Zucchini Bread

Christmas is less than one week away.  Is everyone ready?  I am.  All gifts have been bought; they just need to be wrapped.  I'm in good shape I think.  It's been busy around here lately but tis the season.  We all have the certain parties we go to and the family traditons that come with Christmastime.  I love those traditions.

Every year my family goes to my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve.  We have dinner and then exchange gifts with my mother's side of the family.  I have literally been doing this my entire life.  It would not be Christmas Eve without going there and eating her homemade cookies while opening gifts one by one.  Yes, we watch everyone open their gifts; it lasts longer that way.

Since M and I have been married, Christmas Day obviously has changed since I was child.  We get up and open the gifts we have for each other while still in our pajamas.  I must always sit on the floor (traditions again).  Then we get ready and go over to M's parents home to have a Christmas brunch with his side of the family.  It's awesome.  I look forward to this brunch every year.  This is a great tradition that started when we were married.  My parents and grandmother also stop by and it's a perfect way to spend Christmas morning.

Then M and I exchange gifts with his family and spend the rest of the day relaxing, eating some more, and playing games.  It's really fun.  I love board games and this is pretty much the one time all year I get to play them (M doesn't much care for them). 

That's a sneak peak into the traditions of our family for Christmas.  Some have changed but some have stayed the same.  One tradition that I have kept for myself for the past decade or so is zucchini bread.  I bake it every year at Christmastime and that's it.  I don't bake it any other time all year.  I should call it my Christmas Bread because it really is.  It is a sweet gift and I have given it out many times and it goes over quite well.  I would recommend it if you are still not sure what to get someone.  Homemade gifts are always a great way to go.

This recipe has seen many Christmas seasons and it will see many more. 

Merry Christmas!


Zucchini Bread

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour two loaf pans.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In another large bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the sugar, vanilla and oil.  Blend well with the mixer.  Stir in the zucchini with a wooden spoon until combined.  Add half the flour mixture and stir with the wooden spoon until incorporated. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans.  Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool in the loaf pans.  Carefully remove the bread from the loaf pans, slice and serve!  A smear of butter doesn't hurt.

Italian Sub Soup

Where has the time gone?  It's been over a month since my last blog post.  I didn't realize I was that busy and it must not go this long again.

M and I went on our cruise and long story short, eh, not that great.  Food was terrible (major fail) and there was a boat load (get it? I'm a dork) of kids on the ship.  Not as relaxing as we hoped and we did not swim with dolphins. :(  But we jet skied and that was really fun.  We were very glad to get home.  We did see some great sunrises though.

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean

Then we were busy with work and Thanksgiving.  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Ours was busy but very nice.  Lots and lots of eating with family.  Those are great times.  And now Christmas is right around the corner and it is my favorite holiday.  My Christmas tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving and it makes me so happy.  Isn't she pretty?

I couldn't wait to get home from our cruise and start cooking especially with the quality of the food we got on the ship.  I made some good dishes but nothing really great - until this soup.  I actually made this soup a few years ago and pulled it out again.  I think it was better this time around.  So warm on the cold days we're beginning to have here in New England.  No snow yet  but it's coming.  No doubt.  This soup is perfect on one of those days.

It calls for Italian sausage but M and I don't care for the fennel seed that's typically in that so we used andouille instead.  It also called to cook the pasta directly in the soup but knowing that we were going to have leftovers, I chose to cook the pasta separately and ladle the soup over the pasta in our bowls.  This way, the pasta didn't get mushy and absorb all the broth the next day.

I will try and try my best to post again soon.  Here's hoping for some tasty dishes.  With Christmas coming soon, there should be some good material.

Italian Sub Soup
Adapted from 365: No Repeats by Rachael Ray

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 links andouille sausage, diced
1/2 stick of pepperoni, diced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 28 can diced tomatoes or whole tomatoes, broken up with a wooden spoon
salt and pepper
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup short cut pasta, I used small shells
2-3 handfuls of baby arugula
grated parmesan cheese

Preheat a soup pot over medium high heat.  Add the olive oil and andouille sausage and cook until it begins to brown.  Add the pepperoni and cook for about 2 minutes.  Add the green pepper and onion and cook for about 2-3 minutes more.  Add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Add the chicken stock and let the soup simmer.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions (or a little less since it will go into hot soup).

Stir the arugula into the soup.  Put some pasta into your soup bowl and ladle the soup over it.  Sprinkle with grated cheese.  Serve immediately.

Note: Absolutely delicious the next day.

Apple Brown Sugar Coffee Cake

This may not be my last apple post but it will be my last for at least a week (even though it's been about two weeks since my last post but whatever).

M and I are going on vacation!  We are cruising to the Bahamas and we leave tomorrow.  Can I tell you how excited we are?  We haven't had a vacation since our honeymoon five years ago.  It's time to hit the water!

There will be lots of sleeping, relaxing, eating, and swimming to be done and we plan to do them all with full dedication.  We've never been on a cruise before but have heard good things.  Pictures to follow.

