Got extra zucchini?

I have a great friend who is always willing to share her bounty of veggies with me. So this weekend I inherited 3 giant zucchini. Now I'm a fan of zucchini bread, but not 20 loaves worth. What to do? Bake chocolate zucchini brownies!!! Everyone loves brownies and this makes them healthy enough for me to justify eating two (even though I'd eat two if it didn't have zucchini in them). Mine turned out fluffy like cake, but in all honesty I like them just the same, in not better. I think the type of brownie you get depends on your zucchini. Some are drier than others. Now if you're thinking your kids are gonna bolt when you try to feed them something with veggies in it, rest easy. My daughter had one (without frosting...she couldn't wait), and I had no idea there was zucchini in it. She only figured it out when she overheard me telling my friend. Try them! You'll like them!

Zucchini Brownies

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 t. vanilla extract

2 c. flour

1/2 c. cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 1/2 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 c. shredded zucchini

1/2 c. walnuts (opt.)

Preheat oven to 350*.

Mix sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt.

Then add vegetable oil and vanilla. 

Fold in the zucchini and flour and nuts, if desired. 

Don't expect to pour this batter into the dishes. 

Just dump it in a 13 x9 pan and press it down. 

It will become moist as the zucchini cooks and sheds it moisture. 

Bake for 25 minutes.

Frosting:

6 T. cocoa powder

1/4 c. margarine or butter

2 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

Melt margarine/butter and mix cocoa powder in. 

Set aside to cool.

Mix rest of ingredients together.

Add in cocoa mixture.

Spread on cooled brownies.

A true suburban housewife confession

I have hit a new low. Although it wasn't on purpose, I still allowed it to happen. As I canned this afternoon, my husband opened the door to a lady offering to clean our living room carpet, if she could do her Kirby demonstration. Yes, the famously expensive Kirby vacuums. And as she comes in and I realize her deal right away, it crosses my mind that my carpet need a deep clean...badly. And as a now working woman...I have no time for that. So I continue to cook and can sundae sauce, as she cleans my windows, vacuums my kid's mattress, vacuums the ever present cat hair off my favorite chair, and then the cherry on the top...vacuums and steam cleans my living room AND hallway. Now friends, I know there is no possible way I could afford this vacuum. I'd love one granted..it does ceiling fans, leaf blower, kitchen floor cleaner, vacuum, steam cleaner, and does windows...oh and it has a scalp massager and paint gun. (YES I PAID ATTENTION). But I don't stop her sweetly and tell her that my budget lacks the $250 a month freedom in order to by this. Nope. I offer her a Dr. Pepper and allow her to go on till my house sparkles. Its a new low. And after she finishes, I let the husband who let her in, shoot her and her manager down without a chance at selling us one. I let a woman do my work, and you know what? I can understand why my husband's life is sweet! I'd like a woman to come clean for me too while I take care of the things I want to do too.

Dessert Time!!!

Chocolate Raspberry Sundae Sauce

4 1/2 cups crushed raspberries

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

4 T. lemon juice

3 cups of sugar

1- 1.75 oz no-to low-sugar pectin packet

Crush the raspberries and add in lemon juice. Put in a large saucepan.

Combine cocoa powder and pectin in a small dish.

Whisk the cocoa powder-pectin mixture in to the raspberries until dissolved.

Bring mixture to a boil over high heat.

Add all the sugar at one time and bring back to a boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute after it reaches a boil.

Remove from heat, and if there is foam (I didn't have any) remove.

Pour into half pint jars, leaving 1/4" head space, and process for 10 minutes in water bath.

Makes 6 half pint jars.

Put it over ice cream! Scoop into muffin mix, or swirl it into a sweet bread. Spread it on toast, or on top of a muffin. Many many uses...and its super delicious!!

Making it last

I made a trip last weekend to the farmers market in hope of finding lots of fruit. That mission was extremely successful, but not only that I found pickling cucumbers (I didn't know it was time to pickle yet so thank goodness I found out then), romaine lettuce that bigger than my forearm, and lots of fresh corn on the cob.
I loaded up and got home and wondered hmmm, what should I do with all of this?

I love fresh corn the cob, and I have many recipes with corn needed in it, but I don't always feeling like cooking it right away. So I found a quick recipe that in 4 easy steps allows me to freeze my corn for when I do want and need it.

1) Husk corn  and remove silk.
2) Cut corn off cob (don't cook prior)
3) Put 4-6 cups of corn in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir; cook for add. 2 minutes.
4) Package and put in the freezer. When ready to eat, simply thaw, add 1/2 cup of water and cook.

I filled 4 small ball freezer jars (the ones with purple lids). Its just enough to pull out for mexican salads, or a side for dinner, or for corn chowder. Best thing is it keeps its fresh flavor and its usually about 25 cents a cob at the market right now, so I basically spent $1.00 and got 4 containers of corn. Good deal right?!

