Fruit- and Veggie-Packed Muffins

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Who doesn’t need to eat more fruits and veggies? (You know who you are.)

I like to get mine in the form of tender, moist muffins.

OK, my idea of fruits and veggies comes wrapped in butter, eggs, vanilla and sugar. But that got your attention, right?

These “Zucchini, Carrot, and Cranberry Muffins” come courtesy of “The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter). The new cookbook is by third-generation baker, John Barricelli, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, NY, then worked at Le Bernardin in New York and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, before opening his SoNo Baking Company & Cafe in South  Norwalk, Conn.

If you’ve got zucchini taking over your backyard like zombies with no place else to go, this is the recipe for you. If you have cranberries stashed in your freezer from last Thanksgiving and have been wondering what the heck to do with them, this recipe is for you.

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New Starbucks Flavored Coffees & Food Gal Contest for Coffee Lovers

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Over the years, many flavored coffees have left me feeling much like I do about yesterday’s grounds — wondering why they were still around and hadn’t been thrown out or used as compost yet.

You’ve probably experienced the same — coffee flavored like Christmas or your favorite ice cream sundae topping, where you couldn’t taste the coffee at all, and instead were left with this way too strong, rather artificial taste in your mouth.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by the new Starbucks Natural Fusions. The three new coffees come in Vanilla, Caramel and Cinnamon flavors.

I hesitantly tried the samples I received, only to find myself smiling at what was in my cup. These flavored ground coffees are made with real-deal ingredients — ground vanilla bean and Indian sarsaparilla root in the Vanilla; cinnamon, orange peel and nutmeg in the Cinnamon; and licorice root, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg in the Caramel.

The flavors are subtle, which is nice because you can still taste the robust coffee, which is what we, true coffee lovers, want anyway, right? The Cinnamon has the strongest fragrance, hitting you the moment the hot water meets the grounds. It has a nice added warmth on the back of your throat from the spices. The Vanilla and Caramel are more elusive. They don’t taste like you’ve stirred in vanilla extract or caramel syrup into your coffee cup. It’s more as if you’d just nibbled on a vanilla cookie or sucked on a caramel candy, then taken a sip of coffee afterward.

The Natural Fusions sell for $8.99 per 11-ounce bag at Target stores. But they won’t be widely available at more retailers until September.

Contest: Five lucky Food Gal readers will get a chance to win one bag of each of the three new coffee flavors, along with a nifty French press. Contest is open only to those of you in the continental United States. Deadline to enter is the end of the day on July 31. Winners will be announced Aug. 2.

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Whole Foods Showcases Sustainable Swordfish & A “Next Iron Chef” Contestant

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Through August or until supplies last, Whole Foods Markets are selling fresh, harpoon-caught Novia Scotia swordfish that have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as sustainable.

Whole Foods is the only major grocery store selling the MSC-certified swordfish, which retails for $18.99 per pound.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Seafood Watch Guide” lists harpoon-caught swordfish as a “best choice.”

Instead of being caught in giant gillnets, which can be destructive to ocean  habitats and capture unwanted fish, these swordfish are captured in a very primitive, time-honored method. Fishermen use harpoons to target individual, mature fish one by one. The fishing boats, many family-owned, usually return to shore within 72 hours, ensuring that swordfish arrive at stores within 48 hours.

The Canadian government also has worked to limit the fishing season to three, five-day intervals, to help maintain the swordfish population.

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All-Day Eats at Presidio Social Club

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Ray Tang is back in the house.

After a two-year hiatus, Tang, the opening chef of the Presidio Social Club in San Francisco, is back at the helm of the picturesque restaurant located in the former Army post-turned national park. Indeed, the long, clapboard building, a short drive from the Laurel Inn, was once the barracks for enlisted men.

It’s always been a laid-back restaurant, where you can rock jeans and a T-shirt just fine. Tang has brought back a lot of familiar dishes from when he was first chef there, including crabcake sliders ($12) and island-style ahi poke ($11). He’s also re-instituted the Sunday pig roast, where he cooks a whole pig in a “Caja China” wooden box. A plate of roast pork with fixings is $20 those nights.

Tang also added a Monday night clambake through the summer, where $32 will get you a feast of lobster, clams and mussels, along with potatoes, corn on the cob and dessert. What’s more, Presidio Social Club is now an all-day restaurant, meaning you can walk in anytime from lunch-time to closing to get a meal without being turned away if you’re starving at, say, 3 p.m., when most other places would close the kitchen between shifts.

I was invited to dine as a guest at dinner recently to check out the new menu. We ordered a few dishes, and the kitchen brought out even more to make sure we tried enough items.

First to arrive was a sampler of  three of the day’s antipasti ($10), which included corn kernels spiked with a little chile, an assortment of tender-crisp summer beans, and lovely roasted carrots drizzled with pesto, which made me think I’ve got to replicate this at home with my backyard basil.

Next, those adorable crab cake sliders ($12). With a topping of aioli and tangy slaw on soft, airy tiny buns, they almost had an Asian flair to them.

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Extra! Extra! Read All About It

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If I were still working at my former newspaper, I could yell, “Stop the presses!” to deliver this exciting news (just like in the movies of way back when).

But in the digital era, I’ll just interrupt my usual program of daily blog postings to make this stupendous announcement: The official, brand-spanking new Food Gal weekly newsletter debuts tomorrow.

Yes, a whole new addition to the Food Gal family. And she’s a beaut!

In the weeks to come, look for discounts at great local businesses, as well as a new, fun post each week exclusive to the newsletter.

Whether you are a regular FoodGal reader or a new one, you won’t want to miss this new opportunity to enjoy even more delicious doings that you’ve already come to love in the blog.

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