Thanks to Cynthia I became the proud owner of a battleship-size zucchini! You hear of zucchini gardeners thinking up covert ways to divest themselves of their over-abundant zucchini crop -- wrapping each up as a gift and leaving them in the back seat of their unlocked car, leaving them in the middle of the night on a neighbor's porch, air-dropping them on parachutes from low-flying aircraft -- but for some reason, I am never the recipient of any of these benevolent gifts. If I want a zucchini, I have to go to the store and buy one! So I was overwhelmed with thankfulness when I was presented with a wonderfully huge zucchini! My eyes danced seeing visions of zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, zucchini stir fry, and just plain old steamed zucchini with butter and pepper!
I have had a zucchini bread recipe I have been wanting to try since 2007 -- so Cynthia hadn't been out the door 4 minutes before I was in the kitchen grating away on that zucchini. The recipe was titled "Lemon Zucchini Bread" and it used lemon pudding, fresh lemon juice, and grated lemon rind, and poppy seeds. You can see why I was intrigued. But I was disappointed. The bread looked beautiful, the texture was wonderful, but the flavor was very much tartly lemony -- too tart for my taste, and I love everything lemony -- but sweetly lemony. My husband enjoyed it because he likes things tart. So I will return to my old stand-by zucchini bread recipe that I have been using from my kids' cooking classes in high school.
But I do want to share with you my all-time favorite recipe for using zucchini, and for that matter, my favorite muffin recipe: "Anything Goes Muffins." This recipe calls for anything that has substance and is moist. I have used zucchini, bananas, applesauce, fresh grated apples, pumpkin, cooked oatmeal, cooked malt-o-meal, cooked cream of wheat, mashed potatoes, cooked carrots (I wonder how raw carrots would be, or pineapple? hmmm) and the muffins always turn out beautifully and tasty and great. Oh - I have never used raisins or wheat germ -- I'll leave that for you to try :/
ANYTHING GOES MUFFINS
2 c. flour (can use part whole wheat)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ c. brown sugar
1 c shredded (zucchini, carrots, cereal, applesauce, bananas, pumpkin, cooked cereals, grated apples, etc. etc.)
1 egg, beaten slightly
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. oil
½ c. raisins (optional)
½ c. wheat germ (optional)
Mix together. Spoon into greased muffin tin. Bake at 375 degrees about 18 min.
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Snowy Days and Comfort Foods
Today I’m thinking about the folks in the eastern part of the U.S. who are covered in snow – hoping they have the comfort of a warm home with family gathered safely around.
All I can offer in the way of comfort to them are two recipes that I like to make on cold wintery days. The chili is so easy and quick to make -- you can be eating it within 30 minutes of starting. And this cornbread recipe is my favorite -- the texture is smooth and cake-like. I keep the ingredients for these two recipes in my cupboard at all times because Dale likes chili almost as much as he likes meatloaf!
EASY CHILI
½ lb. ground beef browned with chopped onions
Add:
1 can pork and beans
2 or 3 cans beans (red beans, kidney beans, pinto beans)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. (Or to taste) chili powder
salt
pepper
Simmer until flavors blend. (At least 15 min.)
(If I choose to add the third can of beans, I also like to use a little bit more ground beef.)_
JIFFY CORNBREAD
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix (8.5 oz)
1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix (9 oz)
1/3 cup milk
½ cup water
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
Mix all ingredients. Pour batter into a greased and floured 8X8 pan.
Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 - 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
All I can offer in the way of comfort to them are two recipes that I like to make on cold wintery days. The chili is so easy and quick to make -- you can be eating it within 30 minutes of starting. And this cornbread recipe is my favorite -- the texture is smooth and cake-like. I keep the ingredients for these two recipes in my cupboard at all times because Dale likes chili almost as much as he likes meatloaf!
EASY CHILI
½ lb. ground beef browned with chopped onions
Add:
1 can pork and beans
2 or 3 cans beans (red beans, kidney beans, pinto beans)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. (Or to taste) chili powder
salt
pepper
Simmer until flavors blend. (At least 15 min.)
