Chocolate Zucchini Cake

So, I am not even much of a chocolate fan, but I absolutely love this recipe for chocolate zucchini cake.  Not too chocolaty, with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla and insanely moist.  Not to mention the crunchy brown sugar, chocolate chip topping. 
 
This recipe has been in my family for quite sometime. I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but it's a definitely a keeper.  I had never made it myself until last year.  We had planted our first garden and it was overflowing with zucchini, so we made this cake almost weekly.  We didn't plant this year, because we are moving soon, but some lovely neighbors were kind enough to share some zucchini with us,

Enjoy!

Heidi

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk *
4 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Topping:
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup brown sugar

Instructions:
Cream together butter, oil, and sugar in a mixer.  Add eggs, zucchini and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together.  Add dry ingredients slowly to wet ingredients and mix well.

Grease a 13x18 cook sheet (make sure it has an edge).  This will make it more like brownies and feed more people. Pour batter in pan and sprinkle with the brown sugar and chocolate chips. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. It will still be gooey because of the melted chocolate chips.

Tips:
* If you do not have buttermilk,  add 1/2 Tbsp. white vinegar to 1/2 cup milk and let sit for 10 minutes.
* It is good to peel the zucchini and take out the seeds before shredding if using a large zucchini.
* Use room temperature chocolate chips.  Sometimes I freeze them, and they did not melt as well.
* DO NOT OVERCOOK!

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

Growing up, Sunday was always our day for a big breakfast.  It didn't matter if it was actually for breakfast, lunch or dinner, my dad would give us a great spread. (breakfast was always his specialty.)  I have carried on the tradition with my little family and these have become our favorite Sunday pancakes. I am visiting my family in Utah right now so I got to return the favor and serve pancakes to them for dinner tonight.

 

This recipe has evolved many times and I think I am finally completely satisfied so I am ready to share.  They started off as a great creamy pancake.  Then we got crazy and added the ricotta and lemon. Then we got hooked on the fresh blueberries, but when we tried the fresh raspberries, it was all over.  So make them how you would like, but you sure better make the buttermilk syrup to go with them.  It really makes them outstanding.

 

Enjoy!

 

Heidi

  

LEMON RICOTTA PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk or coconut milk for extra creaminess.
• 4 Tbsp. oil
• 1 ½ tsp. vanilla
• ½ cup ricotta cheese
• juice and zest from 1 large lemon
• 3/4 cup fresh raspberries or blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

• In mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.  In another mixing bowl, wisk together milk and ricotta cheese until well blended. Add eggs and oil and mix well.  Add liquid mixture all at once to dry mixture and stir just until moistened. Do not over mix. Gently fold in fresh fruit.

• Pour about ⅓ cup batter onto hot, lightly greased griddle. Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side or until pancakes are golden brown, turning to second side when pancakes have bubbly surface and edges are slightly dry.  

• If everyone doesn’t want the fruit, just add a few berries to each measuring cup of batter before pouring on the griddle. (I like to cut up the raspberries a bit so there are smaller pieces throughout.)

• Serve with Homemade Buttermilk Syrup.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  BUTTERMILK SYRUP 
  
  
  INGREDIENTS:
  
  
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 ½ cubes butter
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 2 Tbsp. Karo Syrup
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients except vanilla and baking soda in a large saucepan.  Bring to a full boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla and baking soda.  Let cool and pour into glass bottle and store in fridge.  It becomes solid in the fridge because of the butter, so you will need to heat each time before serving. I have found that I like it better if I strain the syrup before I put it in the glass bottle to serve or store.  This way it ends up completely smooth. 

Gooey Lemon Brownies

Lemon is one of my very favorite things and these gooey lemon brownies really hit the spot. They have just the right amount of lemony goodness and are quick and easy to make. I found this recipe on Pinterest a while back and had to give it a try.  Now they have turned into one of our favorites.   I make them for people often and I am always getting requests for the recipe. I wish I could take credit for coming up with this delicious concoction. Only a couple of tips, DO NOT OVERBAKE, and be prepared to zest some lemons.


http://www.beckybakes.net/2012/04/04/sticky-gooey-lemon-brownies/


Enjoy!

