucchini with eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Mix well. Add the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cayenne, cinnamon, and salt, and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks (if using) and the blackberries.

Line or spray cupcake tins with oil. Fill each opening ¾ full and bake for 23-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Yield: 12 muffins

Zucchini and blueberry waffles

Use up the last of late summer produce with these zucchini and blueberry whole grain waffles.

Take me to the recipe!

Zucchini and blueberry waffles | Me & The Moose. These naturally sweet bread-y pastries are a great way to get some veggies into your kiddos first thing in the morning, as an afternoon snack, or anytime really. #meandthemoose #waffles #blueberries #zucchini

Late summer/early fall usually means a glut of zucchini and it's one of M's safe veggies. Don't get me wrong: If I put a piece of zucchini in front of him (steamed, roasted, covered in chocolate), he would NOT eat it. But in a waffle with sweet blueberries and toasty whole wheat and flax, he doesn't even notice that he's eating vegetables for breakfast.

Zucchini and blueberry waffles | Me & The Moose. These naturally sweet bread-y pastries are a great way to get some veggies into your kiddos first thing in the morning, as an afternoon snack, or anytime really. #meandthemoose #waffles #blueberries #zucchini

Zucchini and blueberry waffles | Me & The Moose. These naturally sweet bread-y pastries are a great way to get some veggies into your kiddos first thing in the morning, as an afternoon snack, or anytime really. #meandthemoose #waffles #blueberries #zucchini

Zucchini and blueberry waffles | Me & The Moose. Flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla, spices, buttermilk, flaxseed, and a little butter. #meandthemoose #waffles #blueberries #zucchini #ingredients

A couple of notes about these waffles:

• I used buttermilk in this recipe, but if you don’t have any or don’t want to buy buttermilk, my favorite substitution is this: For every 1 cup of buttermilk that you need, add 1 Tbsp of vinegar to a measuring cup and then add enough dairy milk (any fat content will do) to equal 1 cup. Let sit for a few minutes and use!

• Don’t use more blueberries and zucchini than the recipe calls for. I’ve been tempted to throw in another handful of blueberries or the rest of the shredded zucchini, but I feel like any time I do, the waffles end up too wet.

Zucchini and blueberry waffles | Me & The Moose. These naturally sweet bread-y pastries are a great way to get some veggies into your kiddos first thing in the morning, as an afternoon snack, or anytime really. #meandthemoose #waffles #blueberries #zucchini

Zucchini & blueberry waffles

Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 16 waffles

1 cup shredded zucchini (1/2 large zucchini), patted dry
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 heaping Tbsp flax seed meal
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled to room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups buttermilk

Melt 1 Tbsp of butter in the microwave. Set aside.

Shred the zucchini with a box grater and squeeze the excess water out with paper towels or a cheesecloth. Set aside.

To a large bowl, add the flours, flax seed meal, baking powder, spices, and salt and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until frothy. Add the melted and cooled butter, vanilla extract, and buttermilk. Whisk until combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Add the zucchini and blueberries and whisk gently until combined.

Depending on the size of your waffle maker, spoon about ¼ cup of batter onto the hot surface and follow your appliance’s instructions.