The next thing I made with my variety of fruit was fruit kabobs. Kids LOVE them which is awesome. I just cube up watermelon, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, pineapple and any other fruits and stick them on wooden skewer sticks. You can cut the skewer points off if you're giving them to little kids. I also did the standard fruit salad, grilled pineapple strips, and made watermelon slush...which is just blending the SEEDLESS watermelon unless smooth. Put in a dish, cover, and put in the freezer. Then when its ready just scrape the "ice" with a spoon and put into dishes. Freeze fruit dessert/snack. Cools the kids down on hot days.

Summer Greetings!

I haven't posted since April...I can't even believe that!! Think of how many meals I've made, desserts I've attempted, picnics I've attended...and not one posting. I've read a massive pile of books, made countless cards and scrapbook pages, had a million and one up and down moments...and still no posts. Call me what I am...a slacker.

BUT the good news is that summer is here!!! Thank goodness!! Spring was too wet and long for me. Now we're back in the time of picking berries, fresh fruit and veggies. I'm already starting to ponder my canning activities for the end of my summer, and what other treats I could cook up.

I started my own garden in a corner of my yard, that now is full of little green tomatoes..cherry, roma, and champions. Little bell peppers and jalapenos are growing from tiny blooms, and lots of carrots, lettuce and cilantro are peaking up at me. I'm so excited to not only be able to grow my own food, but to can it and share it with others. After paying $1.49 for a pound of roma tomatoes last week, I'm more than ready to have my crops ready. Its cost me about $15 total to get my plants and start my garden. $15..that's less than I spend for a week of veggies. Plus there is no running to the store to grab a tomato or cilantro (we eat alot of cilantro in this house).

We have been living in this house for 4 years now. I think about how that first summer my mom would come down with plants, or we'd go pick them out and spend the afternoon planting them. I was so excited, and despite a few casualties to lack of knowledge of where to place them, or puppy Khloe's teeth. Its amazing to me to see my black thumb turn green. That I was able to plant a garden and actually reap the rewards!  Now the excitement has turned to my daughter. She has seen my plants grow and blossom and decided she needed a garden too. Not only did she decide to not put in a sandbox under her tree house/fort, but to plant a garden of goodies for the family and the cats (she had to plant them catnip). I guess the tradition continues and more generations of women in my family continue down the path of gardens of green and pink, and overflowing with the freshest of fruits and vegetables.

So now I want to share a recipe that comes to you thanks to my mother in law, and her work potlocks. Its truly the freshest tasting salad, low fat, and super yummy! It alot like a pico-de-gallo salad..with the tastes of jalapeno (which you could omit if you don't want spice, or replace with thai chilis if you want to pump up the spice), and cilantro, and lime. Its one of those salad that's perfect for hot days where you don't want to heat up the house or even ate anything warm. I don't have pictures to post since I wasn't thinking of my blog when I made this last week, but its gorgeous with all the colors of vegetables.

Lanchi Salad

1 bell pepper (I used green) seeded and finely diced

1 pkg. angel hair shredded cabbage

1 pkg. shredded carrots

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

1 medium red onion, finely diced

3 limes

1 t. pepper

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

optional: thai chilis or chopped tomato

Mix diced onion and bell pepper and juice of the 3 limes in a bowl and let sit in bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes. (while that sat I made my chicken and shredded it). Then add all the other ingredients ending with the chicken last. Mix and serve. 

You can eat this as it is and its wonderful. You can top tostada shells with it, or mix in rice noodles, or put it in tortillas. However you want, its very versatile.

Kids Night!!

With Spring Break here, in my house that means endless phone ringing and sleepovers.
I have to have recipes that please kids, because not all kids are raised politely. (I've had a kid spit food out in my sink...and no that's not a testament to my cooking, it was packaged food product.)
I'm trying to stay away from fast food. Its hard after the past month of eating out alot due to my pure laziness and lack of organization to pre-plan my meals. That's all changing.
This is a recipe my mom used to make for me and my brother, and that my family loves.
Calazones!
Mine are simple and quick. I know there are a million things to fill them with and that's what makes this so easy, and a people pleaser no matter the person.
I make mine with homemade pizza dough, but feel free to use pre-made stuff if that's more your style. I recently made these with grilled chicken and pesto in the middle and dipped them in a garlic cream sauce. Amazing! So as kid friendly as they are, you can make them as gourmet as you like.

Calazones

Pizza Dough:

1 pkg. yeast

1 c. warm water

1 t. salt

1 t. sugar

1 T.oil

2-4 cups flour

Put yeast and water in a large bowl. Let sit for a few minutes till it dissolves.

Then add in salt, sugar, and oil. Let sit for a minute. (I use this time to get out my cheese and pans etc.)

Then by hand stir in flour a cup at a time. You can the dough to be a little sticky.

