Zucchini Time

Remember that one time I said I'd come back with the recipe for the zucchini muffins I made a few weeks ago? Well, either do I apparently. But I'm taking full advantage of my first day off in 11 days to share it with you.

 

I radmonly searched zucchini recipes (because I had a boat load of zucchinis to use up) and found this recipe that actually turned into delicious muffins! I also read that you can freeze them up to 3 months so that is exactly what I did. Now, if only I can remeber to eat them before December rolls around...

 

What you'll need for Fresh Zucchini Muffins:

 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp. baking powder
Cinnamon and sugar for topping

 

The recipie makes about 12 muffins but I doubled it since I had A LOT of zucchini to use.

 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

 

 

2. In another bowl, combine grated zucchini, eggs, vanilla, and oil.

 

 

Stir well to combine, then gently stir into flour mixture. Be careful not to overwork this—it will lead to dense muffins! Okay...first off, I have never seen a recipe talking about 'dense' muffins. And secondly, how do you know if you've stirred to much?! I totally guessed at this part...

3. Fill lined muffin tins about 3/4 of the way up with the batter and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on each. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden. And when you pull them out of the oven, this is what you get.... SO GOOD.

 

 

What have you been baking or cooking during this harvest season?

Fall Goodies

Since my break from exams ended on Wednesday I've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen as well as studying in between. Don't worry I haven't lost all motivation. Last weekend when my Mom and sister were down (more on the reason why hopefully next week!) and they brought me a HUGE bag of apples. Plus, when I was at my friend Lynnette's house the other day she sent me home with some zucchini from her garden. So I have been on an apple and zucchini baking binge since early Thursday morning.

 

So far I've canned some applesauce, made the most delicious apple crisp, made two loaves of zucchini bread - one for the neighbor and one for the freezer to have at a later time, apple butter and zucchini muffins!

 

The apple butter and zucchini muffins were a first for me and I just so happened to take pictures for you! Let's talk apple butter first.

 

APPLE BUTTER

 

What you'll need...

 

1 dozen apples, peeled, cored and cubed

1/2 cup of water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon all spice

 

Okay...this is so easy it just takes a while.

 

First, get your apples ready. I only used about 9 apples and still got two pint mason jars out of the whole thing. I also used the canning process so I don't have to eat it all today. Which could happen very easily.

 

 

Then mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and allspice and throw it in with apples. After you stir it up, throw it into the crockpot with the water and cover.

 

I cooked mine on low for about 10 hours - this is what I mean that it just takes a long time. Some people want their apple butter smooth, some people like me thinks this is good enough. So cook the apples down until your little heart's desire and call it a day.

 

I ended up canning my apple butter meaning I just sterilized the jars/lids first and then once the jars were filled with the butter (with the lids on:), I threw them back in the boiling water for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure how long apple butter lasts like this but I would think maybe a year??

 

I'll share the zucchini muffin recipe with you next time. I have to run out the door to babysit for a couple hours this afternoon. Have a great Friday!!

Meal time!

One more post with some recipes I conquered on Sunday to start getting you hungry for lunch. For dinner, I made a whole chicken in the crock pot, wild rice (unfortunately not from scratch but from a box) and zucchini chips!

Here's what you'll need...

The Best Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper (I didn't put this much in - too much for me!)

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 onion

1 large chicken

1. Combine the dried spices in a small bowl.

2. Loosely chop the onion and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker.

3. Remove any giblets from the chicken and then rub the spice mixture all over. You can even put some of the spices inside the cavity and under the skin covering the breasts.

4. Put prepared chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, cover it, and turn it on to high. There is no need to add any liquid.

5. Cook for 4 – 5 hours (for a 3 or 4 pound chicken) or until the chicken is falling off the bone.

Zucchini Chips

2 medium sized zucchinis

3 eggs

1 ½ cups whole-wheat breadcrumbs (I only had regular breadcrumbs)

½ cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

Olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Thinly slice zucchini into 1/8” round pieces.

2. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl. Hello farm fresh eggs from the farmers' market:)

3. Using a small food processor process the breadcrumbs, grated cheese, and a couple dashes of salt & pepper together until fine. Put the breadcrumb mixture in a shallow bowl.

4. Pour a thin layer of olive oil in the bottom of a medium to large sauté pan and turn the heat to medium. Let it heat up while you start preparing the zucchini.

5. Make an assembly line in the following order: raw zucchini slices, beaten egg, breadcrumb mixture, and empty plate.

6. Coat a few of the zucchini slices with the egg and shake off the excess. Drop those pieces on top of the breadcrumb mixture and coat them with breadcrumbs. Shake off the excess breadcrumbs and transfer the coated zucchini slices to the clean plate.