(If I choose to add the third can of beans, I also like to use a little bit more ground beef.)_
JIFFY CORNBREAD
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix (8.5 oz)
1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix (9 oz)
1/3 cup milk
½ cup water
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
Mix all ingredients. Pour batter into a greased and floured 8X8 pan.
Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 - 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Ladling up Stew
On Sundays I like to go to church knowing that the after-meeting meal is planned, prepared, and in the process of cooking (There is hope shining brightly before us . . . ). For some reason sitting in meetings for three hours is hard work and we come home famished! Here is what was served up at our house yesterday within 30 minutes of our getting home:
SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW
3 potatoes - peeled and cubed
4 carrots - cut into bite-sized slices
1/2 onion (or how much onion you like) - chopped
2 celery ribs
3 tbsp flour
3/4 lb beef stew meat, but into 1-inch cubes (I used top round roast - it was cheaper)
3 tbsp veg oil
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 c beef broth (I used instant boullion)
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp browning sauce (I didn't have browning sauce -- I couldn't find any -- so I left it out. Sources say you can find it at the grocery store near the gravies going by the title Kitchen bouquest, or Gravy Master)
Layer the potatoes, carrots, onion and celery in a slow cooker. Dredge the stew meat in the flour. In a skillet, brown the beat in the oil. Place the meat over the veggies.
In a bowl, combine tomatoes, broth, mustard, salt, pepper, thyme, and browning sauce (I will admit I added about 1/2 tbsp brown sugar.) Pour over beef. Cover and cook on high for 1.5 hours. Reduce heat to low and cook for 7-8 hours or until meat and veggies are tender.
This stew could cook all night long, or all day long.
I have had a Paula Deen recipe for EASY ROLLS for quite some time and have wanted to try them, so yesterday was the day! And they were great -- the texture is a cross between biscuits and muffins, with more of a taste of biscuits. But they were good and just right for the stew. And they wereindeed, EASY!
EASY ROLLS
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp mayonnaise
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Lightly grease or spray a 12-cup muffin tin (and the recipe did make exactly 12 rolls) (of course Paula Deen's recipe asked you to grease the muffin tin with butter - I used spray)
In a large bowl, combine flour and milk. Add the sugar and mayonnaise. Stir until just combined. Spoon batter into muffin tin.
Bake 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown. (15 minutes worked for me)
These rolls were great with Jerilynn's homemade raspberry jam! (Haven't had the privilege of tasting her famous blackberry jam -- yet!)
SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW
3 potatoes - peeled and cubed
4 carrots - cut into bite-sized slices
1/2 onion (or how much onion you like) - chopped
2 celery ribs
3 tbsp flour
3/4 lb beef stew meat, but into 1-inch cubes (I used top round roast - it was cheaper)
3 tbsp veg oil
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 c beef broth (I used instant boullion)
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp browning sauce (I didn't have browning sauce -- I couldn't find any -- so I left it out. Sources say you can find it at the grocery store near the gravies going by the title Kitchen bouquest, or Gravy Master)
Layer the potatoes, carrots, onion and celery in a slow cooker. Dredge the stew meat in the flour. In a skillet, brown the beat in the oil. Place the meat over the veggies.
In a bowl, combine tomatoes, broth, mustard, salt, pepper, thyme, and browning sauce (I will admit I added about 1/2 tbsp brown sugar.) Pour over beef. Cover and cook on high for 1.5 hours. Reduce heat to low and cook for 7-8 hours or until meat and veggies are tender.
This stew could cook all night long, or all day long.
I have had a Paula Deen recipe for EASY ROLLS for quite some time and have wanted to try them, so yesterday was the day! And they were great -- the texture is a cross between biscuits and muffins, with more of a taste of biscuits. But they were good and just right for the stew. And they wereindeed, EASY!
EASY ROLLS
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp mayonnaise
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Lightly grease or spray a 12-cup muffin tin (and the recipe did make exactly 12 rolls) (of course Paula Deen's recipe asked you to grease the muffin tin with butter - I used spray)
In a large bowl, combine flour and milk. Add the sugar and mayonnaise. Stir until just combined. Spoon batter into muffin tin.
Bake 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown. (15 minutes worked for me)
These rolls were great with Jerilynn's homemade raspberry jam! (Haven't had the privilege of tasting her famous blackberry jam -- yet!)
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