Form ball and let it sit for 15 minutes or so.

I used this time to shred or slice my cheese and other fillers.

Then roll out dough with a rolling pin into a rectangle on a  floured surface, and use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 3 inch wide segments. Then cut some of the slices horizontally if they are too long. Then fill with cheese and toppings on one half of the piece of dough. Then fold over the top part, and crimp edges with a fork that has been dipped in flour. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.
 Then warm up some pizza sauce in a microwave safe bowl (make sure to cover it with a plate or paper towel because it does splatter) for one minute on high.
Spoon sauce on top of calazones or dip them in the sauce.

Easter is Coming!

These yummy little treats are a tradition at my house. I got the recipe from my mom who used to make them for me and my brother when we were little. I've seen a million variations of this recipe, and I'm sure to you this is just one more. But I love it! My family isn't crazy about coconut, and many of the recipes call for coconut instead of oatmeal, or even chow mein noodles. But the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is to die for! Its up to you how you want to decorate them. In half, I did flaked coconut died green and jelly beans, the others I just put "eggs" in the nests and they were really peanut butter M&M's. Tailor it to your likes, and enjoy another recipe tradition from my kitchen to yours!

 

Bird Nests

2 cups of sugar

6 Tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/2 cup of margarine or butter

1/2 cup of milk

3 cups of oatmeal

1/2 cup of peanut butter

Decorations:

jelly beans

M&M's

coconut, died green with food coloring

In a large saucepan, add the first 4 ingredients over medium heat.

Bring to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes.

Add in oatmeal and peanut butter. Stir till all ingredients combined. 

Spoon onto wax paper and make little indents in the middle of each nest.

Add coconut and jellybeans/M&M's or whatever candy resembling eggs that you desire.

Let cool on counter or move pans lined with wax paper with the nests on it into the fridge till firm.

Store in tupperware to keep fresh.

Banana Crumb Muffins

My mother calls me and says "Um whats going on with your blog, you haven't posted anything since February 17th". I tried to explain we are plagued with slower than dial-up internet in the evening (I'm thrilled you're aware of it Qwest, but its time to do something about it), that prevents me from posting. I have a stack of recipes to post, and things to share...but when I get home from work and find a late evening boost of energy (which is rare mind you), and quick jump on the computer between a fish wrangler obsessed husband and an eight year old with spelling homework that can only be done on the computer....only to find a internet connect slower than a 100 year old lady with a walker. IT SUCKS!!

BUT the good news is that Spring Break 2011 is here!!! Oh yeah..that means morning internet that works, and extra time to cook and post. Hopefully I'll find some time to post some of these recipes.

And now for the first Friday Tasty Treat...cause you know you missed it....Banana Crumb Muffins!!!! *cheers*

Everyone has a banana muffin or bread recipe, or in my case multiple recipes. I didn't want another one. BUT when I saw over 6,000 people had reviewed this one I figured it might be worth a shot. Well that and I saw the black bananas on the counter and with knowing the prices of food, didn't want to feel wasteful. So here it is. A truly delicious recipe. My kid ate 7 of them. I made mini one's mind you, but even for her that's a lot.

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 c. white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

Topping:

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 T. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

2 T. butter

Preheat oven to 350*. 

Lightly grease the muffin pans, or line with papers and give a light spray.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a another bowl, mix mashed bananas, sugar, egg, vanilla, and melted butter.

Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened.

Spoon batter into muffin pan.

In a small bowl, mix together the 2 T. flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg. 

Cut in the butter till mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes for regular muffins or 13 minutes for mini muffins.

Make sure to check with a toothpick, toothpick must come out clean.

An Amazing Chicken Pot Pie

Six months ago, I have never eaten Chicken Pot Pie. Can you believe that?

I just thought it must be gross, why even try it?

Then costco changed my mind lol!

As browse the yummy meats and prepared foods, they had a chicken pot pie sample.

It smelled amazing! I tasted it...after sending my mom back to fight for a sample.

It was so delicious. My wonderful mother bought one and we had it the next night for dinner. I don't think there were leftovers.

So after Thanksgiving I decided to make my own with leftover turkey. It was delicious, but not quite as good.

Tonight all of that changed. I made the most amazing chicken pot pie that I absolutely loved. 

I got the recipe off www.allrecipes.com, but I managed to make numerous changes that made it my own. You wouldn't think that pot pie would have so many variations but it does! Lots! This is mine and believe me...before its even popped in the oven, your mouth will be watering and your husband will make a couple appearances in the kitchen :)

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pound cubed chicken breasts, diced

1 c. sliced carrots

1 c. frozen peas

1/2 c-1 c. of potato, diced

1/2 c. sliced celery

1/2 c. butter

1/3 c. chopped onion

1/3 c. +2 T. flour

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1/2 t. celery seed

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. poultry seasoning

2 c. chicken stock

1 cup milk

 1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 425*

In a saucepan, combine carrots, peas, potatoes and celery. Add water to cover, and boil for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain, and pour into the bottom of pie or casserole dish.

