Tag Archives: cooking

Double Chocolate Zucchini Spice Muffins, and an Ode to My Kitchen Tools

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In my ripe old age, I’ve started to upgrade my kitchen tools a little bit. Sure, that cheap muffin tin that came with a set of 14 other bakeware items for $15.99 in 2004 still works … as long as it’s lined with papers. If I don’t have any muffin liners, I might have to pry out muffins with a butter knife and pray they don’t fall apart.

For Christmas, my mother-in-law bought me some awesome silicone muffin pans. I have a 12-cup regular muffin pan, a 24-cup mini-muffin one, and a 6-cup heart-shaped pan.

I am continually amazed at just how easy it is to pop muffins and other baked goods out of these babies. Cereal bar cookies? No problem at all in the silicone pan, but would not come out of my regular ones at all.

Another tool I didn’t own until more recently was a cookie scoop. I’ve had a medium-sized scoop for a few years and for Christmas got a larger scoop.

They are amazing! They make cookies the same size! No messing with two spoons and trying not to lick my fingers! It’s incredible.

The large scoop also makes perfect-sized muffins. Which brings us to these Double Chocolate Zucchini Spice Muffins.

I posted my mother-in-law’s version of these muffins a few years ago. I wanted to jazz it up a bit, though, which I did with MORE chocolate, more fat, and some almond extract. (You know, Jessie style!)

You’ll have to make more than one batch to use up all that extra zucchini from your garden. But these will freeze great for future breakfasts. Enjoy!

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Double Chocolate Zucchini Spice Muffins

Double Chocolate Zucchini Spice Muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 c. sugar
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. unsweetened dark cocoa powder (or regular is fine)
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 medium zucchini, shredded (about 1 c. shredded zucchini)
  • 1/2 c. milk (any kind is fine – I used coconut milk)
  • 4 T butter, melted (or oil)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • 1/2 c. mini or regular chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a small bowl, combine shredded zucchini, milk, butter, egg, and almond extract and stir well. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Baked for about 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in middle of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

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Libbie wanted a picture of her breakfast, too!

Let It Rise

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I love bread-baking. I think it’s the simple act of creation: watching a messy pile of flour, liquid, salt, and yeast meld together and then rise, a little miracle in and of itself.

Rising Bread in Bowl
source: torontorob

My first memory of bread-baking is from the mid-90s, when my mother bought into the bread machine craze. She would make a Hawaiian bread, flecked with pineapple and singing with almond extract, that smelled so amazing when it rose we didn’t care that half the time it hit the lid of the machine and fell.

One of my greatest pleasures in being a stay-at-home mom is having the lengths of time it takes to make foods like bread or homemade broths. I may have attempted a loaf here and there when I worked, but not with any regularity. Not enough time to be close to it, carefully evaluating: has it risen enough? do I have time to let it rise AND bake?

Yeast can be a tricky substance, though. If your liquid is too hot, it kills the power of the yeast. If it’s not warm, the yeast might not react.

One of Jesus’ shortest parables is about yeast. Matthew 6:33 says, “He told them still another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty poundsof flour until it worked all through the dough.’ ”

That’s it. The whole parable.

I think it was just assumed that the people He spoke to knew how yeast worked. Bread was probably part of their daily diet; bread-making as familiar as it was in the early 20th century in America.

In a big bowl of flour, yeast is just some tiny granules, a miniscule percentage of the whole. And yet without it, we get flat bread. Make the yeast angry and you’ve got a clump of useless dough. It might look OK. Sure, the dough didn’t get quite as puffy as it should. But maybe it will bake right anyway!

Nope.

The image of the kingdom of God being stirred into a giant vat of flour is beautiful to me. We are in a giant world with billions of people. What can we possibly do to change the world for Christ?

But just like yeast, we … no, not we. The Word of God, the Spirit IN us is so powerful that it can affect everything around us. If we empty ourselves out and let Jesus live through us, we can show others how to rise.

That’s why I feel like it’s a miracle each time I make bread.

