I have to admit its been rough trying to get a recipe right. I swore to do my own recipes by not rushing off to Google every idea that popped into my head. Tonight's dinner was a home run in that department.
I started off with the idea of using up the two zucchini I had on the counter before I go out tomorrow to harvest more. They were getting a little on the hard side and I knew I would need to shred them so I thought, "my not give zucchini pancakes a try?" I ran to the computer and entered the search term, then slowly backspaced as I realized I needed to try this myself.
The basics I knew. Zucchini, eggs, and some kind of breading. I wanted to avoid flour because really I wasn't looking for a "pancake". Breaking out my trusty food processor I plucked the zucchini from their resting place with the yellow squash waiting to be frozen and started to cut it up. Each long piece went into the processor quickly becoming shredded green bliss (can you tell I love zucchini?) I also shredded in one very small (size of my palm) sweet onion. Now here's the hard part....waiting. You want the zucchini to be as dry as possible to once it is all shredded you'll need to put it into a colander with about 2-3 tsp of salt. Mix it up and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. The salt will draw the moisture out of the zucchini. After time as pasted put the zucchini into a large square of cheese cloth (paper towels will work too though you need quite a few) and wring the zucchini out. Keep pressing until all the moisture is out then turn it into a bowl. In a separate bowl combine 2 eggs, a tsp of mayo, 1/4 tsp of garlic pepper, 1/4 tsp salt and a couple dashes of pepper. Whisk this together then pour it in with the zucchini. Mix the zucchini and eggs together, it will be quiet moist. In a shallow dish add 1 cup of corn meal. Heat a skillet adding 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. When hot (pan sizzles when sprinkled with cold water) form the zucchini mixture into a patty, this will be messy and drop on top of the corn meal. Use your hands to pull cornmeal onto the top of the patty then carefully pick the patty up and drop into the skillet. Depending on your patty size you could get 5-8 patties. Let cook 2-3 minutes or until golden brown on one side, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes.
Now to the leftover cornmeal I added seasoning salt, stirred to combine and then dredge two round steaks. I added these to another pan I heated with more olive oil and cooked 5-7 minutes on each side or medium rare. You can of course cook them to your desired doneness. I found the cornmeal added a nice crust that did not burn like flour or bread crumbs.
I decided after plating the steak and zucchini cakes that I needed a sauce. This is a very simple sauce. To a small bowl add about 2-3 tbsp of ranch dressing, a half tsp grated horseradish and a couple two or three dashes of hot sauce. Mix together and spread over the cakes. As a palette cleanser and for some color on the plate I cut up 2 small tomatoes and fanned 4 slices over each plate.
I wish I could find my camera because this was divine! The flavor of the onions and zucchini with the horseradish married beautifully. Each bite wasn't overpowered by one flavor or another, but yet you could pick out the onion, then the horseradish, with the sweet tint of zucchini. The steak was just done enough to melt as I bit into it, the seasoning salt and coarseness of the cornmeal brought out flavors I had been missing before, and the tomatoes and their sweetness definitely brought that cleansing level to the dish I was looking for, as I alternated bites of zucchini with bites of steak and tomato.
When your husband makes it a point to say, "write that recipe down" you know you have a keeper.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Bread, Bread, Bread
So last weekend I spied a yardsale as I was heading down the street to run my usual mid-month errands. I don't like to actually stop at the yard sale until I've done a drive-by so I slow down and intantly my eye is drawn to the baby items out front. My to market a yard sale I do say so myself. So being on a one-way I head up a block, go down the next one-way and then head back to the sale to see if there was anything else I might want. Polite as I am I cringed at the thought that the lady chatting up the owner of the house about baby things may have already taken what I wanted, I patiently looked around and waited to pounce for her to leave. Happily she did not purchase the items I wanted and I quickly laid claim to them. I also spied a end table that someone matched the one I had at home, so I asked what they wanted for each item and at five dollars each I was happy to pay. I had no cash and that's all they would take so I hurried up to the bank and back again in less than 10 minutes. Handing them a twenty, I waited for my changed while looking over the table I was standing next to. Eyes widening I could not believe I had overlooked my next fablous find the first time through. Sitting like a white snake about to bite me was a bread machine, complete with guide. I looked it over as I was handed my changed and asked them how much, the husband shrugged his shoulders, looked at his wife and said, "five bucks?" DEAL. I took my purchases home happy as a clam.