7. As soon as you have enough zucchini slices breaded to make a single layer across the bottom of the pan, slide them in the oil to start cooking.

8. Meanwhile, start coating the next batch of zucchini, but check the stove after 2 or 3 minutes to see if the bottom of the zucchini is turning golden brown. Once they are brown flip them over and add more olive oil if necessary to keep the bottom of the breaded zucchini “wet.” Once both sides are golden brown transfer them to a paper towel lined plate and keep warm.

9. Repeat process until all the zucchini are cooked. Arrange them on a serving platter, garnish with Parmesan cheese, and enjoy!

Both the chicken and zucchini chips were delicious! Enjoy!! 

Here's a picture of Stella enjoy zucchini. If only our future children will eat this good...

Holy Zucchini

The motion in the ocean, er, kitchen didn't stop at the Pickled Hot Banana Peppers I told you about in yesterday's post. During our trip to the farmers' market I also picked up myself some zucchini! I have a couple recipes I used the zucchini to share with you so I'll start off with the recipe for Zucchini Bread! You'll have to wait another day for my other recipe:)

What you'll need for TWO loaves of bread. I cut everything in half and just made one loaf. Mistake number one because the loaf is almost gone. I made it two days ago.

3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 beaten eggs
2 c. sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
1 c. oil
3 c. grated zucchini (Peel and seed if you wish.) I only peeled the zucchini, seeds were left in. 

You can add a cup of nuts or raisins if you wish. (I added raisins.)

 Bake in 2 greased bread pans, 325-350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until done. (350 degrees for about 50 minutes worked for me!)

Here's my zucchinis - which I have never before bought in my life!

I mixed all the dry ingredients in one bowl and the liquids in another. Does it really matter how you mix it? Probably not. But that's just what I did. Next, mix all ingredients together (dry and liquid) adding the zucchini last. Before I added the zucchini the texture was a little weird to me (just felt like a bunch of sugar) but the zucchini was really moist so it added some "wetness" to the batter. Sorry for those of you who don't like the words "moist" and "wetness" haha.

Fifty minutes later the oven blessed us with this beauty. My Mom said the picture made it look like the bread was flat but it really wasn't. And the best part...it's de-lish-ous!

 

Happy Baking!

A treat for Joe...

On Sunday, Joe and I went to the St. Paul Farmers' Market which you can read about over on MN Blog. I've always wanted to go but in the summer, we are rarely home if you can't tell. We just happened to be in town this weekend which was a nice break from all the traveling we've been doing lately so this little piggy went to the market. (Sorry, I babysat for some friends on Friday night and as you can tell, we did a few nursery rhymes!)

Anyway, we picked up a few things while we were there and one of our items were banana peppers. For Joe of course, not me. I can't handle the slightest ounce of anything remotely hot or spicy. He tried one once we got home and said it didn't really taste sweet or hot so I went straight to Google for help in finding a canning recipe for HOT banana peppers.

I give you... Hot pickled Banana Peppers. Not sure what they'll taste like when they're ready but I hope they'll be hot enough for Joe!

What you'll need:

About 25 banana peppers

2 cups water

3 cups distilled white vinegar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup salt

2 tablespoons whole peppercorns

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1 tablespoon dill seeds

2 teaspoons ground allspice

I also added a little bit of cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit.

The recipe makes about four pint-sized jars, so out came the big stock pot of boiling water to sterilize the jars and lids. First, I got the peppers ready by cutting off the tops, slicing the peppers into rings and removing the core. Then you soak the peppers in a bowl of ice water with a tablespoon of salt for at least an hour. Don't ask me why you do this step...it's just what the recipe said to do:)

About a half hour into icing the peppars, I started sterilizing the jars and lids in boiling water for about 10 minutes.

Next, bring the remaining ingredients (water, vinegar, salt, sugar, and spices) to a boil as well.

Once everything was boiling and good to go, I filled the jars with the peppers and then poured the vinegar mixture over them. I used a small handheld strainer when pouring the liquid into the jars, so I could evenly divide the spices among the four jars. Caution: It will be hot!! Glasses will fog!!

Put the lids on the jars, screw the tops on and return them to the boiling water to process. At this point I didn't read the directions far enough because I had already dumped my hot water into the sink! Bahh!! So I had to fill the pot up again and start boiling some more water. You'll want to boil the jars vigorously for 40 minutes, then remove from the liquid and set on a dish towel to cool. Then you wait for the lids to pop!

