Glazed Zucchini Lemon Loaf- Take 2

I'm Back!

Yes, I know, my last post was in Nov. 2016. 😲

But a lot has happened since then! My son is now almost 2, I have another little one on the way AND we moved back to California!!!! (I'm going to have to change my blog blurb hahaha).

Another big change is I am now a stay at home mama! This is a new adventure for me --my amazing husband worked part time and was a stay at home dad for over a year with our son-- but it has been such a wonderful experience to be with my son every day. Don't get me wrong, I'm exhausted, sometimes bored, and force us to get out every day for my own sanity but truly, seeing my son grow has been a gift. I'm not sure how long it will last but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

So since I have all this time on my hands (sarcasm my friends) I wanted to pick this food/health blogging thing back up.



So here goes:

Zucchini Lemon Loaf --Take 2.
You can read and make my first version HERE but this one was a little different so I thought I'd share.

Makes 1- 9x5 Loaf

Ingredients: 
2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup applesauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
2 tbs lemon juice ( ~1/2 of a large lemon's juice squeezed)
1 cup grated zucchini - patted dry.

Lemon Glaze 
1 Cup powdered sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
milk drops as needed ( to get desired consistency.) 

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix your flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Wisk your applesauce, sugar and butter in a small bowl until well combined. Blend in eggs and lemon juice.
Fold your wet ingredients into your dry and add in the grated zucchini.
Gently and evenly pour mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake for 45-60min until a knife comes out clean.
Let cool for 15 min out of pan.

Blend the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. If not liquid enough, add in a few splashes of milk until you reach your desired consistency.
Gently pour glaze over your cooled loaf and let sit for another 15-20 min.

Enjoy!

Store in a refrigerator for up to a week.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

This Pumpkin Banana Bread is a perfect treat for your fall gatherings. It's very moist and full of flavor. Plus, who doesn't love pumpkin and banana bread? Put them together and you get awesomeness.

The best part? All of the ingredients can be found in your home and it's so easy to make.

So gather them up and bake away!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 15 oz can pumpkin (not filling)
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven 350 degrees
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all the wet ingredients, except the bananas, in a small bowl. Gently mash the bananas into the wet mixture, but don't over mix.
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined. Do not over mix.

Pour badder into a large 9x5 pan.

Bake for 50-60 min or until knife comes out clean.

Remove from pan and let cool for 10 min before serving. 

Enjoy!

Homemade Apple Fritters

These are not healthy, but they sure were a treat!

I am a HUGE advocate for allowing all foods into one's diet, even the bad stuff as long as it's in moderation. 

Fats are good for us, 

we just have to be careful how much and what kind.

So just relax, have a few fritters, and enjoy your day!

To be honest I was nervous when it came to the frying part. A sauce pan full of REALLY REALLY hot oil just seemed like an accident waiting to happen. BUT it was SUPER EASY. 

So get your breakfast on  in sweet way

Adapted from seeminglygreek.com
Ingredients:

Fritters
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 white flour (you can use 1 heaping cup all white flour)
1/3 sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tbs butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup milk of choice
1-1/2 cup chopped apples-peanut size

oil for frying....about 3-4 inches in a 2 quart sauce pan (You can recycle the leftover oil afterward by placing it in an empty jar)

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1tbs milk + more if you want it thinner.

Directions:

Option 1) The Original
Mix flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Whisk egg, vanilla, sugar, milk, and melted butter in another small bowl. Blend dry into wet. 
Gently fold in apples. 

Option 2) What I did...however it made them runny and i should have left out the milk but was able to fix the problem later..read on!

The night before, blend apple pieces, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and let sit overnight in the fridge. It will sweeten and juice up--the cause the runny part--but tastes DELICIOUS!
Blend the dry ingredients as above and then fold in the apple mix. Like I said you should probably leave out the milk, because the apple juice created was more than enough liquid. 

Heat 3-4 inches of canola oil in a small sauce pan on medium to medium-high heat

THE AWESOME FRY-READY TEST:
To test if oil is ready for frying, take a small drop of the fritter mixture and plop it in the oil if it bubbles and floats to the top the oil is ready! If it sinks its not hot enough, if it burns its too hot so reduce heat. 


Scoop out golf ball sized dough and plop them in the oil, I used an ice cream scoop and just plopped them in, this created some odd shapes sometimes but still worked. 
let them cook about 35-60 sec each side, or until the dough is nice and golden all around. (mine took awhile longer, I believe because of the wheat flour and the runnyness of the dough)

Remove from oil with tongs and dry on a paper towel to catch oil.
Once warm enough to handle submerge in glace and place on a plate to cool--glaze will harden. 

SUCCESS!

