Zucchini Apple Bread-Cake

In typical Tracy fashion, I put something off until the last minute. It was my turn to bring treats for the adults to ECFE yesterday and I knew I wanted to make something with the apples we have from the orchard. A bit of Googling, and I found a recipe for Zucchini Apple Bread. I have zucchini coming out my ears in the freezer, so I thought it'd be a good way to use up two things at once.

So I printed the recipe. Then proceeded to waste most of naptime playing Words with Friends.

We have ECFE at noon. It takes us 20 minutes to get there. At 10:45 I started mixing the batter up. Sheesh. Not surprising I did that, but still. Sheesh.

The recipe says it makes 2 loafs of bread that you need to bake for 50-60 minutes. I didn't have that much time, so I thought maybe, just maybe, if I put the batter in a cake pan it would bake faster. It did! And so, the bread-cake was born. Looks like cake. Tastes like bread. Perfect!

Zucchini Apple Bread

Ingredients

Is it cake? Is it bread?

• Nonstick spray
• 1 cup finely grated zucchini (about 1 zucchini)
• 1 cup grated green apple, peeled and cored (about 1 apple)
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups plus 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat 2 (4 1/2 by 8 1/2-inch) loaf pans with nonstick spray. Line the pans with parchment paper and spray the paper.

Combine the zucchini, apple, brown sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla extract in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add 3 cups flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg to the bowl and mix well. Toss the nuts with the remaining1/2 teaspoon flour to coat and prevent them from sinking. Gently stir in the nuts and the extract.

Divide the batter between the 2 loaf pans. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle of each loaf comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the bread from the pans and cool on a wire rack.

I omitted the walnuts (yuck!) and made it in a cake pan, baking for about 35 minutes. Very delicious, but I would like a bit more cinnamon and nutmeg flavor. And I'd maybe do 1-1/2 apples, but with my luck that would mess up the recipe and it would be too wet and runny. Anyway,  I figured 18 pieces of cake-bread and 7 points plus per serving. (YIKES!)

And, yes, I made it to class on time. Whew. And, I'm making this my new motto:

 

Best Easiest Applesauce

Apple Mania continues..... We got about 10 lbs of apples, so I'm trying all sorts of fun ways to cook and bake with them. Yesterday I made applesauce. Oh. My. Yum. I had intentions of making several different kinds - some for me and some for babies (I don't want to give them a lot of extra sugar, but you know I love a good sugary, cinnamony applesauce!). I ended up with just 2 different batches. The babies woke up and I ran out of time. I do want to try one more variety today or tomorrow.

Anyway, my first batch was an Original Recipe - something I rarely, if ever, do. I always, always, always follow recipes to the exact specifications. I don't stray too often. But I had an idea that vanilla would be tasty in applesauce, so I went with it.

My Very Own Vanilla Applesauce
Ingredients
4 large very sweet apples (I used Golden Crisp)
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Before...

 Peel and rough chop the apples. I cut mine in 8ths with my apple slicer and then cut those wedges into 2 or 3 pieces. Add to a pot with the water and vanilla. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes or so. Mash with a potato masher. Cool ever so slightly and enjoy!

 

 

 

After!

Babies loved it mixed in their oatmeal this morning. Mmmmmm.

The second batch I made was a recipe from the ever-delicious Simply Recipes. It turned out so good - like apple pie without the crust. She suggest to eat it as a topping on ice cream. I think that's a brilliant idea! Perhaps that's what I'll serve up for dessert tonight.

Simply Recipes' Applesauce

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
• 4 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths
• Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 Tbsp
• 3 inches of cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• up to 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method

1 Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
2 Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels. Mash with potato masher.
Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated. Delicious with vanilla ice cream or vanilla yogurt.
Freezes easily, lasts up to one year in a cold freezer.

I used a combo of Gala (leftover from my last grocery store purchase) and Zestar (fresh from the Orchard). I would have preferred a bit more brown sugar and cinnamon taste in mine, but it's still SO GOOD. Like candy. And really not all that sugary - but too much for the babies. They can't have it. This applesauce is MINE.

Thank you, by the way, for reading my blog! If you like it here, I ask you to Follow this blog. It's so easy! You can either click on the "Follow" button on the top left of your screen or you can click on the "Join This Site" button about 1/3 of the way down on the left, just under the Archive. You will need a Google ID to follow, but frankly, if you don't have one of those - get with the program! :) And while you're at it, leave a comment or two!

Not for Babies

We went to the Apple Orchard this weekend, so we have a million apples in the house. I've already begun to make delicious eats with said apples. Perahaps the most delicious of all so far has been the Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake, another recipe courtesy of Pinch of Yum. (Seriously, I might just make everything on her blog. So yummy!)