Now I have always been afraid of making bread, make that bread with yeast involved. I'm a very patient person by nature, but waiting for bread to rise to me felt worse than waiting for water to boil. I knew I would mess something up, so hence never tried. I had two boxes of bread mix in my cupboard thatwere older than dirt I picked up several years ago and decided that the sourdough one would be my first victim attempt. Adding ingredients to the machine was simple, my son thought helping mommy pour in the water was great. I plugged the machine in, checked the settings and pressed start hoping for the best. The machine purred to life and much to my wonderment the water and flour mixture began to look like dough without me having to get my hands dirty. Now here's my don't do as I do moment: If the bread mix was bought in 2003, more than likely it won't turn out right. Yep, the dough formed perfectly but the rising and baking part not so much. The dough didn't rise nearly as much as I expected and when the baking was down, the insides were still somewhat doughy and were not really tasty at all.
Take Two
Today I tried to make bread again. Yes tried. Rifling though the guide that came with the bread machine I decided to make Italian Herb Bread. The ingredients were simple, water, flour, spices, sugar, yeast. Only the flour stated it should be "bread flour" and all I had was "all-purpose flour". The book did say I could substitute all-purpose if it had the same protein value as the bread flour which is 14%. I figured I'd just add an egg. Whoops the egg is part of the moisture or water content and I needed to use 9-11 ounces of water, so that would be 9 ounces total of egg and water. I put in 9 ounces of water not thinking as I started to add the dry ingredients. Oh well no egg. I do not know if this is what resulted in the bread not developing the usual hump, but the center after baking was completely sunken in.......
To be Continued.........
Now I have always been afraid of making bread, make that bread with yeast involved. I'm a very patient person by nature, but waiting for bread to rise to me felt worse than waiting for water to boil. I knew I would mess something up, so hence never tried. I had two boxes of bread mix in my cupboard that
Take Two
Today I tried to make bread again. Yes tried. Rifling though the guide that came with the bread machine I decided to make Italian Herb Bread. The ingredients were simple, water, flour, spices, sugar, yeast. Only the flour stated it should be "bread flour" and all I had was "all-purpose flour". The book did say I could substitute all-purpose if it had the same protein value as the bread flour which is 14%. I figured I'd just add an egg. Whoops the egg is part of the moisture or water content and I needed to use 9-11 ounces of water, so that would be 9 ounces total of egg and water. I put in 9 ounces of water not thinking as I started to add the dry ingredients. Oh well no egg. I do not know if this is what resulted in the bread not developing the usual hump, but the center after baking was completely sunken in.......
To be Continued.........
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Going for it - Small Town Home Cook
I love love watching Food Networks "The Next Food Network Star". It is so inspiring to see real cooks on the show. By real I mean the ones that learned from traditions passed on by generations not from some fancy school. Now I am not by any means knocking cooking schools. I would love to attend one myself to get a better grasp on some of the less commonly used cooking skills and how to cut veggies like a pro. No, I just like seeing someone like myself become something just because of what they love to do....cook for their family and friends.
I have decided that I would like to get on the road to becoming someone the Food Network might pick for this show. I sat down the other night and came up with several things I believed I would need to work on to accomplish this goal. Here they are in no particular order:
I have decided that I would like to get on the road to becoming someone the Food Network might pick for this show. I sat down the other night and came up with several things I believed I would need to work on to accomplish this goal. Here they are in no particular order:
- Purchase more fresh fruits, veggies and meats. I rely to much sometimes on processed, frozen and pre-packaged meals. I enjoy cooking and it's about time I did more of it.
- Work on my speaking skills. Anyone who knows me well knows I can talk and talk. That's problem number one, I don't always know when to stop and tend to over share as a result. Problem number two is a tongue twister, literally. I think faster than I speak and sometimes I change thoughts, or think of a different word to use and end up creating new words, or going off topic.
- Start creating my own recipes rather than using others. I already do this to some extent. Many of my concoctions are rather good, but I never write them down so it is hard to duplicate them later. That does not mean I will stop altering recipes but it does mean you will start to see more original content on this blog.
- Become popular. This is a laugh but many of the contestants this year list their professions as a "food blogger". Now I haven't googled them yet to see what they blog about, whether it's their own food, others food, restaurants or what. They can cook and cook really well so I imagine it's about their own food and with this blog I am on the right path, just have to keep things interesting, up beat and up to date.
