Zucchini Bread

One of the best things about summer is all the fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables. I can't take credit for growing this lovely zucchini (it was given to me by a co-worker), but I will take credit for the bread. :) Of course I will also give credit to my wonderful husband who used his muscles to shredded 5 cups of zucchini for me to use and freeze. :) Thanks, Sweetie!

My mother-in-law makes the best zucchini bread! She has shared her recipe with me and I recorded it in my "virtual recipe box". I tried all morning to access the internet site were I keep my recipes; however, the server was down. Disappointed, I decided to "wing it" based on memory and a banana bread recipe my mom gave me (obviously substituting zucchini for bananas with a few other changes).
The result....delicious! :) I think my mother-in-law would be proud.



Zucchini Bread by Ashleigh
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 stick of butter, softened or melted
3 eggs, beaten
2 ½ cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powde, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, butter, eggs, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 45-55 min, or until a tester comes out clean.

Carrot Applesauce Spice Muffins

After searching several sites for a muffin recipe that contained carrots, but NOT coconut (I am not a fan of shredded coconut) I was able to find a few, but these had mixed reviews. I decided to “play it safe” and go with a recipe modified from one of my favorite foodie blogs- Annie’s Eats. If you have not visited Annie’s blog you should definitely check it out. However, a word of warning—do not visit while hungry! Annie makes some amazing looking dishes that are sure to jump start your appetite. :) Annie got this recipe for Carrot Spice Muffins from Dorie Greenspan of Tuesdays with Dorie. This was my other clue that I would not go wrong with the recipe.
As I mentioned before, I changed the recipe quite a bit to suit our tastes and also increased the ingredients to yield 24 muffins. I omitted the shredded coconut and added a bit more brown and white sugar. I also decreased the amount of oil and added some chunky applesauce for flavor and texture.

Inspired by Annie’s Eats (Original Recipe Source: adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

Carrot and Apple Muffins
Makes about 24
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 pound carrots, peeled and finely grated
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted due to our tastes)
3/4 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted (I omitted due to our tastes)

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix both sugars with the eggs at medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes. Mix in the oil and the vanilla.

Stir the carrots, applesauce and raisins (if using) into the wet ingredients until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the pecans (if using). Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them almost to the top. Bake the muffins for 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the pans and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioner’s sugar after transferring to wire rack (when slightly cooled)

Go Bananas!

Have you ever had one of those weeks at work that make you feel as though you are going to "go bananas"? This week has been one of those weeks for me. Perhaps that is why I have been craving something comforting. Banana bread is a real comfort food for me.
As a child, one of the things my mom made quite often...and made VERY well was banana bread. As I looked at her recipe I knew I had two options: 1. Make it as well as she makes it or 2. Modify it to make it my own. I chose option 2. :)
I decided to take my mom's banana bread recipe and make banana muffins. I added the cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, and an extra banana (because I had it). I also substituted 1/2 cup of white sugar for brown sugar. Finally, I also added the cinnamon and sugar crumb topping after being inspired by my mom's cinnamon apple muffins she gave me in my Christmas goodie basket. These banana muffins turned out great!

The adorable Mother and Daughter Tea Kettle was a gift from my mom. :)


Go-Bananas-4-These-Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (I used 5 good sized bananas)


For the topping:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F . Lightly grease 12-14 muffin cups with shortening or butter. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add mashed bananas and stir until well blended. Add dry ingredient mixture to banana mixture and stir just to incorporate. Pour batter into prepared muffin pan (I was able to get 14 good sized muffins so I needed a full 12 cup pan plus two muffin cups  ).

Combine topping ingredients and stir with a fork. Mixture will form a crumb consistency. Sprinkle crumb topping on muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before attempting to remove muffins from pan.

**To make a Banana Bread loaf instead of muffins, Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 60-65 minutes.

Cheddar Beer Bread

A big thanks to Annie of Annie's Eats for her "recipe rewind". I have been anxious to use my new Williams Sonoma loaf pans that I got for Christmas and our ham vegetable soup dinner was in need of sidekick. :) I discovered this recipe on Annie's blog earlier this week during one of my many visits (she does such a wonderful job). I made a few changes as a result of ingredients I had on hand. I used all-purpose flour (rather then wheat) and added some white sugar to suite our tastes. I also added 2 more tsp. of butter (which could have been omitted now that I've tried the bread). This bread is wonderful! I used Sam Adam's Light (my husband's favorite) brand beer. I highly recommend this as an accompaniment to a hearty soup. Thanks, Annie!

Adapted from: Annie's Eats Cheesy Beer Bread

Cheddar Beer Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
12 oz. beer
4 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 9×5” loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flours, both types of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix to combine well. Slowly add beer to dry ingredients and stir lightly until just combined, and all ingredients are completely moistened. Add cheddar cheese and mix to combine. Place into a prepared loaf pan and pour melted butter over the top. Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

A quick use of overripe bananas...

Not So Homemade Banana Cake


This was such an amazing cake...and since the box of cake mix was on sale for $1.00 it was inexpensive too!! I was inspired to make this cake because I recently learned you can substitute bananas for eggs when making a cake.


Recipe:
1 Box of Betty Crocker Supreme Banana Cake Mix
1/4 cup oil
3 overripe bananas, mashed
1 1/4 cup water

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9 inch cake pan. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour in to prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in to the center of cake comes out clean). Cake will darken slightly-but remains a light, golden brown color.


Notes:
This was even better the second day! Very moist and full of flavor.
To serve: top with whipped cream or nothing at all.