SNV33695

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Healthy Strawberry Popsicles

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Secret Recipe Club

This month for the Secret Recipe Club, I was given This Mama Cooks (On a Diet!) as my assigned site. If you’re new or have forgotten about Secret Recipe Club in the midst of all the reading around here, it’s a “club” where bloggers are each assigned another blog from which to make a recipe.

This Mama Cooks was started in 2004, which makes it ancient in blog world! Anne-Marie is a professional blogger and social-media professional, also working for giants like Mom Central and CafeMom.

I decided to take inspiration from her recipes for popsicles. She’s made Orange-Coconut Popsicles (YUM.) and Green Apple and Flaxseed Popsicles, among several others. I sort of adapted the green apple popsicles to accommodate what I had in the fridge and cabinets, as well as the fact that my daughter won’t eat whole fruit except peel-less apple slices and bananas.

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I found that she will HAPPILY suck down a popsicle that is made entirely of fruit and fruit juice, even if she won’t eat those fruits by themselves. So I think I’ll be making a whole lot more popsicles in the future. I didn’t sweeten these at all, and they are slightly tart, so you could add a little honey, sugar, or other sweetener if you so desire.

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Loving our monster popsicle molds! They make smaller popsicles for little hands.

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Healthy Strawberry Popsicles

Yield: 4-6 popsicles, depending on size of molds

Ingredients

Instructions

Add all to blender, blend until very smooth. Add more juice or water if mixture is too thick to pour.

Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

To get out of molds once frozen, you can run them under hot water or let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

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31daysbutton
Since I don’t really want to write another, separate post for my 31 days series and I make the rules around here, I thought I’d talk about cookbooks briefly. They are books. Right?

Here are some of my favorite cookbooks:
Rachael Ray 365
Betty Crocker Cookbook (although I prefer the 70s version!)
The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Barefoot Contessa at Home

Let’s be real, though? At least ninety percent of the recipes I make come from the Internet; many I find on Pinterest.

Do you still use cookbooks, or do you just glean from the Internet?

 

Food for the Freezer

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Every now and again, I get the urge to stock my freezer with meals. When the urge comes, I am afraid to ignore it lest it never revisit.

After having it since its release (SHAMED!), I finally opened Survive Before 5, my cousin Tricia‘s ebook for cooking toddler meals. As I should have expected, it’s absolutely amazing. There are recipes for breakfast, lunch, and snacks; and Tricia thought of absolutely everything to help moms plan meals, cook them, and even let your toddlers help in the kitchen!

The recipes all show measurements for 1, 2, 4, or 6 kids; there are “toddler tasks” on each recipe card; and a grocery list, instructions, and labels all accompany the recipes. Not to mention sweet pictures of Isaac and Tessa, my cousins-once-removed. (Right? Never can remember the technical term there.)

I am really not an ebook person, honestly, and I don’t promote them much. But if you have toddlers and would like to have simple meals on hand that they will probably eat, you NEED Survive Before 5!

I am making a majority of the recipes from the cookbook along with a few other things to stock our freezer and deliver to friends. I thought I’d share our plan in case you’re searching for a good freezer meal to make.

(And yes, keeping the oven on all day when it’s 100 degrees is ridiculous … but I am hopeful this will save me from turning it on for the rest of August!)

From the ebook:
toddler french toast sticks
homemade spaghetti o’s
individual mac & cheese cups
corndog muffins
homemade cheesy rice
apple chicken nuggets
individual pizzas
homemade yogurt
peanut butter banana yogurt pops
peanut butter granola bars

And a few more things:
Batter-Dipped Chicken Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Jambalaya
Easy Taco Bake (ate one, one for freezer)
Carrot Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
Bacon and Egg Biscuit Cups
Summer Vegetable Chowder (with kielbasa instead of hot dogs)
A pork loin recipe from How to Cook Everything

I am hoping all of this will fit in my little above-the-fridge freezer!

Have you done any freezer cooking lately? What are your favorite recipes for freezing?

