Chocolate Zucchini Bread

So I promised that I would bake up something yummy this weekend and I only got around to making a couple loaves of Chocolate Zucchini Bread. My experiment for today will hopefully be whipping up some apple chips :)

A great way to monitor what's going in your children's food, is to just make it from scratch. You can use organic ingredients, modify recipes to make them vegan or gluten free, there are no limits. 

I love baking and wish I could do it more often. This recipe has very simple ingredients and it doesn't have a stick of butter in it either ;) The zucchini makes it moist and delicious!

My husband totally looked at me cross-eyed when I told him what I was making...but he absolutely devoured it! The kids are huge fans too.

I have no idea what happens to the zucchini in this crazy delicious, moist, chocolate-y bread. But it's in there :)

This is a really moist and dense bread so it works awesome with cookie cutters. Lenny loves these in his lunchbox.

And a little side note...if you bake a lot, you should have this stuff in your arsenal.

I haven't used a cupcake liner in a few years now, all I use is this stuff and everything pops out so nicely :)


Get the recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread here

Making it Home-y

I LOVE this time of year.

I live in Florida, so it isn't feeling quite "fall-ish", but that doesn't mean we can't try!

Right now the house really bland. I haven't hung anything up, none of the decor is out so I headed to the kitchen to whip up some homeyness in the form of these little bits of heaven.

 These are AMAZING! Snag the recipe HERE. There is a frosting that goes with it, but I saved that for the grownups ;)

Nothing like pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the oven to fill the house with warm fuzziness :)

 I lit my apple cinnamon candle too, for more fall-feeling-awesomeness.

Now to pawn these cookies off on my pumpkin loving friends so I won't eat all of these!

Have a blessed Wednesday!

Banana Blueberry Muffins and a Tasty Blog

Just popping on here quickly to share a fun little muffin recipe that I found in my 100 Healthy Lunchbox Recipes cookbook. I LOVE muffins because they are simple to make and you can make a bunch and freeze for later.

Before I give you the recipe, I wanted to share a friend's new blog Veggielicious Mom. She will be sharing lots of wonderful vegetarian and vegan recipes on it. I am not vegetarian but I do eat quite a bit of vegetarian food during the week (the hubs HAS to have the meat so it's mostly my lunches and breakfasts). Omitting meat from your diet a few days here and there can help cleanse your system, so give some of her recipes a try. Since we are talking muffins, she has a yummy banana muffin recipe that I'm trying today :)

Ok so for Banana Blueberry muffins...

2 cups all purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup fine sugar

1/3 cup milk

2 eggs

2/3 cup butter, melted

2 bananas, mashed

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, just thaw the frozen ones)

Preheat to 400.

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl, stir in sugar and mix. Make a well in center.

Put milk, eggs, and butter in a pitcher and whisk until combined. add to the bowl with the bananas, stir to combine, then gently fold in blueberries. Spoon into pan.

Bake 20 minutes (maybe less) until risen. Easy way to check if done. Press the muffin a bit and if it "bounces" back, it's done :)

Outside the Lunch Box - The Cubed Lunch and Yummy Snack Dip

So I did not forget about my summer lunch series. My mother-in-law sent me this cute book of lunch ideas for kids and I finally got around to trying some today.

 

The original idea for what we had for lunch was cubed mozarella, cherry tomatoes and basil on skewers. My kids are a little too young for pointy objects so we did it on the plate.

Everything is chopped in little cubed pieces, which makes it easy to eat.

 The fruit of the day was white nectarines. These are so delish!

I served these with..yes...hot dogs (free of nitrates and preservatives). They each got half a slice of pita bread.

 I try to eat something similar to what the kids are eating. It gives them confidence to try something new if you are eating it too. I added some olives to the mix and got some basil from the garden and drizzled it with some EVOO. And yes, I had a hot dog too :)

 You almost always have some leftovers with little ones. This meal packs up easily in a little container to be used at snacktime. This is where our dip comes in.

Ingredients

1 carrot, sliced

2 tbsp. EVOO

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp. cumin

1/4 ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground coriander

2 pinches chili powder

1 can of lima beans, drained and rinsed

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Start by steaming the carrot until tender. I just did this in the microwave in some water. Heat up the oil in a saucepan and saute the garlic and spices. Add the beans, lemon juice, and 2-3 tbsp of water. Stir until heated through.

Put the carrot and bean mixture in the blender or food processor and process until smooth, adding a bit of water if you need to.

This stuff came out amazing. I was totally impressed. I didn't have any coriander and it still came out terrific. It's kind of like hummus.  We will have it with our leftovers and some more pita, maybe even some celery or carrots.

This literally took 10 minutes and I whipped it up between loads of laundry while the kids were napping. My kids like a snack after naps so this will be perfect. Hopefully mommy won't eat it all before the kids wake up ;)

Enjoy :)

Homemade Iced Coffee

So back in the day I worked for a few years at the big coffee giant (not saying names so that the big "S" doesn't seek me out and crush my tiny blog).

Therefore, I can say with complete assurance that this is in no way any different than the way they make it, so you won't be missing out, rather you can sit back and marvel at your clever frugalness.

It's summer in Florida and there is nothing better on a hot day than an iced coffee.  It is a surprisingly waist-friendly option if you don't add too much extra stuff and it's even easier to do that at home.


Here's what you need.

-the leftover coffee in the pot that has cooled

-ice cubes

-flavored creamer of your choice or syrup/milk

Just pour the coffee in a cup (my friend Vicki keeps her Dunkin Donuts and big "S" cups to make it more fun) on top of the ice and add your creamer or whatever. I happened to have some french vanilla creamer which was nice. The flavored creamers work nice because I don't have to add extra sugar. It's just sweet enough.

Now you could buy some syrup from Starbucks or make your own syrup and use milk or half and half.  There is really no limit! The only thing is that if you are used to use granular sugar or fake sugar it is not going to dissolve nicely in this. It's like going to a restaurant and ordering unsweet tea and expecting the 12 packets of sugar you put in there to do anything but sit at the bottom in a clump.

The ideal sweetener would be a syrup of some kind. You can whip up your own Simple Syrup too! I always just use whatever creamer I have on hand.

So I know you have some coffee leftover in that pot in the kitchen, waste not want not!

Weekend Breakfast - French Toast

One of my favorite things about the weekend is having everyone together to make breakfast.  We love pancakes around here but my favorite bread to make french toast with was on BOGO so we made French Toast.

 I think oatmeal bread works best for french toast.  It is also REALLY good just toasted with Nutella...just saying...

I use the basic french toast recipe from The Joy of Cooking which everyone should have because it has so much great information in it.  French toast is great because you almost always have the ingredients right on hand.

Basic French Toast

2/3 cup of whole milk or heavy cream or half and half 

4 large eggs

2 tblsp sugar or pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

Cinnamon

You just mix everything up and dip your bread in the mixture and place on a hot griddle.  Melt a few pats of butter on it first so it doesn't stick.  While you are waiting for the first side to cook take the cinnamon and sprinkle on the uncooked side.  This way when you flip it over the cinnamon-y goodness gets all baked in.  Serve hot from the griddle with whatever you like.

Cooking a nice breakfast always makes me feel like super-mom-suzy-homemaker :)  Try it this weekend and make an extra batch from the freezer to enjoy during the week.