Blueberry Zucchini Bread

 Blueberry Zucchini Bread

******

Needed another zucchini recipe and I saw a version of this recipe on allrecipes.com and I had to give it a try.  I changed quite a few things and I think the result is spectacular.  Had rave reviews from those I passed out to neighbors.

Whenever I make anything with zucchini I almost always shred my zucchini and then plan my recipe according to how much I have.  Zucchini can be shredded and frozen if you have too much or want to half the recipe.  I'm a bread giver so I love big outcomes.  I had 1 large zucchini and ended up with about 3 1/2 cups.  This made 6 mini loaves and 1 large bread loaf.

 INGREDIENTS:
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c. oil
3/4 c. applesauce
4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 1/2 c. shredded zucchini
4 1/2 c. flour
couple dashes of nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/8 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 pint blueberries (You can use fresh or frozen; I used about 1 1/2 c. frozen, make sure you add immediately , don't let them thaw and either way, fold GENTLY!)

TOPPING:
1 c. flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Lightly grease pans.  (I used 6 mini loaves and 1 regular loaf pan)
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, vanilla and sugars.  Beat in salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Fold in zucchini.
4. Beat in flour.
5. Gently fold in blueberries.
6. Transfer batter to prepared pans.

You can stop here and skip ahead to baking ... this bread is delicious alone.  I LOVE toppings.  I make a crumb topping that I bake on the top.  You can add this during the last 10 minutes if you like the topping more crunchy (I do this on my banana crumble muffins).  When you bake it the butter and sugars melt into the top.
7. Mix flour, sugars and cinnamon for topping.
8. Cut in butter with pastry blender or by hand.  Sprinkle on top of batter.

9. Bake at 350* for 50 min (for mini loaves) or 1 hour 10 min - 1 hour 15 min (for regular bread loaf) or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

10.  Cool 20 minutes in pan, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

This bread is full of healthy stuff and the kids (except Luke) absolutely LOVE it and ate a whole loaf within 15 minutes of it being ready.  The only reason Luke doesn't like blueberries is he says they look like beans and not a fruit! LOL

ENJOY! 

Zucchini Cake

Zucchini Cake

*****

  AKA zucchini brownies!  These zucchini brownies taste like chocolate cake to me.  They are not fudge-y, more cake-like.  But with 2 cups of zucchini that makes them healthy right? And then when loaded with Fudge-y chocolaty frosting goodness, well who can resist.  Great way to use up that zucchini when you are bored with zucchini bread.  One very extra large zucchini made 1 & 1/2 pans.  I shred my zucchini first and measure then figure out how many brownies I'm making.  When using a 9x9" pan, half all ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1 1/2 c. white sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 c. shredded zucchini

(you can add walnuts, about 1/2 c. chopped, we omit)

FROSTING:

6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 c. margarine

2 c. confectioners' sugar

1/4 c. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Grease and flour 9x13" baking pan.

2. In large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, and 2 tsp. vanilla until well blended.  Combine the flour, 1/2 c. cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into sugar mixture.  (This mix will look very dry and you are probably wondering how this makes a cake, but the zucchini is where all the liquid is stored. :)

3. Fold in zucchini (and walnuts if adding).  Spread evenly into prepared pan.

4. Bake for 30-35 min. in preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.

5. To make FROSTING: melt together the 6 Tbsp. cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool.  (When working with small amounts of butter be careful not to scald it if melting over stove.)

6. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla.  Stir in cocoa mixture.

7.  Spread frosting over brownies AFTER COOL!  If you spread while brownies are still hot the frosting will melt and look spectacular at first but as they dry and the frosting re-hardens, it gets wrinkly.  Be patient when adding frosting.

P.S.  This frosting recipe makes A TON!  It will more than cover your cake unless you want 2" layer of frosting.  I always make as directed and save.  This chocolate frosting tastes good on almost anything.  We love storing some to spread on graham crackers or to dip our fruit in.  YUM!!!

ENJOY!

Apple Pie with Crumble Topping

Apple Pie with Crumble Topping

 ****

This is one of my go-to apple pie recipes.  When I can apples, I can baking apples (recipe from BALL canning cookbook) so they are perfect for this recipe, which takes no time at all.  You can use homemade crust or store-bought, we've done both.  If you are using canned baking apples I would do less flour than with fresh peeled and sliced.  If you use apple pie filling just add the crumb topping, do not add extra flour or sugar.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (9") pie crust (homemade or store-bought)
5 c. apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced (or 1 jar canned baking apples - NOT APPLE PIE FILLING)
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

TOPPING:
1/3 c. white sugar
3/4 c. flour
6 Tbsp. cold butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325*.
2.  Mix apples with cinnamon, 1/4 c. brown sugar, 1/4 c. white sugar and 1/4 c. flour.  (Use less flour if using baking apples).
3.  Pour apple mixture in unbaked pie shell.
4.  Mix 1/3 c. sugar with flour; cut in butter (with pastry blender or 2 forks/knives) until crumbly.  Spoon mixture over apples.
5.  Bake in preheated oven for approx 1 hr or until apples are soft and top is lightly browned.

Serve with Cool Whip or Ice Cream! 

ENJOY!

Cheese Sauce for Veggies

 Cheese Sauce for Veggies

****

My kids are sticklers when it comes to veggies.  They are not the easiest to please.  I have found if I put this cheese sauce on them my kids eat ALMOST any veggie I put in front of them.  I found this recipe in the Taste of Home Cookbook.  Our favorite is to put it on cauliflower or the broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix.  You can use frozen.  We usually steam fresh and then put on the cheese sauce when serving.  This recipe does make a lot, but I've tried halving the recipe and it's harder to work with, although do-able.  When reheating from fridge I add a little milk since it loses some of the creaminess upon cooling.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. dried thyme (when serving to kids I usually do less)
1 1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I've used mexican blend before with still successful results)
paprika (I omit this for kids)
veggies to top

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook veggies until crisp-tender.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour and thyme until blended.  (I remove from heat and whisk in flour.)
3. Gradually add milk.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 min. or until thickened.  (I whisk frequently and watch carefully to avoid scalding.)

