Flunked

This time of year, fresh vegetables are bountiful. A family only needs to plant one or two zucchini plants and they’ll have enough zucchini for all their recipe needs. Unfortunately, our garden was a bust this year. So disappointing that I will not talk about it. We do however, live near a farm stand and often, we’ll find zucchini on our retaining wall. Our neighbor shares his bounty with us. I love zucchini. I love it sautéed and I love it grilled or in my vegetable pasta salad with a mustard-y sauce. Yum. I love the way a cinnamon-zucchini loaf fills the house with a mouth-watering scent. Just enough to tickle those senses and pull you into the kitchen. A warm slice of zucchini bread with lots of butter and a hot cup of tea – what a way to escape for a few minutes. A few delicious moments. Ahhhh…

Any clue what I might be baking? Yes, I will be using zucchini. Add some pineapple to the bowl. A few good-for-you ingredients: honey, skim milk, whole-wheat flour and wheat germ, just to name a few. Oh yeah, I might have to make a special butter just for this Fiberful Pineapple Zucchini Bread. See…this is why baking at home is so much better for you. For your family and friends. No preservatives. You know what ingredients are used.


I already know this bread will be moist not only because of the zucchini but the pineapple. It should also be sweet, in part because of the pineapple but the blend of spices will entice anyone to try a bite. (In particular, I am thinking of my Little Big Guy).

This recipe was clipped from a magazine so I cannot give credit to a source. It does note that it is an easy recipe and it freezes well. So if this is voted a keeper, here’s one use of all that zucchini!

Fiberful Pineapple Zucchini Bread
½ cup crushed pineapple in juice, do not drain
¼ cup skim milk
4 large egg whites
¼ cup honey
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
½ cup wheat germ
¼ cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. baking soda
2 Tbsp. baking powder
3 cups shredded zucchini
¾ cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine the crushed pineapple with juice, skim milk, egg whites, and honey in a large bowl; mix until blended. Combine the flours, wheat germ, flaxseed, spices, baking soda and baking powder in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture to the pineapple mixture, blending until ingredients are moistened. Fold in the zucchini and raisins. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes; remove the pan and cool completely before slicing and serving.

Serves 12.
[Calories 178; Fat 1.6g; Carbohydrates 37g; Protein 6g; Cholesterol 0mg; dietary fiber 4g; sodium 224mg]


The smell was enticing; however, the taste is one that leaves you asking, “Why isn’t this good?” I definitely thought it would be sweet but it is not. I will try it with some different toppings. Butter mixed with some pineapple. Cream cheese mixed with some pineapple. Perhaps that will make a difference? This morning, I topped my slice with plain greek yogurt mixed with some pineapple. It wasn't bad but it didn't improve the bread.

A disappointing recipe to say the least. I am the only one eating it and at one thin-slice a day, some will get thrown out.

Result: This good-for-you recipe made is as far as the garbage can!

Dogs, the Kitchen Sink and a Project

We had a wonderful, summer weekend. Hot and sunny. We need rain. The garden is parched. The grass is speckled with brown spots. We need rain!

With cool mornings and a project that I need to dedicate myself to, I decided to bake. After all, I decided to bake my way through a 26-step project, A - Z. I am crossing off two - D and E. Yippee!

We went to mass Saturday evening so with a free Sunday morning, I opted to hang out in the kitchen. 6:00 a.m. and I was mixing up dough for a loaf of sausage bread. The last of our pork sausage has been used! I’m not going to write about the bread though. After much pondering and decision making, I decided to make a dessert that hopefully everyone in my family would like. I really wanted to make dried cherry biscotti. However, I am the only one in the house that likes biscotti. I am sure my co-workers would have been appreciative but I want this to be a family adventure. For those same reasons, I decided against making healthy and nutty dried-fruit & nut bars. I will however, make this recipe in the near future because it sounds so hearty and wonderful!

Back to the project and dogs and a sink. I did not take a lot of step-by-step photos. It was early. Yes, the opportunity was there, glaring at me – no kids, no husband lurking around the kitchen. All was quiet. yet, I was focused on getting items in and out of the oven. Waste no time. So the photos are of the finished products.

What did I bake?

Devil Dogs and Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cookies. Yum!

The devil dog recipe was easy to mix up and put in the oven. I did not have a large jelly roll pan so I put some batter in another pan. I was afraid if I put all the batter in the pan, it would bake over. I am not a fan of cleaning an oven so I took precautions. I now know I could have put a little more batter in the pan but that will have to happen next time. I will be making this recipe again. The cake was light and airy. I think it could have baked a little longer but I had already baked it longer than the 20 minutes (seems too short for me), and in a smaller pan, but I noted that on the recipe.