- Keep it simple. That's my philosophy. Every Food Network host has a food point of view and with this I have come up with, "Small Town Home Cook" the new title of my blog. I'll focus only on foods that I can purchase from my local grocer. Some weeks my feature the obscure but that will be because my grocer has decided to feature it as well. Part of being a small town home cook should involve fresh garden vegetables and as those grow I'll be looking forward to using them.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Cold and Dreary
The weather here has been cold and dreary and since at the end of MAY I caught a cold I have not felt like breaking out the recipes books or trying anything new. I did snag a book on bread making my mother gave me for Christmas only to find the recipes were written for a bread machine, which I do not have. Not knowing if I would need to change any part of the recipe (which you know I do anyways) to work for a traditional oven, I put the book back without even checking to see if it had anything on croissants. I went instead to the grocery store and bought biscuits to have with tomorrows meal and on the way out was soaked before I got to my car as the sky decided to open up while I was shopping. Oh happy, cold, dreary day....I even bought prepared pizza's for dinner I felt so crummy, but at least I added extra cheese, fresh sausage, olives and canned....to bad it was all store bought except the sausage...nothing beats pork fresh from the hog...at least it was fresh 7 months ago when I got it from the hog and put it in the freezer. So at least I cooked something even if it wasn't exciting....let me cook.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Salsa Time (from 1/30/10)
Sorry for the delay in recipes, been trying to figure out somethings with my web provider....like admin rights and such....I'd really like to make this site pretty and have a lot of great ideas but no way to implement them just yet.
Your not here to listen to my woes though you want to hear about that salsa!!!
This past fall we went fishing with some friends. She made this wonderful garden salsa with tomatoes, onions, garlic, olives and shrimp. Of course I tried to eat all the shrimp and of course later that night my husband wanted to know if I could make something like it and of course I shamefully said yes not having a clue where to start. I dug though my drawer of recipes and found one I picked up from the grocery store in the produce department. So far you see I NEVER stick to a recipe but ALWAYS provide you with the original so you can see where I build from.
"Mayan Sweets" Fresh Salsa
4 cups Plum Tomatoes, diced
1 cup Large MAYAN SWEETS(r) Onion, Chopped
1/4 cup Black Olives (optional), chopped
3 Tbsp. Green Chilies, chopped
2 Tbsp. Cider Vinegar
1/8 cup Cilantro, chopped
Juice 1/2 lime
Generous sprinkling of Garlic Salt
To spice up your salsa add 2 Jalepeno peppers seeded and diced. Mix together. Serve room temperature with chips. Can be refrigerated for 1 week.
So there's the recipe, and here is what I do,don't do as I do.
My first attempt at this recipe I did do it as stated only we don't get plum tomatoes out here so I used Roma tomatoes and we are big on Walla Walla Sweet(r) onions. I wasn't sure what green chilies to use or what exactly constituted a green chile and without bothering to research it I grabbed three Serrano Chiles and 1 Jalepeno for spice. This batch of salsa wasn't as spicy as we had both wanted so with the next batch I really bumped it up a notch...using 6..yes 6, Jalepeno's. The salsa was so hot all you needed was like 3 chips and you were done. It was uncomfortable to eat and ended up in the trash.
I think I've tried and tried to get MY salsa right so the the next time I made it we went to my fathers for the Fiesta Bowl. I went and bought a can of what said "Green Chiles" and only 1 Jalepeno. Turns out green chiles are also pablano chiles....some of my favorites. I have trouble dicing the veggies so I decided to use my food processor on everything including the tomatoes....bad idea. It was way to runny and sadly I put in to my garlic salt so it was WAY to salty. Another batch that ended up in the trash in the end.