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Cooking with Kids and The Motherhood

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You might remember that on June 15, I helped co-host an online cooking class with The Motherhood about cooking with kids. You can find a complete recap on their site. 

Here are some of the highlights if you couldn’t make it to the class:

When the school year ends, most kids want to use summer vacation for playtime and forget about “learning” for a while.  But learning doesn’t need to be about sitting still, reading books and doing homework – interacting in the kitchen can make learning FEEL like playtime.

“We use cooking as a teaching opportunity in many aspects,” acknowledged Stacie, The Divine Miss Mommy.

Ways to incorporate learning into fun kitchen time:

Practice reading and comprehension: Ask your child to read the recipe and help you follow it to prepare the dish.

Practice math skills: All recipes use basic math like counting, measuring and following step-by-step instructions.

“I love teaching my daughter about measuring since they are covering that in school. It kind of sticks in your head easier when you understand 1/4 or 1/2 cup, etc,” said Tammy, Tammy’s Two Cents.

“Even my 2-year-old can work on her counting! ‘We need 2 cups of flour…’” added Jessie, Vanderbilt Wife.

Kids can start helping in the kitchen from a very young age – it’s just about assigning age-appropriate tasks.

Toddlers can help by snapping green beans in half, tearing up lettuce or helping you mix batter by hand. Grade-school kids can begin measuring dry and liquid ingredients, cracking eggs, juicing lemons, etc. Work out a progression of skills in the kitchen as your children grow.

“Fruit kabobs, veggie kabobs are great for little hands to assemble, or a good teriyaki chicken kabob can be assembled by the older kids,” noted Vanessa, The Sew*er, The Caker, The Copycat-Maker.

“My toddler loves dumping things into a mixing bowl (coordination!), counting, stirring, placing items (like on a pizza),” suggested Jessica, Vanderbilt Wife.

Jenna, A Mom’s Balancing Act, added, “My 3 year old loves helping wash the vegetables.”

And rounding out the toddler skill set, “When my youngest was two, she could set the table, hand us utensils and we even let her stir. She loved it!” said Stacie, The Divine Miss Mommy.

Going beyond quality time and healthier eating, there are a whole host of benefits to cooking with your kids, and you can find many of them in this article from Web MD: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/guide/cooking-with-your-children

Additional tips for cooking with kids (shared by Jessica, Vanderbilt Wife): http://onceamonthmom.com/top-ten-tuesday-cooking-with-kids/

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I would definitely encourage you to attend one of the cooking classes at The Motherhood if you’re ever able. I always enjoy chatting about food, everyone gives great suggestions, and the sponsors chip up some fun prizes! There aren’t any scheduled right now that I can tell, but keep a lookout.

The Motherhood chat was sponsored by ConAgra, and I was compensated for my time.
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Why I Don’t Want to Cook Dinner Anymore

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If you’re visiting from a search engine and need some simple recipes because you really don’t want to cook, may I suggest the following?

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Why I...
It seems that over the last few weeks, I’ve lost my knack for cooking.

Everything burns: fried rice, chicken, bread, vegetables. Scrambled eggs have too much milk. Pancakes cannot be flipped correctly. Breads don’t rise. Potatoes don’t brown. I forget to make side dishes. Recipes that sound delicious flop. I set the smoke detector off 5 days out of 7. I wish I were joking.

Something that was once a joy has become worse than a chore; it’s a feeling of letting down my family each and every night. It’s embarrassment over that beeping noise again and smoke filling the kitchen again.

I consider myself a decent cook, or at least one who can usually look at a recipe and decipher whether or not it will be good. It’s so disheartening to bring fork to mouth and taste disappointment once more.

Perhaps it’s something to point me back to my beginnings as a cook, or maybe just a sign that we should be eating more raw foods. I now know what my friends mean when they say they can’t make pasta without burning it. And I don’t like it one bit.

One more cooking disaster and I’m afraid our menu plan will be ramen noodles, every night.

At least that would be cheap.