The recipe said to wait about a month before diving into them! Joe looked pretty excited when he came home from the library and saw what I did. I hope they taste great! Otherwise, we have four jars of pickled hot banana peppers up for grabs!

Making the good stuff

Tuesday night after dinner, Stella and I made the drive up north to my parents house. Mid-week trips aren't usually our thing but we had something important to attend to on Wednesday. Wednesday was Jelly Making Day with my grandma, Mic. She's been making her own jelly for as long as I can remember and I've been, well, eating that jelly my whole life. Store bought jelly has never seen the inside of my fridge!

Getting out to my grandparent's house Wednesday morning started off on a flat note. And by flat I mean my front, right tire was FLAT! I couldn't believe it. Remember last week when my back tire went out on me? Thankfully, this time around I had a much better ending. For one, my Mom was just leaving for work so I ended up dropping her off and taking her car so Stella and I could get our jelly making on. Secondly, my Dad and I were able to fix it! We pulled out a 3 inch nail and he patched it right up! Whew...glad I didn't have to buy another two tires.

Okay...so moving onto making the jelly. My grandparents picked the raspberries on Tuesday night because it was suppose to rain on Wednesday morning. When I got to the house, Mic was already making the juice for the first batch. Love the color of these raspberries fresh from the garden!

The juice making machine! You put the raspberries in the top, boil water in the bottom and steam the juice right out of the berries!

Juice for our two batches! You need 4 cups for each batch. Each batch makes 4 pint size jars.

Next you take the 4 cups of juice and 7 1/2 cups of sugar and mix it together.

Then you need to boil the juice/sugar mix...

And don't forget to sterilize your jars and lids...

Once the juice/sugar mix starts to boil you add two pouches of certo and then once that starts boiling, cook it for one minute.

After, pour the jelly into the jars, close them up tight and wait for them to pop!

Here's my grandpa in his raspberry patch!

Stella and Molly got to spend sometime playing together (Molly is their black lab) and I got to spend the morning with my grandparents. I love it out there...so simple and peaceful. Thanks for letting me come make jelly with you Mic! Love you both!

Berried Treasure

On Friday I told you all I'd be posting about my sister's wedding but I'm still going through 600+ pictures and trying to narrow them down so you can get the jist of the day. I can tell you that it was a beautiful day filled with lots of love. The newlyweds are actually staying with Joe and I tonight...hope they can survive the 90+ degree heat!

I did want to share a new dessert I made with you and it's perfect for the Fourth! I think I might make it again for the cabin this weekend!

For the Crust you'll need:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter - melted

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Press firmly in a 9x13 baking pan and bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Then cool - you can stick it in the fridge to speed up the process.

For the filling you'll need:

One 8 oz cream cheese - softened

1/4 cup of sugar

2 T plus 2.5 cups of cold milk

16 oz cool whip - thawed

1 pint of strawberries - halved

1 pint of blueberries (you can use any kind of berry you want actually)

6.8 oz vanilla instant pudding (I used two packages of the 3.4 oz boxes)

First, beat cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar and 2 T of milk until smooth; fold in half of the cool whip tub. Spread this over the baked and cooled crust. 

Then arrange the strawberries and other berries you want. See...it's very Fourth of July-ish.

Mix the pudding packages and 2.5 cups of milk; beat 1-2 minutes, or until it's a pudding consistency. Pour the pudding mixture over the strawberries/berries and chill for several hours or overnight.  

Spread the remaining cool whip on top before serving. I didn't get a final picture before dishing it up but it was very light and delicious! Enjoy!!

Running around with my head cut off...

I did not think my summer days would fill up so quickly. Here I thought I'd be really good at posting something to share with you every day and life would be oh so jolly. What the heck! I feel like it's the opposite and I'm not even working full time! I just finished working two overnights this week (both Sunday night and last night) so having to sleep until noonish to get just a few hours of sleep makes my day that much shorter. Thankfully I'm done until next Monday and Tuesday! I need to catch up on some sleep!!!

Tonight I have friends coming over for dinner so I'll have to start preparing for that here in a bit. I'm just glad the power came back on and the food didn't spoil in the fridge with the power going out at 4:30. Joe said a pretty big storm passed through last night that knocked it out. It still wasn't on when I went to bed around 8 but was back on by the time I woke up at 11:30. Whew.

Last week for my summer class, we had to spend some time (10 hours actually) at a nursing home visiting one on one with a client. I wanted to get my hours all done last week so I could start working on my paper so I was there every day playing bingo, reading the newspaper, giving manicures and of course visiting with my assigned lady.

In short, between class, volunteering at the NICU as well as the nursing home, working overnights, running to get the groceries and whatever else is on my schedule, June is wrapping up as one of my busiest months this summer.