Now....if you run into the problem of having wonderfully outside cooked fritters but when you cut them open and you notice the inside is not fully cooked--my problem with the runny dough--, HAVE NO FEAR. Just turn your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 10-13 min. Even if you've glazed them-- I did--the glaze won't melt and you'll have crunchy, yummy, fully cooked fritters. 

ENJOY!!!!

Pumpkin Cookies

Fall went fast here. Everything went from summer green, to multicolored, to pretty bare stumps in just a few short weeks. 

But since it was my first time ever seeing Fall's glorious gift of colored leaves it was still beautiful! 

So now as I sit waiting for the snow (something I also have yet to experience) I decided to make cookies, and of course since it's October, they were going to be made with pumpkin! 

Yummy.

Adapted from The Baker Chick
Makes approx 3 doz.

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
1 cup white all purpose
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar 
1 cup pumpkin puree (not the pie mix but 100% natural!) 
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder,salt,cinnamon,nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a large bowl.
Mix, applesauce and white sugar first, then add in pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla. 
Slowly add wet mixture into dry and mix until well combined. 

Dollop spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 min. 

Let cool on a cooling rack and then dig in. 

****I had some extra cream cheese frosting mixture from my homemade cinnamon rolls so I added some cinnamon to that and lightly topped the cookies for a little extra sweetness. ****

WARNING! 

THIS WILL MAKE YOUR HOUSE SMELL LIKE FALL BLISS.

 ALL SHOULD BE SUPERVISED AROUND COOKIES. 

IF FOOD COMA OCCURS, TAKE DEEP BREATHS AND REST ON COUCH WITH A CUP OF COCOA. 

ENJOY!!!!

No Yeast- Cinnamon Rolls

Funny story. 

It was my husband's birthday and I know his deep love for cinnamon rolls so I thought as a nice gesture I would wake up early and take the time to make them fresh on the day of his birthday.

Right after that thought things started rolling downhill.

First I realized homemade cinnamon rolls take a long time to bake from scratch and since I wake up at 5:30 am for work waking up at 3 didn't seem the best idea.

Second I noticed every recipe I found called for the use of a stand mixer. Now I love to cook and bake but I actually don't own one! Seriously. Don't get me started on why.

Alight, so things were not too dandy.....until I saw this awesome pre-add for Aldi's saying they were going to have a stand mixer for 29.99!!!!! (insert angles singing)
Okay, now this is nowhere near close to a Kitchen Aid but it was seriously an answer to my prayer. So the mixer went on sale the day before his birthday and it was purchased and set up and ready to be used.

The awesome continued as I was able to find a recipe that claimed 72 min homemade cinnamon rolls. This was a huge time saver and all it called for was triple yeast. No problem...

So I thought.

My husband's birthday rolls around, I wake up at 4:30 am (it was a sacrifice I did not mind making for my husband) start compiling all the ingredients (the blogger stated it was easier to have them all pre measured for times savings sake). However, by the time I reach into my cupboard for the yeast I was all too sure that we had plenty off since my husband just bought it, I only found one measly packet! Apparently it completely slipped my mind that my husband made bread and pizza crust recently which used a good amount of the yeast.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THIS CANT BE HAPPENING!!!!!! " were my thoughts.

5 am rolls around... I feel like a failure....

until I remember pinning a No Yeast Recipe on pinterest months ago....BINGO!!!!!

(THANK YOU PINTEREST and Recipe Girl!!!!)

I scramble, find it, praise GOD and get started.

Now, having no yeast makes for a very sticky dough which was a pain in my tukus to roll and looked like rolled gloop when I put them in my pie pan. But, none the less I was determined, and with another prayer, I put them in the oven.

My resultt?

AMAZING MIRACLE CINNAMON ROLLS. 
Ready by 6:15 and eaten with love.

Happy End.
*P.S. I will be making the yeast ones soon. Keep posted.

Ingredients

Filling:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Dough:
2 cups bread or all-purpose flour, + more for rolling
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg, beaten

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature ( I used 8oz, we like it thick)
2/3 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk or buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray. ( I used a pie tin)
2. Prepare the filling: In a small bowl, combine the filling ingredients with a fork until a crumbly mixture is formed.
3. Prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Use clean hands (or a pastry blender) to work the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the milk and the egg and stir to combine.
4. Roll the dough out on a floured surface into roughly shaped large rectangle (about 1/4-inch thick). I had to use a LOT OF FLOUR TO ROLL THEM. but I think if you notice dough is too sticky just add more flour to make it workable.
Sprinkle the filling evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all the way around. Carefully roll up the rectangle (the dough will be soft, sticky).
 Use a sharp knife to cut 12 rolls for a muffin tin or 8 for a pie tin.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. While the cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the frosting: Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and milk/buttermilk in a medium bowl. Use an electric mixer to combine. Add a little more milk if you wish to have a thinner frosting. Spread the frosting on top of warm rolls or drizzle on top. Serve warm.