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Want to join in the “Why I” fun? Add your link here. The only rules are that your post title must start with “Why I” and you must link back to Vanderbilt Wife by link or by the button.

Why I...

I’m planning to spend this weekend off the computer and concentrating instead on the holy sacrifice of Jesus. Have a wonderful Easter weekend.

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Whole Foods in a Hurry: The Grand Finale

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Last Saturday, I cooked my entire Whole Foods in a Hurry menu. Without a partner, except for my husband who pitched in when Libbie was asleep. (He watched her the rest of the day–that is definitely helping as well!)

We’ve already started eating through many of the meals. Some have been great; some I’m disappointed with. I think that’s the case in any big cooking project–not everything is going to be an A+. I thought I’d do a recap of each recipe with notes on taste if we’ve had it already. Hope this helps!

But first, here’s me about an hour in. Scary, aren’t I?

Apricot Breakfast Bars: I think I actually only used half the butter I was supposed to. Oops. But they are still amazingly delicious. I will be repeating this recipe for a long time!

 
Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake: I haven’t defrosted one of these yet, but I’ve had them from frozen before and they were great. Can’t wait to dig into one soon! As I mentioned in the video, the batter is super-duper thick. That is normal and what makes it so tasty! I mixed in the berries with my hands to make sure it was really incorporated, and then pressed it into the pans with my hands as well. I made one blueberry and one mixed berry (both with frozen berries). (Picture is on the way into the oven.)

Christmas Eggs: My husband made these. Please scrub your egg pan out immediately if you don’t want to do battle with it later. :) Libbie and I had them for breakfast, and sadly being frozen made the eggs a funny texture and very watery. While I would make the recipe again, I don’t know if I would freeze it. Oh well!

Sloppy Joes: No notes here. Tasted good upon sampling! 

Make-Ahead Wraps: I was frightened by how watery the rice still was when it was done, but when I let it sit and cool it thickened considerably, and–like the author said–once I mixed it all together it was a perfect consistency. Sadly these are REALLY spicy for me. My husband loves them, of course. I am super sensitive to spicy foods and if I made them again I would make them without the cayenne pepper. But live and learn! [Also note that the author said to use a package of Southwest seasoning. I used a recipe for Emeril's Southwest Seasoning to try to keep it more 'Whole Foods.' So her seasoning may not have been as spicy.]

Pizza Pockets: The longer the dough sat, the easier it was to work with. I LOVE the flavor of the flaky dough and the pockets are delicious! Love that they can go straight from frozen into the oven for a quick lunch. They probably did take the most time, though, with the assembly factor. Also a learning curve! It took me a while to get them so the filling didn’t all spill out.

Baked Chicken Burgers: The easiest of easy! I forgot to add the onion when freezing, so I just sprinkled in some dried minced onion before I mixed in the mayo to cook them. They were absolutely divine on these homemade buns.

Before we get into dinners, want to see how I looked 4.5 hours into the cooking?

Gnocchi with Sausage and Swiss Chard (Rachael Ray 365):  While this is a recipe we love normally, it wasn’t great for the freezer. The red chard dyed the whole thing red, it leaked through my freezer bags upon defrosting, and the long sitting time made it more spicy (not a good thing for me!). AND I made 4 servings. Hm. Also, I paid $3.99/bunch for my red Swiss chard–yikes! If you used spinach or another green instead, I wouldn’t blame you!

Taco Bake: While we haven’t tried one from the freezer yet, I know this is a recipe I really like and I’ve been assured it freezes well.

Italian Cream Cheese Chicken Casserole: As I mentioned in my menu plan this week, I was a little disappointed on how this froze. I tasted the sauce before freezing and it was so delicious and creamy. Sadly, when it defrosted and cooked it lost a lot of the creaminess. Maybe adding some cream or milk and stirring before heating it in the oven would help. The flavor was still nice.

