Fried Zucchini

Food..hmm....food makes the world go round, fried food? Now thats just from heaven.

I am a person who from time to time enjoys a good fried mozzarella stick. It's such a great appetizer or guilty snack. It lead me to start thinking of what else would be good breaded and fried? Zucchini! Now I did not invent fried zucchini by any means, but this is my take on how fried zucchini should be made.

First, I don't limit myself to just zucchini, I get his best friend in on the fun too, yellow squash. I cut up the zucchini and squash in to thin "chips". Use as many veggies as you want, I find that one of each makes a great snack for about 4-5 people.

So once you've got them cut up you can put a few at a time into your egg wash. My egg wash is just 3 eggs I whisked in a bowl.

From the egg wash grab one chip at a time and coat it with your breading. I used panko bread crumbs, shredded parmesan and a couple of my favorite seasons. If your shredded parmesan is coarse, you can put it into a food processor with your seasonings to get it finer.

Then once you've dredged your chip in the breading you can put it in to your pot of hot oil. Let cook about a minute on each side and then place it on a paper towel to cool. Its a crispy outside and a warm softer inside. You get the saltiness of the parmesan and the flavor of the seasoning with the crunchiness of your bread crumbs....YUM! Favorite dipping sauces are ranch and ketchup.

Hope you take the chance to enjoy some fried zucchini sometime soon. Feel free to print off the 4x6 recipe card. Talk to you soon friend.

A commonwealth cocktail, reinvented.

It's a Friday night and I opted to stay home and edit a wedding I shot last weekend rather than go out. Don't worry I am not alone, I have the London Gentleman to keep me company.

Let me explain...

I stumbled upon a classic British commonwealth cocktail recipe called the Dark & Stormy. Wanting to make it my "own" so I decided to recreate it...but do it Jenna style.

I have to be honest with you, when thinking of this cocktail in my head I thought it would be a drink that I would lightly sip on because it would be strong. But I have to tell you, its not too strong, its just right.

You will need dark rum, ginger flavor beer and a lime. Thats it, just 3 ingredients.

First you will add ice into a cocktail glass. Then you will add one shot of dark rum over ice.

Then you will pour your beer over the shot and ice.

Next you will zest some lime into your glass and add some juice of a lime from your wedge and then stick it on the rim of your glass.

The flavor is like a delicious beer with the crispness of a lime and the spicy warmth of rum, perfectly mixed together. For those of you 21 one and over pick up a six pack and try the London Gentleman. I have to give some credit to Blake for the name of the cocktail. He thinks adding gentleman to the end of any cocktail will class it up, and I think he is right.

Getting Married

You know, I think M. Ward said it best: "hey, I ain't never met anyone like you before...I thought all the good ones were gone you're here to tell me I was wrong". Minutes after meeting Chuck I said to myself "just don't screw this up". Lucky for me, he was saying the same thing to himself. I could talk for hours about what a lucky girl I am, but who's got time for that? Instead, I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my DIY side. While planning for my wedding and even after the wedding I was continually told that the "Jenna touches" were everyones favorite part. I think I let the flattery get to my head because here I am blogging about it.

Being on a budget helped to inspire a lot of my wedding decorations. I also hated the idea of spending SO much money on decorations/accessories that would only be used for one day. Thus, I was forced to think outside the box. Handmade items with recycled materials became my wedding theme. From the button boutonnières to the recycled table decorations and and making my own invitations, I found ways to cut cost. Speaking of invitations. I thought I'd share a few photos.

I used different shades of teals and blue greens for the back color paper.

Chuck insisted on the expensive glue sticks to make the process go faster. I let him win this battle, marriage is about compromise right?

The button boutonnieres and bridesmaids hair pieces were all made with vintage buttons. Though, the invitations used store bought buttons. I hot glued one to every invitation.

...and the finished product. There is something about making them myself that seemed satisfying. We used recycled paper bag envelopes to mail them in. If this bored you, don't worry, I think the next blog will be about food. I know everyone can relate to that. Talk to you soon, friend.

Seeing as this is my first blog post I am not sure how to handle it. In fact, the task seems quite daunting. Do I just dive right in? Do I treat this like a first date and open the door for you first? So...I figure I have to get over this first hump, why not keep it simple? Lets make it about what I know best, me (selfish, I know).

11 things you might not know about me:

11. I would like to own a kitten for a day, but then return it.

10. I have 5-6 shampoos in my shower, to make sure I have choices.

9. I'm left handed.

8. Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Jurassic Park III are my favorite movies of all time.

7. I like to have a cocktail occasionally. (ok, we all know that)

6. I can't get enough WWII history.

5. I don't take vitamins. But calcium has been guilt tripping me lately.

4. I own approximately 2,284 compact discs.

3. I have a shot glass collection. (See #7)

2. I own more boots than I do heels.

1. When I was 13, I thought I was going to be in the WNBA. I was gonna give Lisa Leslie a run for her money.

I hope to be able to live up to the challenges I have set for this blog. I appreciate you reading it and coming along for the ride. Talk to you soon, friend.