Heidi

White Bean and Chicken Chili

We had some friends move to town this past weekend.  I know the pain of unpacking and trying to feed your family a little too well, so we decided to feed them dinner on Sunday.  I know, I know, it's another soup in the summer, but my family really loves soup any time of year.

I saw Giada make this on food network a few years ago, so I had to give it a try and it's been a favorite ever since. This isn't your typical white chicken chili that you would top with avocado, chips, sour cream, etc.  I do have a recipe for that which I love, but this chili has a bit of an Italian flare.  I love making soup on Sunday, because we don't have church until 11, so I can either make it in the morning and heat it up for dinner, or make it right after church and keep it warm in the crock pot until dinner.

I love the technique of just cooking the chicken in the pot with all of the seasonings at the beginning.  I hate when a recipe tells you to add 2 cups cooked chicken and so you have to cook that separate and then add it.  This way saves a lot of time, and the chicken gets great flavor by cooking it directly with the onions and all the seasonings.  I had never used ground chicken until this recipe, and I don't always use it, but it is a nice option for something different.

Salad, homemade bread and a lemony dessert, (I will be posting that a little later) made for a delicious dinner with great company.

Enjoy!


Heidi

White Bean and Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil  
• 1 large onion, chopped  
• 4 garlic cloves, minced  
• 1 pound ground chicken or 2 raw boneless, skinless, chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning (if you don’t use low sodium chicken stock, start with less salt, and add as needed) 
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin  
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds  
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano  
• 2 teaspoons chili powder  
• 3 tablespoons flour  
• 3 (15-ounce cans) cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained (I used 2 cans cannellini and one can great northern or navy beans)
• 2 cups roughly chopped fresh spinach 
• 1 ½  cups frozen corn   
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock  
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional-depending on how spicy you want it) 
• Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning  
• grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish) 
• chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

Directions

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the ground or cubed chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir the flour into the chicken mixture and cook for about 1 minute. Add the beans, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 45-50 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Add the spinach, corn, red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle the chili into serving bowls. Sprinkle with the fresh Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.

Serves 4-6.

Creamy Tomato Basil Bisque

 

First, a disclaimer. This is not my photo, but you better believe this soup looks that good and tastes even better.  I have been having requests for this delicious Creamy Tomato Basil Bisque but just haven't had a chance to make it lately. So I will poach a photo and post the recipe for all of you to enjoy.  I know it's not really soup season, but I love this paired with a salad or bread even during the summer. It is great to use up some of those extra garden veggies.

This is a family favorite of ours, especially my 6 year old daughter Kate.  Even on her 3rd birthday, she requested this as her birthday dinner. Sometimes I will make a double batch, and then freeze 1/2 cup servings in a silicone muffin pan.  I will pop those out and stick them in a freezer bag, so I can serve the kids this soup for a quick lunch. Kate is adamant, that she will not eat canned tomato soup. I grew up on it, but now that I have had this I don't really blame her. 

You can make it has healthy, or as fattening as you would like by following the suggestions below. 

Creamy Tomato-Basil Bisque

 

Ingredients:

6 celery ribs, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped

1 carrot, chopped (optional)

2 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup butter, cubed

3 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained

3/4 cup loosely packed basil leaves, coarsely chopped

3 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 to 1 cup half and half cream


Directions:

In a large saucepan, sauté the celery, onion, and red pepper in butter for 5-6 minutes or until tender. Add garlic for the last 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
 Remove from the heat. Stir in the basil, sugar, salt and pepper; cool slightly. Transfer soup mixture to a blender and puree. (You can puree just half of the batch if you want more of a chunky soup). While blending, gradually add cream; process until pureed. Return to the pan; heat through (do not boil). Top with fresh parmesan.


* You can easily make this recipe dairy free or reduced fat, by using olive oil instead of butter and omitting the cream. It still turns out great.

*You can use dry basil if needed. Probably 1 Tbsp., or to taste.

*You can add any extra veggies you wish. I have tried zucchini, spinach, carrots etc. Then I puree the whole thing and the kids will never know!

*You can make this either chunky or smooth depending on what your family likes.  My family won't do chunky tomatoes, so I puree the whole thing, but it still has great texture. I love that I don't have to dice the veggies perfectly, because I am going to puree it anyway.

Enjoy!

