Memories and healthy recipes for your dinner table.
Italian spiced pork chops, sounded delicious and was; that is if you do not over cook the meat. I am not a big fan of the modern kitchen that is fitted with every kitchen tool imaginable. While they may be convenient they are expensive and …
When it is 109 degrees outside the last thing I want to do is stand in the hot kitchen cooking. This week our meals have mostly consisted of dinner salads. They are fast, easy and there is not a lot of clean up. In this …
There are so many recipes for banana bread and zucchini bread it is enough to make the head spin trying to decided which one is going to turn out right. So I have a couple of recipes for you to try. One is a traditional zucchini bread with a hint of cinnamon. The other combines sweet potatoes with an assortment of spices.
Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread
Source: Bon Appetit Magazine, November 1992
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Sift the first 7 ingredients into a medium sized bowl. In a separate, large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Loosen the edges of the bread with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely. Can be prepared 1 day in advance. Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature.
Variations: By Joy the Baker
-The nutmeg and the cloves are optional.
-For less fat use 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup apple sauce in place of the 3/4 cup oil.
-Use 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar.
-Replace the 2 cups flour with 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour.
This is a nice version of zucchini bread with less sugar and half the oil.
Classic Zucchini Bread
Source: Coconut Lime
2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 and 1/2 medium sized)
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs, room temperature, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Beat eggs separately and add sugar until fluffy. Fold egg mixture into dry ingredients. Add oil, shredded zucchini and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
Divide batter into two greased loaf pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack, then remove from pan and continue cooling on rack.
For muffins, bake for about 15-20 minutes.
Variations:
-Add 4 tsp cinnamon for a spicier flavor.
-Add 1 cup chopped walnuts for crunch.
-Half the oil and replace the 1/4 cup with applesauce.
Years ago while I lived in South Florida I was unofficially adopted by my two most favorite people in the world Ty and Sheri Houck. Mind you I was 20 years old at the time when Ty referred to me as his orphan. I did …
One of the first questions I am asked after someone finds out that I am from Southern Florida is, “so did you have alligators in your backyard?” No alligators but we did have a family of peacocks down the street. And by the way, there …
A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to an annual blueberry festival at a local farm. The kids enjoyed plucking ripe blueberries and cherries, munching a few along the way. The highlight of my day was Mason’s dirt streaked face. Evidence he had the time of his life crawling through tunnels made of bales of hay.
Once home I reserved enough cherries to freeze for this cherry cake. It is easier to remove the pits from thawed cherries. Just squeeze and they pop right out.
Source: Rachael Ray
4-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
Two 10-ounce bags frozen cherries, thawed and drained
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
In a medium bowl, using your fingers, combine 3 cups flour, the brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix in all but 2 tablespoons butter until large crumbs form; set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, the egg and the buttermilk.
In a medium bowl, stir together the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, the granulated sugar, baking powder and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the egg mixture and stir to form a thick, smooth batter. Fold about a third of the reserved crumb mixture into the batter; spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
Scatter the cherries over the batter; sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture on top. Bake the cake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for about 20 minutes before serving.
Variations:
Replace cherries with favorite fruit.
The combination of sweet potatoes and muffin mix was the deciding factor in trying this version of corn chowder. Surprisingly the soup was light with a hint of sweet. Source: Cook’s Country serves 6-8 3 cups whole milk 1 cup yellow corn Jiffy muffin mix …
This salad is by far one of my favorite summer dinnertime passions. I love seafood. It is one food Florida offered plenty of while the valley of California does not. There was a seafood restaurant I frequented that I really liked, the food there was …
A friend of mine and I were discussing how our mother’s helped wipe away our heartache with chocolate and a movie. My friend has carried on that tradition with her teenage daughter as I will one day with mine. I certainly am not suggesting downing a carton of ice cream every time life turns a little sour. But, it was in that tender moment, however; after a break up when my mom took the time to run to the store for ice cream and a video game, similar to Betend, that I felt more like a girlfriend than a daughter. I think as a teenager it was nice to know that my mom was human. She suffered with me that night and it meant the world to me.
Salted nut bars may not be ice cream or have chocolate in them but they are dreamy. They are crunchy, salty an sweet all rolled up into one tantalizing treat.
1 pound peanut-butter sandwich cookies, coarsely crumbled
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Topping:
2 cups peanut butter chips
2/3 cup light corn syrup
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
2 cups rice krispy cereal
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13X9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
Pulverize cookies in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add melted butter; process until crumbs clump together. Press crumbs into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until golden.
Melt peanut butter chips, corn syrup, butter and vanilla in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth, about 5 minutes. Spread 1/2 cup of peanut mixture over crumb base.
Top with marshmallows and return bars to oven. Bake until marshmallows puff, about 2 minutes, then remove from oven. Do not let marshmallows turn brown or else they will become crunchy.
Toss peanuts and cereal with remaining peanut mixture to coat. Drop spoonfuls of the topping over the marshmallows, then spread with a spatula (sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking). Cool bars before cutting.
Variations:
-Substitute chocolate chips for the peanut butter chips or mix some in with the rice cereal and nuts.
-Replace the 1/2 cup layer of peanut butter mixture with caramel topping.
Teaching our children to have healthy nutrition habits starts when they are young. More importantly it begins with us, their parents. We can teach our children to eat correctly by offering them healthy options regardless of our own food preferences. Joan Lunden and Pediatrician Myron …