Zucchini Bread

As I'm beginning to type this post, I wonder if I've ever put a recipe for zucchini (my husband likes to annoy me and pronounce it "zoo-chin-eye" or "zuck-chinny", depending on his mood) bread.

Ah, well. If so, sorry--here it is again!

I made this bread out of necessity. I found a zucchini in my garden that was bigger than a large eggplant. This guy was a total behemoth, and I knew that the only way I'd be able to successfully use it was in a bread or muffin.

Turns out, this bad mamajamma made 6 cups of grated zucchini--or enough for 4 loaves of bread when following the recipe below.

I decided to use half and freeze half, as I'm sure I'll want some zucchini bread again during the winter.

The recipe I used was from one of my absolute favorite blogs/recipe collections: Simply Recipes, by Elise.

I didn't change a thing, but I'll copy the recipe below for your viewing pleasure. I love Elise's cooking--she's methodical and analytical. Basically, she's the blog version of Cook's Illustrated.

Simply Recipes' Zucchini Bread

Makes 2, 9x5" loaves

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups grated, fresh zucchini--I pressed a little (but not all) of the water out
2/3 c melted, unsalted butter*
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt*
3 cups flour (I used bread flour, because it's all that I had)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

*I only had salted butter, so I omitted the pinch of salt---everything came out just fine.

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F, butter/grease 2, 9x5" loaf pans
2. Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla until combined.
3. Mix in the grated zucchini and butter.
4. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the batter, then combine.
5. Add 1 cup of flour at a time, and completely mix in before adding the next cup. The batter will be considerably thicker now.
6. Mix in the cinnamon and nutmeg.
7. Divide the batter equally between the two loaf pans. Set the pans on a cookie sheet (this makes getting them in and out of the oven easier, and if you have any spills, they won't burn in your oven).
8. Bake 50 minutes. Check with a toothpick in the center to make sure the bread is cooked all the way through. If it's still gooey, put back in the over for another 5 minutes.
9. Cool in pan for 20 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Breakfast Puffs

Note: This recipe is the exact recipe from BHG's Cookbook, called "Nan's Puffs".

These puffs are so simple.

So delicious.

So...adaptable! I made the bare-bones version at home this morning, but I can imagine so many delicious possibilities: Cheese and chive puffs, cinnamon and nutmeg puffs, custard filled puffs...and the list goes on.

These are a perfect "Sunday" breakfast in my mind: quick to make, only a few staple ingredients, and only 1 pot and 1 muffin tin to clean up! Perfect!

Breakfast Puffs

Makes 12 puffs

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter

1 c milk

3/4 c flour

4 eggs

sugar for sprinkling

honey for topping

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 375F, and grease a 12 cup muffin tin, inside and around the edges.

2. In a 2 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the milk and carefully (let's not repeat the dreaded TAPIOCA INCIDENT) bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, immediately and quickly stir in all of the flour. The mixture will stick to itself and make a large ball, coming away from the sides of the saucepan. Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.

4. After cooling, add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition for one minute.

5. Scoop into equal portions in the muffin tin, filling the cups about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle sugar on top of each puff. Bake for 30 minutes at 375F, until puffed up and golden. Be careful not to startle the muffins too much (treat them as gently as you would a souffle, because they will deflate easily.

6. Serve immediately, drizzled with honey for extra sweetness.

Happy Muffin Says ENJOY! :)

Sugar Donut Muffins

Before I left for Missouri, I printed off several recipes I wanted to try out while I was on vacation. Sugar Donut Muffins just seemed like a natural choice. Sugar, donut, muffins, what's not to like?

I came across the recipe at Baking Bites, and didn't change a thing. I'll re-copy it below, but I can't take a lick of credit for this recipe. These muffins were so good I made them twice in Missouri, and would have made them three times if the zucchini bread I made didn't last as long as it did!

Sugar Donut Muffins

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking power

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar, for rolling

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil.

2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour into egg mixture and stir to combine.

4. Pour in vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.

5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. While muffins are baking, melt butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl.

When they are done, lightly brush the top of each with some melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in sugar.

7. Enjoy with coffee, with vanilla ice cream, or just plain by themselves!

Breakfast for Dinner?? Let's Have Omelets!