I would not recommend this recipe for babies. There's way too much sugar in it for them! But it makes a tasty treat for Momma and Daddy after they go to bed. We topped ours with cinnamon ice cream, but we were thinking it would be equally delicious with Cool Whip on top. This might make a reappearance at the Thanksgiving table this year!

Pinch of Yum's Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk (you can sub milk+vinegar, or plain yogurt+milk)
• 1 tsp. soda
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups chopped apples (I used Wealthy heirloom)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbs. butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Mix ingredients in order given (except the last 3 ingredients).
3. Pour batter into a 9×13 greased pan.
4. Combine last 3 ingredients to make a topping and sprinkle it evenly over the batter.
5. Bake for 45 minutes. It’s delicious when served warm!

Mmmm! And it smells as good as it looks!

 I made mine using the Golden Crisp apples we bought at the Orchard. The clerk at the Orchard said they are pretty sweet to begin with so reduce the amount of sugar you use, so I used *only* 1 cup of brown sugar. Ha. It's still plenty sweet. I don't recommend figuring out the Weight Watchers points on this one...... yikes!

Easy Homemade Birthday Pizza

Ok, so it's not really the babies' 1-year birthday - it was their 10-month birthday. But it still called for celebration! I decided to make them (and me) a pizza for supper. YUMMMMM!

First, assemble your ingredients. (Note, I am not being paid to mention these products, they are what I had on hand. Though I will say the Trader Joe's pizza crust is only like $1.79 and worth every penny. YUM YUM YUM). 

Trader Joe's pizza crust, pizza sauce, chicken Italian sausage,
shredded cheese, Laughing Cow cheese wedges

Next, spread out your pizza crust and bake it for about 5-7 minutes with NOTHING on it. This is paramount to making sure your pizza is done in the middle and not soggy. (I speak from experience). After about 5 minutes,take out your crust and add your base layer. For my portion, I used pizza sauce. Since the babies are still sort of getting over their upset tummies, I opted for leaving out the acidic tomato sauce for them and used the Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedge instead. Then add your cheese & toppings, a pretty healthy portion is best. Babies also didn't get the sausage and onions. Bland is best for them at this point. :) Then bake for about 10-12 minutes.

2/3 for Momma, 1/3 for Babies

 At this point, you'll probably want to check on the babies to see what they are up to. Of course, they are causing a bit of trouble. And hey, don't judge me for leaving the babies to play in the living room while I was in the kitchen. I went in there every 2 minutes to see what they were doing, which is why this pizza took over an hour to make. :)

Whatcha guys up to?

Finally the pizza is done! It was delicious, but as I mentioned above, it took me an hour to make. So by the time it was done, the babies were in bed. They enjoyed their pizza the next day. I enjoyed mine while they slept - the BEST way to enjoy pizza!

Bran-tastic muffins

This week I had a hankerin' for my Grandma Vernie's raisin bran muffins. She made them often when we slept over - in fact there was often a bowl of the batter in the fridge ready to go. I think she called the Camping muffins or something like that. At any rate, it was always so nice to wake up in her apartment with the smell of fresh muffins wafting over to the pull out couch!

So, I set off on a mission to find the newspaper clipping of the recipe that she used. I know I have it somewhere.... but I couldn't find it. (Anyone who knows me, knows that organization is not my gift.) So, I found a recipe online, of course. It worked out for the best, because I'm excited I found Pinch of Yum, a Minneapolis food blogger. Her recipes look delicious! I'm quite certain this Mac & Cheese recipe will be tested out this weekend.

But I digress. This recipe says you can save the leftover batter in the fridge and microwave it in a mug when you want a muffin. I forgot to do that. Oh well, there's *just* enough room in my freezer for some muffins for me and the babes. Many raisin bran muffin recipes I looked at online called for buttermilk, which I NEVER have on hand. I like how this one provided a substitute of milk + plain yogurt.

I'm slightly obsessed with taking batter photos, though they don't
really show much about the recipe... but they do show
off my 1970s orange Tupperware flour and sugar canisters!

Pinch of Yum's Raisin Bran Muffins

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk (sub 1 cup milk and 1 cup plain yogurt)
• 4 cups Raisin Bran cereal
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt

Instructions

1. Mix in order and bake in muffin tin at 400 degrees for 12-20 minutes, depending on pan size. (My large muffin tin took about 18 minutes). Let cool at least 10 minutes. Top with butter and honey.
2. Save leftover batter in the refrigerator. For individual servings, scoop into ramekin/mug and microwave for 1 minute.

The finished result. I had mine with a healthy (?) dose of butter. Babies had theirs plain.

They don't look like how I remember my grandma's muffins looking - I can picture hers being brannier and darker. But, they look and taste good, nonetheless!

Eager to try it!