Sweet Aromatic Chicken: All kinds of yum. The easiest dump recipe ever, and super duper exquisitely tasty. I don’t know if the fact we used free-range chicken made a difference or not, but the chicken just fell right off the bone and we gobbled it right up.

Tuscan Lemon Chicken: Haven’t tried this one yet, but I love lemon and garlic and am looking forward to it!

Pulled Pork with Lexington Red Sauce: I made the mistake of using a picnic roast instead of a Boston Butt, and it didn’t fall off the bone like it usually does. Still got a good bit shredded and sauced and hoping it’s still delicious!

Unstuffed Cabbage: We had the most trouble with this recipe. I think I’ve amended the directions enough that you shouldn’t have the same problems. I hope! I did find it rather bland when I tasted it so add some extra salt or some other spice you like. Libbie and I are trying it tomorrow night and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Tilapia and Pepper Packets: Easy to assemble. Again, I wish I had left out the cayenne pepper because I didn’t like the spicy flavor mixed in with the other tastes. We used frozen flounder and it worked well.

So there you go. It’s definitely been a wild ride and I have much more appreciation for what Tricia does each month! It was a ton of work, but I am SO GLAD to have my freezer stocked with meals. It’s already made a huge difference in that busy time of evening. We’re able to really enjoy each other’s company once Mr. V gets home rather than me battling Libbie out of the kitchen and trying to get everyone fed before her bedtime.


Have you tried any of these recipes yet? Would love to hear your experience!

If you’ve missed any of the posts in this series, they’re all labeled as Whole Foods in a Hurry. <– click there!

Added to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

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Whole Foods in a Hurry: Week 4–Reflections and Instructions

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Oy vey! I just added up all the groceries I bought for this challenge. I knew it would be higher than doing a “normal” OAMC and my goal was to keep it under $200. I did, at $184.14 (this does not include items I already had on hand).

So that’s good, right? Well, except that I didn’t buy all grass-fed or free-range meats, organic dairy or veggies, etc. My chicken thighs, as mentioned, were organic; my beef was the Publix GreenWise ground chuck, which is raised without hormones or antibiotics and is organic. I did buy organic ketchup since regular ketchup has HFCS and other icky stuff, and I bought cage-free eggs (but at Wal-Mart, and honestly I don’t really trust their brand).

The rest of the chicken, the pork, the vegetables–none of it was “up to par” in what many would call “whole foods.”

But you know what? It’s still a big leap for me, and I’m working my way across the ravine. Using all whole grains, very few canned items, no HFCS, no soy–it’s definitely a vast improvement! And I’ll keep working until I can get to a place of being able to store that half a cow in a freezer and have beef for $3/pound. As it warms up, I’m excited to scavenge the farmer’s market and seek out some local farms for real cage-free chickens and eggs.

I hope some of you are planning on cooking this great menu! I’ve already done some taste-testing and I’m excited about digging into the rest of the items in my freezer. It’s VERY stocked!

Here are the recipes modified for your Big Day and here are the instructions. Here is the grocery list if you need that, too!

Next week, I’ll share with you how my Big Cooking Day went–including vlogs of me (with icky hair…in t-shirt…no make-up…and exhausted! Aren’t you lucky?).

Missed a week? Here’s the Why, the Menu, and the Budgeting.

The time for submitting your freezer menus to Once a Month Mom is up, but you can still compete in the Cook-Off if you want to win some awesome prizes! Tricia revealed the three top menus we chose on Friday, and you can vote on which one you want to be the March menu every day at Once a Month Mom.

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Whole Foods in a Hurry: Week 3–Budgeting

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Disclaimer: This post included Amazon affiliate links. 

Although I’ve collected a few items from my grocery list here and there (whole wheat gnocchi from Amazon, canned beans from Aldi), spending the amount of money needed for cooking a whole months of whole foods has scared me and thus I’ve avoided doing much shopping.

The last (and only) time I did once-a-month cooking, Meredith did all the shopping and I wrote her a check. Have I mentioned that I love her? It was easy-peasy. So far on this adventure, it’s all me. No partner. Eeek. 