Heidi

Honey Balsamic Roast

Honey balsamic roast, cream cheese mashed potatoes and lemon, garlic asparagus with fresh parmesan is what I served Paul for father's day yesterday.  I think he liked it. This is our new favorite roast. I have never really had a roast recipe before, I just threw stuff into the crockpot and it always turned out pretty good.  But I will probably be using this every time from now on.  The flavor is amazing and even the kids love it!

 

 

Honey Balsamic Roast

 

• 2.5 -4 pounds roast beef (just depending on how much you need)         you can use chuck, rump or I prefer eye of round
• (1) 14.5 oz can of beef broth (or roughly 2 cups if using from a carton or beef base)
• ½  onion, sliced
• 2-3 cloves fresh garlic
• ¾ cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Honey
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 3/4 tsp. Ground mustard
• black pepper to taste

  

Place roast in crockpot. Put a few of the sliced onions underneath the roast. In a bowl, whisk, together all ingredients other than garlic and onion. Pour over roast. Put the rest of the sliced onions and fresh garlic on top and spoon some of the juices over it. Cook on low 8-10 hours or until it shreds easily with a fork. When it has about 2 hours left,  take out the roast and put it on a cutting board.  If you aren't able to shred it yet, cut it up into smaller pieces so it can really soak up the juices (and remove any fat).  Put meat back in the crockpot and cook for another hour or 2 until meat is very tender. Place shredded roast on a serving dish and pour juices over top.  You could also, strain the juices to make a gravy, but I think the juices do just fine!

Enjoy!

Heidi

My New Favorite Buttercream

So we had an awesome Lego party for my son's 5th birthday on Saturday.  I decided to try a new buttercream recipe for the cupcakes and loved it so I thought I would share. It's obviously not very figure friendly, but what frosting is? This recipe frosted 48 cupcakes, so cut it in half if you only need to do 24 cupcakes or a small cake. The only thing I would change, is maybe cut back on the salt a tiny bit.  

My new favorite buttercream frosting

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Heidi

Southwest Chicken Salad

     So I love eating salads in the summer.  A lot of times guys don't think they are filling enough, but Paul is a huge fan of this Southwest Chicken Salad. You would pay 8-10 bucks for this in a restaurant, and this tastes just as good (if not better:))  Another reason I love salads, is you can do all the prep work throughout the day and you aren't in a major rush right before dinner. I get all of the ingredients ready and put in them in individual containers in the fridge then grab them out to assemble the salad.

 

 Southwest Chicken Salad  

• Chopped romaine lettuce

I never buy pre-cut, I always chop it myself. A little more time consuming, but way cheaper and the lettuce lasts a lot longer. 

• 1 can black beans

Open 1 can of black beans, rinse and drain.  Season with a little garlic powder, chili powder and cumin.

• Sweet Corn

Take one slice of onion and chop it real small.  Sauté onion in a little olive oil and add 1 and 1/2 cups of frozen corn (I like sweet petite corn or white corn).  Season with a little salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the corn.

•  Chicken

This is a great meal to make after a grilling night.  I love having leftover BBQ chicken that I can just chop up and use for this salad.  You could also use rotisserie chicken, or I normally roast mine.  To roast, rub chicken breasts with olive oil and generously sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Put on cookie sheet in a oven pre-heated to 425 degrees.  Cook until juices run clear or meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Shred or cube. 2 Chicken breasts is plenty for my family.
 

• Diced avocado (season with a little salt and pepper)
• Diced tomatoes
• Cheese (What ever type you like, grated or cubed.)  
• Tortilla Strips or Corn Chips
• Green Onions
• Serve with Ranch Dressing.  I am kind of a salad dressing snob, so I prefer to do homemade ranch or a cilantro lime ranch (aka Cafe' Rio salad dressing)  The quality of dressing really makes a huge difference. 
• Drizzle with BBQ sauce. 
• Serve with a fresh lime to squeeze over top. 