Nom Nom Nom

Our oatmeal consumption is about to skyrocket

Oh dear... I started this blog post 2 weeks ago and never finished. Drat. I guess at this point it's like reading yesterday's newspaper, but oh well. Here ya go....

In case you hadn't heard (how could you NOT have, though?) this weekend is the Minnesota Valley Mothers of Multiples bi-annual sale. Hundreds of women are selling their gently used goods to all us bargain hunters. It's a big deal. It's a lot of work. It needs some sustenance in your belly to get said work done! (edited after the fact - It was a LOT of work. I think I'm still tired from working 24 hours straight. But, lucky for me, I thought it was pretty fun - I have to do it again in March).

This morning my friend Kat and her precious girls came over to do some preparing for the sale - printing tags, cutting tags, hanging clothes, pinning tags, gossiping, and playing. I decided last night to assemble a baked oatmeal, put it in the fridge, and enjoy a warm, tasty treat with my & the babies' friends (because yes, whether they like it or not, B&H are going to be friends with Kat's girls. And, I even suspect her girls will fight over Ben. He's the Ladies' Man around them!).

The recipe was really very easy, the ingredients things I have on hand, and the dish turned out delicious - and pretty healthy, too! The recipe comes from Good Cheap Eats, a nice blog for finding healthy, simple food for grown ups (and many babies can eat too!)

Doesn't it look good - and it's not even baked yet!

Raspberry Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups raspberries
• heavy cream, whipped or plain

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a second mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce, yogurt, milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
5. Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry, and add the raspberries.
6. Fold gently to combine.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.
8. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden.
9. Serve with cream, whipped or not.

I wish I had a photo of it all baked and delicious looking, but I didn't take one. Boo! But, photo or not, I can attest that Kat & I each had a piece and if I must say so myself, it was SO delicious! I'm already thinking of other baked oatmeals I could make - apple & cinnamon, pumpkin, cherry, peach. Mmm. I think we'll have a very hearty winter around here.

Of course, by the time we got around to eating, B&H were already in bed for their morning nap. So they at theirs for lunch. What a fun mess!

Mmm. Baked Oatmeal.

Muffin Mania

The weather turned to fall overnight. I swear, earlier this week I was sweating all day, the a/c was on, and I dressed B&H in my favorite of their summer clothes, knowing it was one of the last of the hot days. Today, B&H are wearing longsleeves, pants, and even jackets for our morning walk. It's so chilly that I got the hankerin' for baking!

I had a bunch of super-ripe bananas laying around, so wandered over to Weelicious to see what sorts of recipes she had for banana bread or muffins. I have made her pancakes, and they are delicious, but we have some in the freezer, so I wanted something bread-ier. This recipe caught my eye - mostly because of the chocolate, but also because it's muffins. I've tried to make banana breads for the past 10 years and they rarely turn out. But muffins. Muffins I can do!

Weelicious Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Honey or Agave Nectar -- I used plain old regular sugar
1 Large Egg
2/3 Cup Milk
3 Tbsp Vegetable or Canola Oil
2 Ripe Bananas, mashed
3/4 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips*

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the honey, egg, milk, oil, and mashed bananas.
4. Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet, and then stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into greased or lined muffin cups, about 2/3 of the way up, and bake for 18 minutes.
6. Cool and serve.**

* Omit chocolate for babies, or as desired.
** Place muffins in labeled bags to freeze for up to 3 months.

I got 12 muffins, 6 with chips and 6 without, out of the recipe and had enough batter left over to make a little banana pancake. So I got to taste the results while the muffins were baking. Delish! When the babies get up from their nap, they will indulge in a chocolate-less muffin with their lunch. I'm sure they'll love it.

After the successful banana muffin turnout, I decided to use up some of my plethora of zucchini and make some muffins. This time I headed to another of my favorite sites, Simply Recipes. I utilize this site for nearly everything - breads, cookies, soups, meat, etc. She literally has a recipe for EVERYTHING! I knew the zucchini muffins would not disappoint.

Simply Recipes Zucchini Muffins

3 cups grated fresh zucchini
2/3 cup melted unsalted butter1
1/3 cup sugar2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the zucchini mixture and mix in. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts, raisins or cranberries if using.

2 Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use a spoon to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool another 20 minutes.

Don't they look delish?

(You'll have to forgive my terrible phography talents.... I really have no idea how to take appetizing food photos. In fact, this photo was taken on my iPhone!)

Of course I had to taste-test the muffins, and they ARE delicious! I'm sad to be informed that the zucchini ones have 8 PointsPlus values per muffin and the banana chocolate chip ones have 5 PointsPlus. Needless to say, I'll be skipping Weight Watchers today.

But, babies don't care how man points are in each muffin. Look how much they LOVE them!