 ENJOY!!!!

Have a funny yeast or non yeast story/catastrophe you'd like to share?

Apple Sauce Bread

This was an experiment bread that turned out wonderful! 

I had half of a jar of applesauce (about 4 cups of apple sauce!) and it needed to go soon (it molds so fast!). 

SO I pulled from a concoction of  bread recipes  to make this spice-full, perfect for fall, Apple Sauce Bread.

Feel free to adapt/add what you want to make it yours!

Ingredients:

• 2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 cup White Flour
• 2 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tbs nutmeg
• 1 tsp all spice, ground
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 cup all natural apple sauce
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar + 1tbs, divided
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1tbs ground flaxseed + 3tbs water
• 1/2 cup of raisins

Directions:

Mix flaxseed and water in a small dish and set a side for 3-5 min. (allows it to get gummy)

Mix flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder  in a large bowl

Mix apple sauce, brown and white sugar, flaxseed mix, nutmeg, and all spice in a smaller bowl

Blend wet ingredients into dry and stir until well combined. Then gently fold in raisins. 

Pour mix in a 9x5 Pan

Sprinkle 1 tbs brown sugar on top

Bake 50-60 min or until knife comes out clean. 

 

Let cool for 20 min and then serve.

ENJOY!!!!

Healthy Baked Okra and Green Beans

 Eat your veggies...

 

• 4 oz fresh okra, chopped.
• 4 oz fresh green beans
• 2 eggs or 4 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used plain panko but there are so many others and seasonings)
• Paprika to taste
• Italian seasoning to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbs cayenne pepper, or chili powder, or cumin, or red pepper flakes, or all!

Directions:
Preheat oven 425 degrees

In one bowl mix bread crumbs and all seasonings and spices. In another bowl whisk eggs. Set aside.
Fill another bowl with ice water and set aside.
Bring a pot of water to boil.

While waiting for boil, cut okra into 3rds of 4ths depending on size. Cut the ends off of green beans.
When boiled water is ready place green beans in for 2-3 min. When done submerge into ice water and dry on a paper towel.

Dip okra and green beans into egg mixture, shaking of extra and then into bread crumb mixture.

Place on a aluminum covered baking sheet, making sure none are touching each other.
Bake for 15-20 min until browned edges.

ENJOY!!!!

Healthy Easy Granola

Ingredients:

• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/2 sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup agave (or honey)
• 1 tbs vanilla
• Cinnamon to taste

*Optional: Add in any other nuts and/or dried fruits!
Directions:
Preheat oven 325 degrees

Mix dry ingredients in bowl, mix wet in another. Stir wet into dry until all oats are moist. (It may seem like there is not enough liquid but there is, just keep blending)

Place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

Bake for 15 min 2-3 times. During each increment stir/flip/chop oats to make sure all sides are being baked. Bake till oats are a golden brown and hard (All ovens vary so adjust as needed).

ENJOY!!!!

Store in a air-tight container for 2-3 weeks. (Mine is always gone well before this!)

EDIBLE COOKIE DOUGH

This was my first time trying this...chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) recipe. I was nervous but they turned out pretty good.I think the dough itself could have been sweeter so I baked them and once the chocolate melted all over them I was in heaven. SCRUMPTIOUS!

 Recipe adapted from greenlitebites.com, chocolatecoveredkatie.com, texanerin.com. (yup they all have something a little different so I thought I would try them all!)

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas (drained and dried well)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tbs vanilla extract ( I love the taste of vanilla, feel free to use less)
• 2 tbs of PB2 (or any natural nut butter)
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tbs agave
• 2 tbs of ground flax seed (I made my own in my little blender)
• 1/4 cup almond milk (any kind you like!)
• 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips!
• any type of sweetener you want. Taste test as you go!!! :)

Directions:
*I used a blender (VERY HARD)but do-able so have no fear, but if you have a food processor you're golden!
Place milk, vanilla, honey, agave, chickpeas, salt, pb2 (or nut butter), and ground flax seed in blender or food processor and BLEND until smooth and creamy.

If using a blender, use LOW setting and you may have to stop, mix, and start several times to make sure all chickpeas are being blended.You may also want to try adding a little more milk, but I didn't need to.

Then fold in chocolate chips with spoon or spatula...
THEN EAT!!!

 SO WHY DO I HAVE 2 DIFFERENT PICTURES OF COOKIES?
Because I decided to bake mine!

preheat oven 350 degrees

The miss-shaped gloop one to the left, is a fully 12 min baked cookie. Delicious, but not really cookie form.

So, taking from chocolatecoveredkatie, and Texanerin, I added in a little more than 1/8 tsp of BAKING POWDER and they came out flatter and still DELICIOUS!

 

ENJOY!!!!