In other delicious news, I found a new smoothie recipe that I'm really loving/ 

Banana-Berry Smoothie

1 1/4 cups orange juice

1 1/4 cups frozen mixed berries

1 sliced ripe banana

1/2 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt

1/3 cup nonfat dry milk (which I didn't really it called for dry milk until I made it a second time. I just used my 1% milk both times.)

and 1 tablespoon sugar

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Enjoy!!

I have a really BIG project to share with you and although it's not done I plan on sharing my progress along the way. Let's just say I'm already loving everything about it! More on that tomorrow...hopefully:)

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Apparently I've been a baking machine lately and I tackled yet another muffin recipe last week. I actually just like making muffins because then I can have a second breakfast once I get to school and not feel guilty for eating again. Ok...enough background info as to why I like muffins. Here's what you'll need:

1 3/4 cups quick-oats

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups fat-free buttermilk

1/2 canola oil

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

2 large eggs

2 cups frozen blueberries

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Place oats in a food processor; pulse 5 or 6 times until oats resemble coarse meal. Place in a bowl.

3. Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flours and next 5 ingredients to oats in bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.

4. Combine buttermilk, oil, rind and eggs in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Thought I had enough buttermilk but I only had about a cup left...oops.

5. Toss blueberries with 2 tablespoons flour; gently fold into batter. Then I thought I had enough frozen blueberries from my mom's garden and I had diddly squat.

So I threw in some raisins that I had in the cupboard...

6. Spoon batter into 16 muffin cups lined with paper liners; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pans immediately. Place on a wire rack.

The muffins were good but I think they could have been better if I had enough of the right ingredients. They were a little dry but I didn't have the right amount of buttermilk and blueberries which I think would have made all the difference. Better ingredients luck next time!

Valentine's Day

Joe and I didn't do anything fancy for Valentine's Day this year. It was actually the only day out of the week that we actually got to sit in the same room with each other for more than five minutes. We both ended up working on homework and ordering carry on luggage as our gift to each other. I told him one year I was going to make him buy me a "real" Valentine's Day gift....I'm leaning toward diamond earrings. One year we bought a tent (my idea), this year we bought carry on luggage (my idea)...what can I say, I'm a practical girl. 

Anyway, I did make him a nice dinner so I'll share the recipe with you. It was actually pretty good and I think it will go into our line up for meals!

"Panko Crusted Chicken Stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach, Tomatoes and Basil"

(pretty much the longest title in the world...)

1 cup of low fat ricotta cheese

Small handful of baby spinach, chopped

Small handful of grape tomatoes, diced (remove the seeds if possible)

2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste (I didn't have sea salt but just used regular salt)

Dash of oregano

2 chicken breasts

Italian seasoned panko crumbs

2 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the ricotta, spinach, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Rinse the chicken breasts then cut a long horizontal slit along the center of the thin long edge of the chicken breast, nearly through to the other side. Fill the cavity of the chicken breast with the ricotta mixture.

 Season each side of the chicken with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Carefully dip the chicken breasts in the panko crumbs until both sides are evenly covered. Close the slit together with toothpicks.

Heat the olive oil in an OVEN PROOF skillet on the stove over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, place the chicken in the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown, flip the chicken over and place the skillet into the oven. I didn't put the pan I used to brown the chicken in the oven because I didn't know if it was oven proof. I ended up just putting it in a glass casserole dish and it worked just fine.

 

Cook for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy.

 

Baking Away....

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this past weekend with our guests in town trying out a couple new recipes and an old favorite. We did eat out quite a bit but I was able to sneak in a couple things for breakfast.

On Friday night I made Raspberry-Almond Muffins for Saturday morning. I personally have had better muffins like these ones but everyone else seemed to enjoy them. If you want to decide for yourself here's what you'll need...

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons almond paste

1/4 butter, softened

2 large eggs

1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Cooking Spray

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar or granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Place first 3 ingredients in a food processor; process until well blended. Add butter; pulse 4 or 5 times or just until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, pulsing after each addition. Add buttermilk, vanilla and juice; pulse until blended.

3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Add buttermilk mixture; stir just until moist. Gently fold in raspberries. Let batter stand 5 minutes. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray or lined with paper liners. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake at 375 for 22 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on wire rack.

I personally thought the bites with the raspberries were the best:)

I also made a Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake. You can find the recipe here with better pictures than what I usually take (they must have a very well lit kitchen). It was awesome...thank goodness for Pinterest otherwise I don't think I'd be spending so much time in the kitchen. I secretly love it!