This coffee cake was super delicious and another way for me to use up the apples I picked.  I made this a couple of weeks ago first thing in the morning on the weekend and we had a nice freshly baked breakfast with our coffee.  It was so good.  I brought the rest of it to work the next day and it went fast.  

The original recipe was gluten free but I didn't have any gluten free flour so I just used good old all-purpose flour.  It also called for chocolate chips but I wasn't feeling that and left them out.  Didn't miss them at all.

See you in a week or two! 

Apple Brown Sugar Coffee Cake
Adapted from Taste of Home

1 cup plus 2 tsp flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large apples, cored, peeled, and chopped into 1/2 in pieces or so

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 9in round baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 2 tsp flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon to make a crumb mixture.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar until smooth.  Whisk in the oil and vanilla.  Stir into the flour mixture until just combined.  Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, top with half of the apples and half the brown sugar/walnut crumb mixture.  Repeat with the remaining batter, apples, and crumb mixture. 

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.

Let cool slightly and serve.  This was still great the next day with a big cup of coffee.

Baked Apple Mini Muffins

Fall is upon us in New England which means cooler weather, fall foliage, and apple picking.

M and I went last weekend.  It was a little late in the season and there were only 3 varieties available for picking - macintosh, red delicious, and cortland.  I went for the cortlands.  I remember growing up that my grandmother always used cortlands for her apple pies so I stuck with her favorite. 

When we got to the farm, I almost dropped dead when we were told the price. $20 for the SMALL bag!!!  Had we not driven for 20 minutes with the dog, I might have walked away.  But, I really wanted to go apple picking so we swallowed our pride and paid the ghastly price.

It was a great fall morning and Maddux really enjoyed himself too.  He ate the grass mostly.

Now I stuffed that bag as full as I could get it.  I wanted my money's worth, you understand.  So once I got the bag to the point of spilling over, we went on our way.  I made a stop at the country store and purchased some cider donuts, apple cider, and apple butter (I first typed apply butter.  It does make everything better).

Anyway, now I had all of these apples and needed something to do with them.  I found this recipe for oven baked apple donuts that I wanted to try.  After they were done, they were more like mini muffins so that's what I'm calling them.  I still have a bunch of apples left and as I type, I have an apple-brown sugar coffee cake in the oven.  My house smells awesome. 

We actually had some new neighbors move in a couple of weeks ago so I thought it would be nice and neighborly to introduce myself and bring them some freshly baked mini apple muffins.  I would have loved that if I was a new neighbor.  I hoped they liked them!  I know I did.

Oven Baked Apple Mini Muffins
Adapted from Chocolate Shavings

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 granulated sugar
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
3 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into tiny bite sized pieces

Cinnamon Sugar Coating
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a bowl.  Add the cold butter.  Rub the butter pieces with the flour and sugar mixture with your fingers until it forms coarse crumbs.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the milk and apples.  Fold into the mixture.  Add the egg and apple mixture to the flour and sugar mixture.  Stir to combine.

Grease a mini muffin pan.  Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan.

Bake in the oven for about 17 minutes.  While the muffins are baking, mix together the cinnamon and sugar for the coating.

When the muffins are done, remove from oven.  Let cool slightly.  Remove each muffin from the pan and brush with the melted butter.  Then roll the muffins in the bowl of cinnamon sugar to coat.  Shake off any excess.  Enjoy!

Note: Be careful storing muffins in a bag or an airtight container as the cinnamon sugar could melt and become wet.  They are better when some air is allowed to get to them.

Snickerdoodles

I don't know what it was but I wanted snickerdoodles and I wanted them now. 

I got all geared up to make them and then discovered I was out of eggs. 

Out of eggs! How did that happen? 

Anywho, I looked through some of my cookbooks and found a cinnamon cookie recipe that didn't call for eggs but called for olive oil.  Hmmm.  Why not? 

Now this recipe was a little strange.  It called for you to sift the flour into a pile on a board and make a well in the middle.  Then add lemon zest, olive oil, cinnamon and sugar and mix with your hands - kind of like if you were making pasta. 

I don't know if I am just incapable of mixing things with my hands but I did not get dough.  I got a pile of flour. 

See:

So I got to thinking I needed some more fat and moisture so I cut in about 4 tablespoons cold butter and added about 3-4 tablespoons water like I was making biscuits.  At least at this point it made some sort of semblence to dough.  I rolled it into balls, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and stuck it in the oven.  What did I get?  Pretty much cinnamon biscuits but much more tender.  Overall they had good flavor; the texture was just not what I was looking for. 

See - they looked like biscuits:

The hunt continued.

I searched through the internet and found several recipes that sounded tempting.  Many though had 1 cup of butter.  While that is very tasty, I didn't want to use that much butter. I also came across one that called for cornstarch.  Interesting I thought.  I decided to take a pretty standard recipe and incorporate the cornstarch. 

Folks, this was the snickerdoodle I was looking for!  So sweet and cinnamony. It's a keeper and satisfied my craving.