While that baked, I mixed up the cookies. It’s a glorified chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe. You can add anything you wish to the batter. Chips, nuts, coconut, raisins, dried fruit. I could have emptied some bags of goodies. I really wanted to dump all sorts of goodies in the batter; however, I restrained myself. Picky children. I did throw in coconut and with that addition, my Little Big Guy said he wasn’t going to eat them. He did however try them and said they were not bad. Then he said I could finish the cookie because HE COULD taste the coconut. Do I believe that? No. He ate a few bites. Perhaps I’ll catch him with his hand in the cookie jar? They turned out moist because of the coconut and delicious with the chocolate and peanut butter chips. Next time, I’ll add almonds to the mix. I won't keep this recipe because my chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe will work just as well. I have to admit, the Everything but the Kitchen Sink cookies wasn’t that exciting, it got me through E – LOL! Despite my decision, I have included the recipe below.

Returning to the dogs…this was a fun recipe. The frosting, although I was skeptical, turned out wonderful. Light, fluffy and just the right amount of vanilla. I was sweetly surprised and will be using this frosting often. A great find!

So after the cake cooled, and the frosting was beat to a cool whip state, my assistant and I got to work. Dessert cups are the hot craze right now so my assistant made some dessert cups and I made some dogs. Basically the process is the same. Cut a piece of cake, top with the best vanilla frosting, top with another piece of cake, another dollop of frosting and a cherry! For those individuals that don’t like cherries, like my beautiful assistant, use sprinkles, mini chocolate chips or nuts. For the dogs, the cake should be cut into serving size rectangles! We had fun working on this recipe together.

Enjoy!



Dessert Cups:



Devil Dogs (The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients
• 1 whole Chocolate Sheet Cake
• 1 batch frosting (or you can use frozen whipped topping)
• Maraschino Cherries

Cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (heaping) cocoa
2 sticks butter
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 whole beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared sheet cake pan and bake at 350˚ for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing.

Best Ever Frosting:
5 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don't want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven't beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Assemble:
Bake cake according to recipe directions, thoroughly greasing and flouring the pan. Allow cake to cool completely, then turn out onto a flat surface.

Make frosting recipe, substituting half-and-half for milk for extra thickness/richness.

Cut cooled cake into rectangles.

Place frosting into a frosting bag. Squeeze frosting onto one rectangle of cake. Press second rectangle on top. Squeeze a dollop of frosting on the top piece of cake. Place a cherry on top (or sprinkles, nuts, chips).

Chill until ready to serve!

Everything but the kitchen sink Cookies

In a bowl mix together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups oats
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, add:
1 cup soft unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups brown sugar

Cream together until light and fluffy.

Then add:
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Beat altogether. Carefully mix in the dry ingredients. When everything is mixed together, add as many or as few of the following:

2 16-oz. bags semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup raisins
½ cup walnut pieces

(Alternatives to add or substitute: white, butterscotch or peanut butter chips, heath bar pieces, cranberries, any type of nut).

Bake at 350˚ for 10-14 minutes.

The 4th

I know...this is a late post. I just downloaded photos and they prompted me to write something.

First of all, I love America. We live in a great country regardless of the current problems that our elected officials are “dealing” with. I am proud to be an American. I pray for those individuals that join a service in order to serve and protect our country. I pray for their families as well. We take too much for granted in our country. We need change; however, politics, I will not discuss.

We celebrated the 4th but we did not have fireworks or attend a parade. We celebrated by taking a day and enjoying us. A family day. We drove to PA to check on our land and what is left of the cabin that my husbands’ great-grandfather built.

Leaving the camp to explore the creek across the road:


After visiting family next to our cabin, we drove to the World’s End State Park. It is a beautiful park! We enjoyed lunch, grilled by the Big Guy, by the river. We played among the rocks (lots of rock - just beautiful) in the cold water. We took pictures. We found an old water hand pump, so the kids had to try to get water. My grandparents had one of these near their house and we spent hours playing in the water. Our kids thought is was cool and want one. We just might get one.

We walked a trail but had to turn back due to an approaching thunder storm. It wasn’t the warmest of days but it was nice. We were together.
Here are some pictures of the swimming area. The river goes under the road and you can swim in the roped off area of the river. It gets quite deep. The water was cold. We were told it always is cold. Refreshing but not on the day we went.


Deciding if one of them was brave enough to dive under. Neither did!


The river flows through some cliffs and is very rocky. Beautiful. We'll visit again in the fall.





*What's with the white cups? Dad bought them each a rootbeer float. They were HUGE and it took the kids a long time to eat/drink them.

To celebrate the 4th, I did make some colorful treats. The first was simple but the kids went wild over it. Jell-O and cool whip cups.




The second treat I made was frosted sugar cookies. I wanted to try a new way of frosting cookies. So I finally just decided to try it. My color gels were not useable (trashed them) so the red is not red but pink. Oh well, I got to try my hand at frosting with a glaze. It was fun. I could really spend a lot of time frosting cookies. They are not perfect but they tasted great and I enjoyed the challenge. Oh, the possibilities.



We swam, we ate, we enjoyed each other's company. What a great celebration!