At this time I will say standard tomatoes or hydroponic tomatoes also work good. Just grab whatever is the lowest price or your preferred tomato. My best attempt but still not trumping my friends salsa came last weekend at my sisters baby shower. Here's my amended recipe:
Enough tomatoes (any variety but cherry or grape) for who you wish to serve (2-4 cups) - Chopped
3-4 nice sized pablano chilles or chilles of choice
1-2 sweet onions - Chopped or Diced
Olives (I use one large can, whole and then chop)
Handful of Cilantro
Splash of Cider vinegar
Garlic salt to taste
1-3 Jalepenos based on spiciness desired
Juice of 2 limes
Chop up everthing to your desired size (if you don't use the food processor method) For tomatoes I prefer something more chunky while with the onions a finer chop. I actually put the peppers (cut in half), cilantro, lime, salt, and vinegar in the food processor making a thick mixture. I use a large tupperware container with lid to mix and serve. Place the tomatoes in the container as you chop and then spoon the pepper mixture in. Put the lid on and shake! This is fun and gets all the goodies incorporated.
This is great with your favorite chips and though I haven't tried it yet, probably even a baguette or crackers.
There you have it, more travels though my crazy culinary, untrained mind. A few mistakes here and there but with every mistake you learn and grow and hey let me cook!
Your not here to listen to my woes though you want to hear about that salsa!!!
This past fall we went fishing with some friends. She made this wonderful garden salsa with tomatoes, onions, garlic, olives and shrimp. Of course I tried to eat all the shrimp and of course later that night my husband wanted to know if I could make something like it and of course I shamefully said yes not having a clue where to start. I dug though my drawer of recipes and found one I picked up from the grocery store in the produce department. So far you see I NEVER stick to a recipe but ALWAYS provide you with the original so you can see where I build from.
"Mayan Sweets" Fresh Salsa
4 cups Plum Tomatoes, diced
1 cup Large MAYAN SWEETS(r) Onion, Chopped
1/4 cup Black Olives (optional), chopped
3 Tbsp. Green Chilies, chopped
2 Tbsp. Cider Vinegar
1/8 cup Cilantro, chopped
Juice 1/2 lime
Generous sprinkling of Garlic Salt
To spice up your salsa add 2 Jalepeno peppers seeded and diced. Mix together. Serve room temperature with chips. Can be refrigerated for 1 week.
So there's the recipe, and here is what I do,
My first attempt at this recipe I did do it as stated only we don't get plum tomatoes out here so I used Roma tomatoes and we are big on Walla Walla Sweet(r) onions. I wasn't sure what green chilies to use or what exactly constituted a green chile and without bothering to research it I grabbed three Serrano Chiles and 1 Jalepeno for spice. This batch of salsa wasn't as spicy as we had both wanted so with the next batch I really bumped it up a notch...using 6..yes 6, Jalepeno's. The salsa was so hot all you needed was like 3 chips and you were done. It was uncomfortable to eat and ended up in the trash.
I think I've tried and tried to get MY salsa right so the the next time I made it we went to my fathers for the Fiesta Bowl. I went and bought a can of what said "Green Chiles" and only 1 Jalepeno. Turns out green chiles are also pablano chiles....some of my favorites. I have trouble dicing the veggies so I decided to use my food processor on everything including the tomatoes....bad idea. It was way to runny and sadly I put in to my garlic salt so it was WAY to salty. Another batch that ended up in the trash in the end.
At this time I will say standard tomatoes or hydroponic tomatoes also work good. Just grab whatever is the lowest price or your preferred tomato. My best attempt but still not trumping my friends salsa came last weekend at my sisters baby shower. Here's my amended recipe:
Enough tomatoes (any variety but cherry or grape) for who you wish to serve (2-4 cups) - Chopped
3-4 nice sized pablano chilles or chilles of choice
1-2 sweet onions - Chopped or Diced
Olives (I use one large can, whole and then chop)
Handful of Cilantro
Splash of Cider vinegar
Garlic salt to taste
1-3 Jalepenos based on spiciness desired
Juice of 2 limes
Chop up everthing to your desired size (if you don't use the food processor method) For tomatoes I prefer something more chunky while with the onions a finer chop. I actually put the peppers (cut in half), cilantro, lime, salt, and vinegar in the food processor making a thick mixture. I use a large tupperware container with lid to mix and serve. Place the tomatoes in the container as you chop and then spoon the pepper mixture in. Put the lid on and shake! This is fun and gets all the goodies incorporated.
This is great with your favorite chips and though I haven't tried it yet, probably even a baguette or crackers.
There you have it, more travels though my crazy culinary, untrained mind. A few mistakes here and there but with every mistake you learn and grow and hey let me cook!