4. Reduce heat; add cheese, stirring until melted.
5.  Drain veggies dry and pour on cheese sauce.

ENJOY YOUR VEGGIES!!!

**If making gluten-free you can use cornstarch, but it's half the amount of flour to substitute.  In this recipe, that would be 1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch in place of flour.**

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake

****

Found this recipe on allrecipes.com when I picked up my bountiful basket and found 2 flats of strawberries.  My kids will eat an entire flat in about 10 min. when I bring them home and if we don't eat them the day we bring them home they always spoil.  This time I wanted to find a strawberry sweet treat.  This recipe is for SHORTCAKE, not sponge cake, pound cake or angelfood cake.  It is more like a cookie than a soft cake. When you handle shortcake, treat it like a pie crust.  Keep it cold, mix as little as possible, only what's necessary to blend.  At high-altitude I did not make any adjustments and it turned out perfect.

INGREDIENTS:

1 quart strawberries, sliced

1 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 dash ground nutmeg

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs, separated

2 cups sweetened whipped cream (I used cool whip)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl, gently stir strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar; chill.
2. Meanwhile, in another bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; cut in butter until crumbly.  (I put this bowl in the fridge for a little bit before working with it.)
3. Combine milk and egg yolks; mix well. Add to crumb mixture, stirring just until moistened.
4. Divide and pat into two greased 9-in. round cake pans.  (Touch as little as possible, using a greased cold spoon to pat down as your hands will melt the butter.)
5. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; spread over dough.
6. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.
7. Bake at 300 degrees. F for 40-45 minutes or until golden. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. (Layer will be thin.) Cool completely.
8. Place one cake layer on a large serving plate; spread with half of the whipped cream. Spoon half of the strawberries over cream. Repeat layers.

Kielbasa Pasta in Cream Sauce

Kielbasa Pasta in Cream Sauce
*****

So I haven't been blogging for a long time. And this summer I took a hiatus... although it's been pretty difficult without a working camera! So you'll have to excuse the pictures (courtesy of my iPhone) until I get a replacement. So I've been on a couponing kick lately. (Me with a new fascination?? REaLLy!??!) Anyway so I found a coupon for a new product (well new to me), Philadephia's Cooking Creme. And the deal was too good to pass up so I purchased one hesitantly not quite sure what I'd use it for.

One night I pulled this out and it has a yummy looking recipe on the back for Chicken Bruschetta Pasta. Sounded delicious (I LOVE Bruschetta!) But I had already thawed some Kielbasa sausage. So I decided I'd use that instead of chicken. And there were a few alternatives to the ingredients, but basically the same idea. Since I used kielbasa this didn't have that Bruschetta flavor, (the Kielbasa was overwhelming) but it was delicious just the same. This recipe is for the kielbasa lovers, if you want more of a bruschetta or cream flavored pasta I'd stick with the original recipe from Philadelphia. So here's what's I came up with:

INGREDIENTS:

1 package Kielbasa or smoked sausage, sliced

1/3 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 clove garlic

1 tub (10oz.) Philadephia Original Cooking Creme

2 roma tomatoes chopped

2+ c. hot pasta

dried basil (I used about 1/2 - 3/4 tsp.)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat sausage in a little olive oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat until heated through. Add chicken broth, garlic and basil. Cook approximately 3 min.

2. Add cooking creme and tomateos; cook and stir 3 min.

3. Stir in pasta and serve.

This is best served that day as the sauce thickens and becomes less creamy.

**This recipe can be gluten free as long as you use a gluten-free pasta and make sure you're chicken broth is gluten-free**

Banana Crunch Cake

Banana Crunch Cake

****

A cross between banana bread and a coffee cake. We love it!

**I use a bundt pan instead of a tube pan. If you are using a bundt pan, you need to do the order opposite. So you spread the coconut mixture FIRST and end with batter. This way when you invert out of pan, the coconut mixture is on top. You do the opposite for tube pan.**

***IF you're at HIGH ALT like me (BASIN FRIENDS) you need to make a few changes - add 3 Tbsp. flour to your cake mix. Then when you bake for the first 30 min at 375, then down to 350 for another 20min and check.)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. coconut

1 c. rolled oats

3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1/2 c. margarine or butter

1 1/2 c. (2 large or 3 medium) VERY RIPE bananas

1/2 c. sour cream

4 eggs

1 (1lb.) pkg. yellow cake mix

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350*. Grease 10" tube pan (I use bundt pan). In medium bowl, combine flour, coconut, rolled oats, brown sugar and pecans; mix well. With fork or pastry blender, cut in margarine until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

2. In large bowl, combine bananas, sour cream and eggs; beta at low speed until smooth. Add cake mix; beat 2 min. at high speed. Spread 1/3 of batter (or coconut for bundt users) in greased pan; sprinkle with 1/3 coconut mixture. Repeat layers 2 more times using remaining batter and coconut mixture, ending with coconut mixture (or batter for bundt users).

3. Bake at 350* for 50-60 min (SEE HIGH ALT ADJUSTMENTS ABOVE) or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool upright in pan 15 min. Remove cake from pan; place on serving plate, coconut side up. Cool 1 hr or until completely cooled.

(Found this recipe in Pillsbury cookbook)

ENJOY!