Cook chicken over medium heat until cooked all the way through. 

Stir into veggie mixture in the casserole dish.

In a saucepan, over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, celery seed, poultry seasoning, and garlic powder.

Slowly stir in the chicken broth and milk. 

Simmer over medium low heat until thick. 

Remove from heat and pour over chicken/veggie mixture. 

Cover with crust, cut small slits in top of crust and bake for 30-35 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, allow it to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

*You can make this with two pie crusts, if you do, just put a crust in the bottom of your dish and bake for 6 minutes, then remove from the oven and you can add the chicken and veggies, and continue on the recipe. I have double the sauce in the recipe, but it in turn has made it a deep dish pie or a deeper casserole dish. But use what your able to, and adjust the amounts if needed, or make it as I instructed and feel free to reserve some of the veggie, chicken and sauce to make as chicken and dumpling (and serve with biscuits instead of crust). Just multiple options. :)

I made my own pie crust.

Butter Flaky Pie Crust

1 1/4 c. flour

1/4. t. salt

1/2 c. flour, chilled and diced

1/4 c. ice water

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt.

Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs.

Stir in the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for 4 hours to overnight.

*I did have to use a little more than 1/4 cup of water...just make sure to add water a little at a time.

Hints from a working mother

The past couple nights I've been cooking dinner and meal multitasking.
I'll be the first to admit that I get lazy, a lot.
I have many nights that I don't feel like making anything, or just dread defrosting whatever meat may be called for in my latest recipe.
So last night as Nick was cutting up chicken for chicken tacos, and I had him cut up a couple extra breasts. All the extra effort to do that was taking 2 extra breasts out as the same time as the chicken for the tacos, and then like 5 minutes maybe to dice it up, along with the other chicken.
The results: Prep time was cut for dinner tonight: Chicken Pot Pie. I didn't have to dread cutting or cooking the chicken (I could have cooked it with the taco chicken before I added the taco sauce to it and saved even more time). Plus knowing that I had raw chicken in the fridge that would go bad if it stayed there too long was motivation enough to cook it right away tonight.

I'm constantly amazed at how easy it is to get two meals out of one dish, or even to take one step out of the next nights meals and encourage myself to cook instead of run out to grab something. This is a lesson I've tried to show my brother time and time again, as he complained that cooking for one was really hard. Yes, you may not want to eat meatloaf for a week the same way, but there are way to turn that meatloaf into other meals like spaghetti and meatballs, meatloaf sandwiches, Italian subs etc.

So here are some examples of way to make homemade easier for you:

Example #1: Spaghetti and meatballs with a side salad...great for one night..not so great over and over, so I'd have spaghetti and meatballs the first night, the next night (or skip a day so you don't get burned out, they'll keep), Meatball Subs- heat up the meatball and sauce (or add a little extra sauce) and serve them on toasted sub rolls with melted mozzarella cheese. Then have the salad with lunch and add a little turkey, cheese, or extra veggies like avacado if you like that, or even leftover taco meat from another dinner and tortilla chips.  You just got a lunch, and two dinners out of one meal, and that's not even counting if you ate the dinners as lunches or dinner as a repeat.

Example #2: I love breakfast for dinner..love it!! As a mom its a night of no whining and clean plates. Plus leftover pancakes, waffles or french toast for the morning. So the other night we had breakfast for dinner. We had eggs, hash browns, fruit salad, and french toast. There were leftovers (on purpose), so I was able to have french toast in the morning for Izzy, fruit salad to go in her lunch, and mix in for Nick's yogurt, and some for a small smoothie in the morning for me. Then eggs were used in fried rice, I had leftover rice from the day before that I just put in a pan with salt and pepper, soy sauce, the leftover egg, and a little cubed ham, and green onions. Then hash browns were combined with the leftover ham (that was used in the fried rice) and an au gratin sauce and that made a hash brown and ham casserole.

Are you getting my drift? This way you are able to make all your food and dinners stretch into lunches, breakfast or snacks, and sometimes into another dinner. In times where food prices soar, and laziness prevails, its nice to think of ways to make it all work but without much effort at the same time.

If you don't want to try this method...fine. Atleast make it easier on yourself and take steps out of tomorrow's meals, and do prep when you can the night before. Make bacon for breakfast and cook the whole package and use it on club or BLT sandwiches, or crumble it and put it in potato soup, or on potatoes with cheese. Cut up extra chicken so you don't have to worry about it later. Make your budget and creativity stretch and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I promise! This is a lesson I've seen my mother use, and I now actively enjoy. I actually enjoy it! Just try it when you make you meal list this week...I bet you'll throw away a lot less.