Baking Fun (from 1/3/10)
Yes I have admitted it and I will admit it many times more...I love to bake. Over the holidays I always rediscover my love of baking with cookies and breads. My family loves banana's so banana bread seemed like a no-brainer. In the recipe book discussed in my previous post, "Fall Baking: Cookies, Breads and Desserts", I found a recipe for what they call Monkey Tail Bread. A monkey tail is a carnival treat made of a frozen banana on a stick that's been dipped in chocolate and rolled in peanuts. Now I have never had a monkey tail but this just sounds oh so yummy so I had to give the bread a try. The recipe follows:
Monkey Tail Bread
Makes 1 loaf (16 Slices)
1/2 cup Shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbs chocolate frosting
1 tbs creamy peanut butter
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of a loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches. Beat shortening and sugar in large bowl with electric mixture on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs and bananas until smooth. Beat in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt just until mixed. Stir in peanuts and chocolate chips. Pour in pan.
2. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
3. Place frosting in small plastic food-storage bag. Microwave on high 6-10 seconds or until pourable. Add peanut butter to bag; gently squeeze bag until peanut butter and frosting are well blended. Cut off tiny corner of bag. Squeeze bag to drizzle chocolate mixture over bread.
Now you are going to see a pattern as I discuss recipes...I don't always follow them verbatim. First off I was saving the two jars of peanuts I had for peanut brittle so I substituted 1/2 cup peanut butter chips for the chopped peanuts ( if you want the crunch use the peanuts or better yet go all out and do both) and of course I use what I have on hand so I used just regular semisweet chocolate chips. I think this would also be great with milk chocolate chips. I like to use bananas that are a little older as they are sweeter and mash better. We always have banana's in the house. Some weeks they are eaten quickly and some weeks not at all. Those are the weeks I make this bread. I also didn't get fancy and skipped the frosting mixture to save my sanity when serving it to my 2 year old, and the fact I didn't feel like running to the grocery store for a container of chocolate frosting. It tastes great without so if you don't have it in your cabinet all ready or are just lazy and pinching pennies like me....you know it will still be a hit with the family.
If you ever want nutrition information on the verbatim recipe please let me know...the recipe book includes them....not sure what I will discuss next time...but until then....let me cook.
Monkey Tail Bread
Makes 1 loaf (16 Slices)
1/2 cup Shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbs chocolate frosting
1 tbs creamy peanut butter
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of a loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches. Beat shortening and sugar in large bowl with electric mixture on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs and bananas until smooth. Beat in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt just until mixed. Stir in peanuts and chocolate chips. Pour in pan.
2. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
3. Place frosting in small plastic food-storage bag. Microwave on high 6-10 seconds or until pourable. Add peanut butter to bag; gently squeeze bag until peanut butter and frosting are well blended. Cut off tiny corner of bag. Squeeze bag to drizzle chocolate mixture over bread.
Now you are going to see a pattern as I discuss recipes...I don't always follow them verbatim. First off I was saving the two jars of peanuts I had for peanut brittle so I substituted 1/2 cup peanut butter chips for the chopped peanuts ( if you want the crunch use the peanuts or better yet go all out and do both) and of course I use what I have on hand so I used just regular semisweet chocolate chips. I think this would also be great with milk chocolate chips. I like to use bananas that are a little older as they are sweeter and mash better. We always have banana's in the house. Some weeks they are eaten quickly and some weeks not at all. Those are the weeks I make this bread. I also didn't get fancy and skipped the frosting mixture to save my sanity when serving it to my 2 year old, and the fact I didn't feel like running to the grocery store for a container of chocolate frosting. It tastes great without so if you don't have it in your cabinet all ready or are just lazy and pinching pennies like me....you know it will still be a hit with the family.
If you ever want nutrition information on the verbatim recipe please let me know...the recipe book includes them....not sure what I will discuss next time...but until then....let me cook.
Let me Bake (from 12/24/09)
With the holiday season almost over so is my baking season. This time of year I devote several hours a day to baking savory loaves of bread, decadent cookies and lip smacking candies, all to give my loved ones. This year I grew in my garden zucchini, cucumbers and sunflowers. The sunflowers were the result of tossing the birdseed off my porch into the garden after sweeping and was harvested to feed the birds. 
The cucumbers never did very well, turning a odd color of yellow before reaching harvesting size, probably a result of over crowding by the zucchini. The zucchini took off growing to humongous lengths practically over night. Daily I would go out to pick a few only to find they had doubled in size.