There aren’t a whole lot of coupons out there for organics and the kind of foods I’m trying to find: whole fruit and vegetables, hormone-free meat, and so forth. (They DO exist. Here’s a great article on finding them.) And since I’m fairly new at this whole foods endeavor, I just don’t know what the cost will be.

So I went on an informational trip to our local health-food store, Greenlife, Monday afternoon. I wanted to investigate prices on meat, dairy products, and bulk items.

I was very happy to find bone-in chicken thighs for $1.99/lb. I bought eight for the Sweet Aromatic Chicken, which for us will make two dinners.* I skinned them and trimmed some fat off before separating them into Ziploc gallon freezer bags and going ahead and freezing them. On my cooking day, I won’t let them thaw; I will just mix the other ingredients and dump them on top of the chicken in the bags.

The least expensive ground beef I could find was $5.99/lb. It is, however, grass-fed and local beef, which made me happy. I am going to try it out this week for the Cheddar Ranch Burgers and see how I like it as compared to conventional. I am still undecided on whether I will buy this beef or the hormone-free GreenWise beef from Publix.

Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Sucanat (Brown Sugar), 16-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 12)

The one thing that I was thrilled to find was sucanat for $1.79/lb in the bulk bins. Sucanat is non-refined cane sugar and often touted by Heavenly Homemakers, Jo-Lynne, and Naturally Knocked Up. While no sugar is good or especially nutritious, sucanat is at least not refined. The only place I had ever seen it was on Amazon, where you have to buy 12 pounds for $42.46, making it $3.54/lb. Buying less than a pound for a little more than a dollar and a half made me much less intimidated to try it out!

I am still working things out monetarily. I am hoping to spend less than $200, since our budget for grocery and household items is $240/month. I do fiercely believe, though, that eating a whole foods diet will decrease doctor bills and prevent disease, so I am willing to trade other “wants” for this “need.” We’ll see what it all works out to and I’ll be sure to tell you! I am still positive it will be less than cooking this type of food week-to-week.

It does make me wish for a chest or extra freezer to store a half cow in, as many people have. One reader told me buying it this way she has a whole freezer of beef for $3/lb–all cuts, grass-fed. Unfortunately I have absolutely no where to put an extra freezer right now and so we will make do with what we have!

Stay tuned next week for the recipe documents and instruction list! (EEEEK!)

Did you miss a week? Here’s Part 1: Why? and Part 2: The Menu.

The time for submitting your freezer menus to Once a Month Mom is up, but you can still compete in the Cook-Off if you want to win some awesome prizes!

*The recipe calls for 8 thighs for one batch. We will be quadrupling this base recipe because in my mind 8 thighs feed 4 people. Since we only have two adults in our house, though, I just did 4 thighs per recipe for us.

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Sweet Valentine’s Menu

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I got such wonderful feedback when I did a complete Christmas dinner menu that I thought I would throw together a great Valentine’s Menu for you.  If you’ve been reading me for a long time, you might recall that I don’t really like Valentine’s Day. But I do like having an excuse to cook an exquisite meal for my honey. (And I really like making up menus, in case you couldn’t tell!)

Appetizer: Crawfish (or Crab) Fondue, Tasty Kitchen

Bread: Olive Oil Cakes with Lemon and Thyme, The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Entree: Roasted Garlic Chicken, Simply Recipes (although making a really good steak is always a man-pleaser in my house!)

Sides: Asiago Sweet Potatoes, Fresh 365; Roasted Vegetables, Home Ec 101

Dessert: Brownie Pudding, Ina Garten*

Here’s a printable grocery list for the menu to make it as easy for you as possible. You DO have to do the cooking, though. Enjoy!

*I saw Ina make this recipe on Barefoot Contessa yesterday. It’s what I want and I ain’t budging. But if you’re not all about eating something full of chocolate and butter (huh??), there are plenty of other dessert recipes here and here.

Photo used with permission of Flickr Creative Commons license. Click on picture to see it on Flickr.

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