I don't really remember having breakfast for dinner as a kid very much. My grandma cooked a lot when I was really little, and I'm pretty sure we were more likely to have fried Spam (yes, I ate that), or turnip greens and pork chops than bacon and eggs. This all changed once I married Tony--he introduced me to breakfast for dinner!

We decided to make omelets and sausage for dinner one night this week. Tony is the master of cooking omelets to perfection. I, however, am a bit eager and have a tendency to try to fold them over before they are ready. This usually means I make scrambled eggs whenever I'm trying to make an omelet. Ugh.

We have different taste in food, so omelets are fun because we can customize our dinner.

My omelet had asparagus (yes, and it was GOOOD), tomatoes, basil, crushed red pepper and colby-jack cheese.

Tony's had sausage, tomatoes, basil, crushed red pepper, chipotle tabasco sauce, and colby-jack cheese.

We both really enjoyed our respective omelets--give it a try with your own favorite toppings! The recipe below details the omelet I made for myself, but you should tweak the recipe to your taste!

Easy Omelets

(serves 1)


Ingredients:

3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup roma tomato, diced
3 asparagus stalks, steamed and cut into bite sized pieces
6-7 fresh basil leaves, chiffoned (or a shake of dried basil per omelet)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/8-1/4 cup shredded cheese

Procedure:

1. Salt and pepper the eggs, and lightly beat them to break the yolks with a fork

2. Heat greased, medium sized skillet on medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, pour the eggs in carefully. Don't stir!

3. Add all of the toppings while the eggs are beginning to cook onto one half of the eggs.

4. The omelet is ready to be folded over when the eggs have pulled away a bit from the side of the pan. Carefully take a thin, rubber spatula and work it around the half of the pan without any toppings, loosening the egg from the pan. Then, gently fold over onto the half with toppings.

5. Let this sit over medium heat for a minute or so, then flip over the omelet and cook the other side for a minute or so.

6. Serve with sour cream, salsa, or whatever else tickles your fancy!

Mashed Potato Pancakes

What does one do with leftover mashed potatoes?

TATER CAKES!

Leftover mashed potatoes are actually one of the few leftovers that I think taste relatively like the freshly cooked dish. If you don't have a handy leftover main dish, however, you may find yourself at a loss as to how to serve them. Well, this quick recipe may be your answer!

I served these with scrambled eggs and sausage as a "breakfast-for-dinner" type meal. I'll definitely make this recipe again!

Mashed Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

1 egg, beaten

salt and pepper to taste

about 1 tsp butter

Procedure:

1. Melt butter in skillet on medium-high heat.

2. Mix together egg, mashed potatoes and spices.

3. Drop heaping spoonfuls of the mixture on to the hot skillet, press down until you make a 1/2" thick cake.

4. Be patient! Don't flip these over until the bottom is golden brown--they'll just fall apart on you. Yes, I found this out the hard way.

5. Cook until golden brown on both sides, and steaming hot in the middle.

I served these with Louisiana hot sauce for an extra kick. Yee haw.

Lemon Blackberry Cake

Lemon Blackberry Cake

I love the toaster oven that my husband bought for me as a Christmas present. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of it already, primarily because the things I normally bake are just for the two of us, and really don't require the entire oven. It's an excellent size for us, and it heats up SO quickly! I love it. The best part about the little oven is that it bakes exactly like a large oven, and it also has a "convection oven" feature that circulates the air and apparently cooks things much faster.

Anyway, here's my first baked item (aside from break and bake cookies) that I made in the toaster oven. Everything is done the same as if it were being cooked in a regular oven!

Ingredients:

2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2.5 tsp grated lemon zest (about one medium sized lemon)
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 c melted butter
1/2 c milk
1 c frozen blackberries (or any other fresh or frozen berry of your choice)
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Procedure:

0. Preheat oven to 350F

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and zest in a mixing bowl, and set aside.

2. Combine melted butter, eggs and milk and stir to combine.

3. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined (don't overmix), the batter should not be smooth.

4. Add the berries and walnuts, mix until just blended.

5. Pour prepared batter into a 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan lightly coated with cooking spray.

6. Bake at 350F for about an hour and 15 minutes. Check the cake at an hour by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. It should look light-brown on the top as well.

Confession 1: I burnt mine a little bit. I was using the "convection oven" option on my toaster oven, and it cooks things much faster than the regular oven function.

Confession 2: I still ate it.

Enjoy!