Snickerdoodles
Adapted from Better Homes and Garden

6 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour

Cinnamon Sugar
1/4 granulated sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375.

In a mixer, cream the butter.  Once creamed, add the sugar, baking soda, and cornstarch.  Beat to combine.  The mixture will look very grainy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Beat to combine.  Slowly add in the flour while the mixer is beating.  Make sure everything is thoroughly combined.  You may need to stir the dough by hand to ensure all flour is incorporated.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon and sugar.  Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Rolls the dough into small balls with your hand and place into the bowl of cinnamon sugar and roll around to coat completely.  Place balls onto the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and flatten slightly with your fingers.  Bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and transfer to cooling racks. Then eat!

Puttanesca Shrimp with Fettucine

What a busy week this has been at work.  It was the ARRA federal reporting deadline.  What is that?  It is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act otherwise known as the stimulus plan.  Super exciting stuff.  Anyway, MIT got a lot of this funding towards research and all the money spent, received, jobs created, etc. needs to be reported on to the federal government.  This is the transparency, you see.  We had about 170 awards we needed to report on thus making a busy week.

But the good news?  M and I are going on vacation in 3 weeks!  Yay!  We are going on a cruise and neither one of us has been on a cruise before.  We can't wait.  They say the food on cruises is unbelievable.  I'll let you know.  The cruise is heading down to the Bahamas and wanna know what we're going to do?  Swim. With. DOLPHINS!!!  I have always wanted to do this and I said to M, "I don't care if we don't book any other shore excursions but we are swimming with dolphins!"  So, we are.  I am looking forward to this part the most. 

Even with the busy week, I managed to squeeze out some OK meals but this one from last week takes the cake.  I toned down the capers a bit because I don't much care for them but M loves them so he added more to his own plate.  Please feel free to follow suit.  Also, please be careful when smashing the tomatoes.  One shot right into my face and burned my cheek.  I had a lovely burn mark on my face for week.  So stand back!

Have a great long weekend and do some leaf peeping.  It is so beautiful in New England right now.  I hope to get some apple and pumpkin picking in.

Puttanesca Shrimp with Fettucine

Adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

1lb fettucine (or whatever pasta you like)

1lb shrimp, tails on

2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

zest of one lemon

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 pints grape tomatoes

1/2 cup kalamata olives

1 tbsp capers, plus more for serving if you like

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, and cook the pasta until al dente.  Before you drain, reserve a ladle full of pasta water.

Toss the shrimp with the Old Bay seasoning and lemon in a bowl.

In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons or so of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.  Cook for about two minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the tomatoes, olives, and capers.  Cover the skillet and lower the heat.  Cook until the tomatoes burst stirring half way through.  Using a potato masher, squish any any unburst tomatoes.  Add the shrimp to the tomato mixture in the skillet.  Cook until firm and pink about 3-4 minutes. 

In a large bowl, toss the pasta with the reserved pasta water, tomato sauce and shrimp.  Serve immediately.

Chicken with Fresh Tomato and Corn Salsa

We did it, folks!  We completed the 5K.  I am very glad I did it.  I couldn't run the whole time which I was pretty bummed about but it is really hard to keep your pace up with that many people running around you.  There were over 2,000 runners in this race and that didn't count the ones who were only walking.  I finished in about 34 minutes which actually isn't that bad.  My cousin's time was about 30 minutes so she did great!  I am very proud.  We are already thinking about doing it again next year. 

During the week after, M was traveling back and forth out of state for work and has to do that for the next week too.  Since he has been getting home later, dinners need to be quick.  I don't want to be cooking really late.  This chicken dish was super easy.  All you have to do is cook some chicken and chop some tomatoes and onions and boom, awesome dinner.  The recipe actually calls for the corn to be raw which would be fine but since it was so late in the season, I did cook the corn for a few minutes (in the microwave! gasp!).  It was my last taste of the summer with the fresh corn and it was a great way to end it.  I served it with couscous and it was one of my favorite meals we've had recently.

Chicken with Fresh Tomato and Corn Salsa
Adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
6-8 chicken tenders
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil
3 ears of corn, kernels cut off
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
fresh basil, chopped

In three shallow dishes, add the flour in one, milk in the second, and bread crumbs in the third.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, then the milk, then the bread crumbs.  Shake of any excess.

In a large skillet, heat about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the chicken and cook on each side for for about five minutes until golden brown.  Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels.

While the chicken is cooking, cook your corn to your liking or keep raw.  Cut the kernels off the ears.  Mix the corn with the tomatoes, onion, fresh basil, and about 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve the salsa over the chicken.


Bonus Recipe: Parsley-Parmesan Couscous
A recipe by Noelle

1 cup chicken stock
1 cup couscous
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

In a saucepan, heat the stock until it boils.  Turn off the heat and add the couscous.  Cover tightly and let sit for about five minutes.  Add the parmesan cheese and parsley and fluff the couscous with a fork and combine the cheese and parsley.  Serve immediately.