Come Hell or High Water, I'm Makin' Zucchini Bread!

... is the declaration I made to my husband last night. Seems everyone and their brother has been growing zucchini this summer and deciding that my family is a suitable recipient for it en masse. Now don't get me wrong, I will never look a gift zucchini in the mouth, I just run out of things to do with it! I've been throwing it in salad, pasta sauce, grilling it and plain old steaming it non stop for weeks!

This latest batch is from my mom- 6 giant pieces! It was showing signs of needing to be used up quick and for the past 3 nights I'd tried to bake but been intercepted by children, work and lack of flour so after I'd greased my pans and taken out the mixing bowl last night only to discover the flour issue, I declared that today would be zucchini bread day come hell or high water! So bright and early this morning I ran to the store, remedied the ingredients situation and zipped back home to make two delicious loaves of bread.



Here's the recipe- taken from the good ol' Betty Crocker cookbook with a couple of very minor alterations:

3 cups shredded zucchini (I shred onto a plate so the water will run out and seperate, this bread is plenty moist without all the additional liquid)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup liquid egg product (this is my sub. for 4 large eggs)
3 cups whole wheat flour (a sub. for all-purpose flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (my sub. for ground cloves)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (any nut will do, or omit if desired)
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional but they add great moisture and flavor!)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans (9x5x3). Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans. Bake 50-60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves; remove from pans. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.*

*ha, one loaf barely makes it through the night at my house, my family are fiends for fresh baked bread of any kind, lol! I do slice up the second loaf though and put it into a zip top freezer bag and freeze it- this way you can pull out just a slice or two and warm it in the toaster or microwave in a couple of seconds. Perfect for when unexpected guests arrive!

When life hands you lemons..... make a cake!

Happy Birthday, Ed
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

The only creative thing I did all weekend was make my hubby's 35th birthday cake.

He always loves to dream up some different cake I've never made before and that is my gift to him. This year was a lemon poppy seed cake with lemon curd filling and a lemony, whipped cream frosting- mmmmm!

Raspberry jam thumbprint cookies

Morning everyone! Here's my second recipe for some pretty easy but snazzy looking cookies:

1 (1 pound 1.5 ounce) pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 cup white chocolate chips


Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, egg and flour until soft dough forms.

Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls; place 2-inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Take the backside of your 1/4 tsp measuring spoon, dip in sugar (before each impression) and make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Spoon about 1/4 teaspoon jam into each indentation.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Melt white chocolate chips over a double boiler until smooth then spoon melted chips into a small ziptop plastic bag; cut a tiny hole in corner of bag. Squeeze bag gently to drizzle melted chips over cookies.

***one batch yields approximately 5 dozen cookies***

Cranberry pinwheel cookies

Cranberry pinwheel cookies
Originally uploaded by mornindew2822

As promised, here is the first recipe of the four cookie types I am making this Christmas:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely ground cranberries
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons milk

In a large mixing bowl, combine first four ingredients; beat until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally. Combine the dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture; form into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

In a small bowl, combine cranberries, walnuts and orange peel; set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 10-inch square; combine brown sugar and milk; spread over the dough then sprinkle with the cranberry mixture, leaving about a 1/2-inch edge at both ends of the dough; roll up tightly, jelly-roll style. Wrap with waxed paper; chill several hours or overnight.

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Cut roll into 1/4-inch slices and place on a well-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until edges are light brown.

** *I made a double batch (two jelly-roll logs) and it yielded 5 dozen cookies***

Happy baking!

Gifts on a budget

With the economy the way it is, it seems everyone is trying to find ways to cut back this holiday season. Going handmade is always a great way to save a little money while still telling the people around you that you think they're great!

My husband has 16 employees- add that to my childrens' teachers and all our distant family relatives and it adds up to several dozen more gifts to pass out at Christmas time.

My approach this year is to bake cookies. My financial investment was minimal (most of the ingredients are found readily in your pantry cupboards)- and I grabbed up the rest of the stuff I needed on sale at the grocery store. To package them, I found these terrific little tote bags from The Lakeside Collection for around $1.15 each.



Today is my cookie baking day- Cookie-o-rama to coin a term Maggie uses. I thought as I baked, I'd take some photos and share the recipes here in our blog for anyone who might be looking for some affordable gifts that people will appreciate. Who doesn't love a fresh baked cookie?! :)

Cheers!

Tara