Samplings From Our Kitchens...

I love zucchini bread only, I never ever make it. I looked on allrecipes.com and found a recipe that like 10,000 people rated the recipe a 5 star recipe, so I decided I probably needed to try it out. It was super easy and fast and we ate 2 loaves in 2 days... it was that good.

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (I used 2 1/2 cups which was 2 zucchinis)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I didn't use nuts)
I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg.

Crunchy Strudel Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (once again, no nuts)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans.
3. Sprinkle with topping mixture and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done. I also put some foil on top of the loaves toward the end of backing to prevent the top from getting too brown... may or may not be necessary for you.

Alright, so last night was enrichment (Hilary has a pasta salad recipe that I love and want to post but... it might be a secret? Hil?) Anyway, Enrichment was a birthday theme. Each table (Jan-Dec) needed a cake and since no one volunteered to do the 12th cake... I did. I think I am becoming more and more like my mom and decided on a cake despite the fact that it might make life a bit more difficult than just doing a box mix. I had been wanting to make this cake since I had made it years and years ago in Japan. I found it on Martha Stewarts website so if my directions are not sufficient you can go to her website. But she says things like, "Sift the dry ingredients 20 times" or "Churn your own butter for this recipe, you can really taste the difference" so.. I needed to simplify things. I really like this cake (it might be my new b-day cake request) and I think it looks impressive.. although that might have been Brittney's cake stand.

Ingredients

Makes 1 eight-inch-round 3 layer cake

* 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
* 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 7 large eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup milk, room temperature
* 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
* 1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
* 1/3 cup poppy seeds, plus more for sprinkling
* Shiny Cream Cheese Frosting
* Lemon Glaze

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients. Prepare 3 8x2 round cake pans... I only had two to use so I had to wait on the last one. Wasn't a big deal at all. Martha says to butter, parchment, and flour the pans but I just sprayed them really well and they cakes came out perfectly. What does Martha know. JK. Cream your butter until light, then add sugar. Cream again until smooth. Drizzle in eggs one at a time. Since there were so many I cracked them all into a pyrex cup and just dropped them in one at a time.... it was so much easier than cracking and hoping you dont get a shell. Beat until smooth and fluffy. You will need to scrape down the sides every now and then. Add vanilla. Add the flour and milk gradually, alternating between the two. If you end with the milk I find that the batter tends to be more velvety... Martha says otherwise. Whatever. Scrape sides and beat in the 3 zests and the poppy seeds. Divide and Conquer. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Once completely cooled make sure to borrow your sister-in-laws fancy cake stand so this cake will look as good as it tastes. Martha only frosts the middle layers but I frosted all three layers. I thought it looked better but it might taste even better with lots more yummy frosting in the middle of the cake. So frost away. Refrigerate. Glaze. Done.

Shiny Cream Cheese Frosting
* 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
* 3 cups confectioners' sugar

Mix the cream cheese well before adding the butter. Cream together. Slowly add the confectioners' sugar.

Lemon Glaze
* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
*** I grated orange peel into this. I thought it looked nice.

Love it. I wasnt sure if the recipe made one loaf or two so I started putting it in one pan and realized that it wouldnt bake through if I put it all in one pan, so I put the rest in another loaf pan and made a short bread... get it. It might have been fine in one loaf pan but normally when I make bread and put it all in one pan I have to eat around the middle of the loaf.... not enjoyable. The entire "short-bread" was nearly gone by the time Lost was over. It was a great snack, and could be a great dessert!? I bet you could put it in a cake pan and put some cream cheese frosting on it. Mmm... Next Project.

1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 cup Flour (I have used whole wheat and it is just as good)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 cup smashed Bananas
1/2 cup Sour Cream (a generous cup makes it extra soft)
1 tsp. Vanilla

Optional: Walnuts or Pecans. I have also put shredded coconut in my banana bread before. I liked it a lot but I love coconut... others, not so much.

Preheat oven to 350*. Cream the butter and eggs. Mix dry ingredients and add to butter and sugar. Add last three ingredients. Bake for about an hour. The loaves I baked last night were light brown and perfectly cooked and soft inside. I think the bake time in my oven is different from normal ovens so just keep an eye on the bread and poke it in the middle with a toothpick when you think it might be done.

I saw this recipe on TV yesterday & decided to try it. I made some adjustments, so I'm giving you the Hilary Seiter version.

Saute: (in your soup pot)
1 small onion, diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 carrot, peeled & sliced fairly thin

Then add:
2 cans chicken stock/broth
3-4 big Tbs lime juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 - 2 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbs oregano
and boil til carrots are tender

Then add:
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 chicken breast, cooked & diced
a bunch of cilantro, chopped

Top with:
corn tortillas that've been sliced into strips & fried til crispy in 1-2 Tbs of olive oil (this is the best part). We also ate it with warm corn tortillas & it was good, but not as good as the strips.
The lady on TV topped hers with diced tomato & avocado.

This makes 2-3 big servings. The original recipe calls for 6 cups of chicken stock, but I didn't want to have that much left over.

My mission was to find some low calorie, low fat desserts that would allow us to feel like we are treating ourselves to something yummy. And while this recipe isnt as good as a moist and fudgy brownie, it actually is fairly tasty. Just keep in mind that these brownies have almost half as many calories (111 calories), zero cholesterol, less than half the fat, and nearly half as many carbs as your typical fudge brownie mix. Plus it is a small pan so you arent stuck eating an entire 9x13 all by your lonesome while your husband is at school/work. I dont think these brownies taste like cardboard (like most things diet do) They have a good chocolate flavor and the chocolate chips get melted so there are little supreeze's of ooey chocolate. If you dont care about the calories they would be great with some Farr's Old Fashion Vanilla ice-cream. Tim and I both thought that they were pretty good. So for all of you who are looking to trim down but have a hard time staying away from the treat drawer... whip up a pan of these. P.S. They were super fast. Double Bonus.

Here is the recipe:

Nonstick cooking spray
4 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate pieces
2 teaspoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat the bottom of a 9-x-9-inch (I used an 8x8) baking pan with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, melt butter in microwave. Stir in sugar, water, and vanilla. Mix in flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder until combined. Add chocolate pieces. Pour batter into pan; bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Alright, well, my mom and I mastered these while in Japan with very limited resources. So if we could do it so can everyone else.




Bars:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries (crasins)
6 oz. white chocolate pieces or chips

Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, mixing between eggs. Add vanilla, ginger, and salt. Mix. Add flour and continue mixing. Add dried cranberries and white chocolate. Spread cookie dough in a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until just barely turning brown. Blend frosting ingredients and spread on bars after they have cooled. Top with more cranberries and white chocolate.

I havent made these for a really long time but every time I made them they tasted and looked perfect!

2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup milk
8 T Butter
2 eggs
1 cup frozen raspberries

Combine all dry ingredients. In another bowl, wisk together milk, butter, and eggs. Add and combine with dry ingredients. Slowly incorporate raspberries. Bake 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.