 

     Obviously, all of these ingredients are optional, so make it how you like!  You wouldn't think, this would really be a great meal for kids, but my kids really enjoy it.  They are finally to the age that they like it all together as a salad, but for younger kids, they probably will just like all of the ingredients separately on a plate with dressing to dip :)

 

I served this tonight with cinnamon cornbread.  (I posted that I little while ago)

 

It might sound like a lot of work, but again, if you do little bits throughout the day, it doesn't take much time at all. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Heidi

Chicken Tortellini with Broccoli

 

 

So we had quite the crowd at the lemonade stand the other day and we had to rush off to a T-ball game without eating a decent dinner.  So when we got home, I went for my quickest, easiest meal that I make when I'm in a time crunch.  Rather than turning to a box of Mac and Cheese, I turn to this.  It literally takes about the same amount of time and tastes a whole lot better.  Here you go!

 

Chicken Tortellini and Broccoli

• 1 20 oz. pkg of Buitoni Herb Chicken Tortellini
• 1 crown of broccoli
• 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• juice from 1/2 of a lemon
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (I prefer low sodium, you can always add salt if needed)
• fresh parmesan
• green onions (optional)

 

Chop a crown of broccoli into bite size pieces and rinse.  Put about and inch of water in the bottom of a large skillet and bring to a boil.  Once at a boil, dump in the broccoli and put the lid on.  Steam for about 1 minute and then drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Set aside.

Using the same pan, bring some water to a boil to cook your tortellini. Once boiling, dump in the package and boil for roughly 2 minutes or until floating.  The package says 7-9 minutes but they would be total mush. Drain the pasta and set aside. 

In this same large skillet, start sautéing about 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes in about 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.  Once they are soft, add 2-3 cloves minced garlic.  Garlic cooks very quickly, so in about 30 seconds add 1/2 cup of chicken broth before the garlic burns.  Squeeze the juice from one half of a lemon into the pan (watch for seeds) then put in your steamed broccoli.  Let that cook for a minute to flavor the broccoli, then add your tortellini.  Mix to coat tortellini and cook for a minute to heat everything back up. 

Serve in a bowl and top with fresh parmesan.  (I add green onions too, because I think everything should be topped with green onions.

There isn't a ton of sauce to put on top, most of the liquid gets soaked up so there is a ton of flavor. But if it is too dry for you, you could add a little more chicken stock.

Now I could just throw in a fattening jar of Alfredo sauce, but this feels so much lighter and tastes better in my opinion.  My kids love it (minus the sundried tomatoes, but they are easy to pick out.)

Enjoy!

 

Heidi

Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

    

 
These Chicken Caesar Salad Sandwiches were a hit tonight. They got an "awesome" from Crew and a "wonderful" from Kate. A little more filling than a salad, but still tastes light and fresh.

      First, I took a homemade buns from when I made bread on Thursday and toasted them in the oven with a little fresh Parmesan. This kind of acts as your crouton. Then, I put a layer of thinly sliced roasted chicken on the bun. I tossed some romaine lettuce with the best Caesar dressing ever (Brianna's Asiago Caesar) and put on top of the chicken. (tomatoes optional)

That's it! A quick, easy and delicious summer meal.

Enjoy!

Heidi

Chicken Tostadas

One of our favorite, light, summer meals. Shredded Chicken, diced tomatoes, diced avocado and diced onions ( I prefer green onions). Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and mix together. Put on top of a corn tostada with a thin layer of sour cream. So easy and delicious!

Enjoy!

Heidi

Easy Cinnamon Cornbread

 

Yum. I just turned my box of cornbread into something fabulous!

 

I love to cook from scratch, but when I don't have time or I don't have all of the ingredients, (my cornmeal was old) I love to improve on what I have.  

 

I have only tried this with this specific cornbread mix.  Some mixes call for just water so I don't think this would work with those types.

 

• Use melted butter in place of the oil
• Use buttermilk instead of regular milk (add a little vinegar to milk if you don't have buttermilk on hand)
• add 1 teaspoon vanilla
• add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• add 1/3 cup Pantry Secrets Cinnamon Drops  (These are my favorite! They are great for kneading into homemade bread, cornbread and pancakes)

http://www.pantrysecrets.com/store/index.php/grocery-items-1/cinnamon-drops.html

Mix and bake as directed but be sure to not overcook! I think the boxes always tell you way too long, so just watch it and make sure it is browning on the bottom, and a light golden brown on top. The results are delicious!  

 

I love to serve cornbread with soups, chili, a salad or even dessert :)

 

Enjoy!

 

Heidi