With several dozen zucchini to work with I decided that this years Christmas gifts would included, you guessed it, zucchini bread. I had seen a recipe I wanted to try in a small recipe book, you know the kind you pick up for a few bucks up at the registers next to the celebrity newspapers. This one was put together by Betty Crocker and Gold Medal and is called, "Fall Baking - Cookies, Breads and Desserts", put out back in 2003. The recipe is called Raisin Nut Zucchini Bread and makes 2 scrumptious loaves in just an hour.
Recipe
Makes 2 Loaves (16 slices each)
3 medium zucchini, shredded (3 cups)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/2 cup golden raisins, if desired
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, with shortening. Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans.
2. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool ten minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, be slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 1 week.
So there you have it the recipe I use to my my holiday zucchini bread and now to tell you what I do differently. I do omit the raisins. I don't care for them in this bread and I used walnuts. I buy them in a big bag when on sale and put the desired amount into a sandwich bag and take a rolling pin to them to crush them up. This helps take out any frustrations from the mistakes I have made while making the bread. I also found though trial and error that baking spray on the bottom of the pans allows the bread to release from the pan much easier than shortening and is less messy. ALWAYS remember to spray or grease the pan before pouring in the mixture if you do not plan on keeping the bread for yourself. I now have 3 loaves with torn bottoms because of this.
I've also found that actually using an electric mixture to combine the wet and dry ingredients incorporates the mixture better. Stirring is doesn't cut it I discovered as I bit into a slice from one of those torn loaves and got a mouth full of dry, overcooked flour. Yuck...the rest of the bread tasted amazing. It also rose better when mixed like this verses stirring.
What else can I say but try it. Whether it's vegetables from your own garden or you go buy it from a stand or market, making something like this for my family is a gift of it's own....the couple glasses of rum I had while cooking made it all that much better. My husband likes to cut himself a slice, heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds and then smother on butter....yummy.
Next post I'll be discussing more bread making from the "Fall Baking" book. Until then.....Let me bake.
The cucumbers never did very well, turning a odd color of yellow before reaching harvesting size, probably a result of over crowding by the zucchini. The zucchini took off growing to humongous lengths practically over night. Daily I would go out to pick a few only to find they had doubled in size.With several dozen zucchini to work with I decided that this years Christmas gifts would included, you guessed it, zucchini bread. I had seen a recipe I wanted to try in a small recipe book, you know the kind you pick up for a few bucks up at the registers next to the celebrity newspapers. This one was put together by Betty Crocker and Gold Medal and is called, "Fall Baking - Cookies, Breads and Desserts", put out back in 2003. The recipe is called Raisin Nut Zucchini Bread and makes 2 scrumptious loaves in just an hour.
Recipe
Makes 2 Loaves (16 slices each)
3 medium zucchini, shredded (3 cups)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/2 cup golden raisins, if desired
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, with shortening. Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans.
2. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool ten minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, be slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 1 week.
So there you have it the recipe I use to my my holiday zucchini bread and now to tell you what I do differently. I do omit the raisins. I don't care for them in this bread and I used walnuts. I buy them in a big bag when on sale and put the desired amount into a sandwich bag and take a rolling pin to them to crush them up. This helps take out any frustrations from the mistakes I have made while making the bread. I also found though trial and error that baking spray on the bottom of the pans allows the bread to release from the pan much easier than shortening and is less messy. ALWAYS remember to spray or grease the pan before pouring in the mixture if you do not plan on keeping the bread for yourself. I now have 3 loaves with torn bottoms because of this.
I've also found that actually using an electric mixture to combine the wet and dry ingredients incorporates the mixture better. Stirring is doesn't cut it I discovered as I bit into a slice from one of those torn loaves and got a mouth full of dry, overcooked flour. Yuck...the rest of the bread tasted amazing. It also rose better when mixed like this verses stirring.
What else can I say but try it. Whether it's vegetables from your own garden or you go buy it from a stand or market, making something like this for my family is a gift of it's own....the couple glasses of rum I had while cooking made it all that much better. My husband likes to cut himself a slice, heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds and then smother on butter....yummy.
Next post I'll be discussing more bread making from the "Fall Baking" book. Until then.....Let me bake.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)