Mmmmm....zucchini and Panko!

If you like breading things with breadcrumbs and haven't discovered Panko you are missing out!  They are super crispy, light and make for an incredible crunch to fried foods. One of my favorite things to bread and fry is zucchini. The other night I made pizza (see recipe a few posts below) and decided to make these delicious beauties to go with it.

I used all purpose flour (King Arthur brand...it really is a very good flour), water and Panko.  The all purpose flour went into one shallow bowl and to it I added some seasoned salt, onion powder and some dried herbs...oh, and red pepper flakes. Then in another bowl the water and in the last bowl the Panko...which I also seasoned with red pepper flakes. This is completely customizable...season it how you like it.

Breading foods by hand doesn't have to be messy-who likes digging that stuff out from under your nails? What I do is use my right hand for wet and left for dry. I took a zucchini slice, dipped it into the water with my right hand, tossed it into flour bowl and with my left hand coated it in flour. Then with my right hand I dipped it into the water again and placed into Panko bowl. And using left hand coated the slice with the bread crumbs. I know some people like to bread as they fry but it's easier for me to just bread it all at once and have it on a cookie sheet ready to go to the fryer.

Heat the fryer to 350 degrees and drop slices in.  Watch closely so they don't burn. After they are golden brown remove from oil and drain on paper towels.  Serve with pizza sauce. Oh, and sprinkle with freshly grated parm or romano cheese. I'm drooling already just thinking about them!

Fall sunrise....beautiful!

My husband was taking my son to school the other morning and when I stepped out to tell them goodbye I saw this beautiful sunrise.  I quickly dashed into the house (did I even finish telling them bye?) and grabbed the camera so I could try to do it justice.

Of course I should have set up the tripod but with the light changing so quickly I was afraid to miss any of this gorgeous color. So the photo isn't as sharp as it should be...but hey, the color is great! :-P

Another reason I love this image so much is that this view is about to be gone forever from my front porch.  They are finally building houses in that field.  The 'lone' tree will no longer stand out, the outline of the church will be hidden from my view. The only thing constant is change right?  Just have to learn to roll with it.