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| Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies |
These were especially fun to take photos of so here is another one. Hmm looks like I have another plate of brownies to eat...
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| Brownies with coffee |
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Chocolate Chip Cardamom Zucchini Brownies
This blog post and recipe have been moved to my new blog home at Someplace That's Green (this link goes straight to the recipe). Please visit me there! Thanks and enjoy!
These were especially fun to take photos of so here is another one. Hmm looks like I have another plate of brownies to eat...
These were especially fun to take photos of so here is another one. Hmm looks like I have another plate of brownies to eat...
Friday, July 26, 2013
Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins
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| Whole wheat zucchini muffins plus sunshine |
Some previous excellent zucchini recipes:
Cheddar Zucchini Biscuits
Zucchini Fritters
October Chicken Soup and Stock
I have been looking forward to zucchini season to test out some bread and muffin recipes and the first one I tried is a winner, from 100 Days of Real Food. This is a great blog with all sorts of information and ideas for cutting processed foods out of your diet.
Now, onward to the making! If you're short on time, you can grate the zucchini a day or two before and refrigerate it so everything is ready to go. Yellow squash would work well too, either in addition or in place of the zucchini, and next time I may add a handful of grated carrots for extra veggie goodness. I used coconut oil instead of my usual olive oil or applesauce. Did you know Costco sells this now? I have also found it for a reasonable price at a local middle-eastern market, so if you don't want to pay the regular grocery store price keep an eye out, there are other options. As always, look for ingredients at ethnic-focused stores, you might be amazed at how much money you can save, and a lot of these are small family owned places who I love to support.
Local kudos go to the Wasatch Front Farmers Market for mountains of zucchini, Clifford Farm for the wildflower honey and fresh eggs, and Spoons 'n Spice Kitchenware for the beautiful plate/tray.
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| Zucchini Muffins, ready to eat! |
Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins or Bread
From 100 Days of Real Food
INGREDIENTS
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil (or coconut oil)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped nuts or raisins (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F for small loaf pans or 325 degrees F for large loaf pan or muffins.
2. Blend the dry ingredients.
3. Make a well (or hole) in the center and pour in the eggs, oil, honey and vanilla. Stir just until mixed – do not overmix.
4. Fold in the grated zucchini and nuts or raisins.
5. Pour batter into greased loaf pan(s) or muffin holders and bake until a toothpick comes clean in the top/center of the loaf or muffin. (this is a thick heavy batter and it doesn't rise much in the muffin shape so go ahead and fill those babies!)
- If using smaller pans bake for 30 – 40 minutes. (fills approx. four small loaf pans)
- For one larger loaf pan bake for 50 – 60 minutes.
- For muffins bake for 15 – 20 minutes. (mine were perfect at 20 minutes, makes about a dozen and a half)
6. Serve warm with butter, cold for breakfast, or in lunch bags for afternoon pick-me-ups. Enjoy and don’t forget to freeze the leftovers!
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Beer Shakes and Chocolate Ice Cream
Beer... shakes? That's the response that this phrase usually gets. YES is the answer. It isn't complicated. It's a milkshake, with beer and ice cream. The art is in the pairing. Dark beers go perfectly with a rich chocolate ice cream. Strawberry ice cream with a cherry beer? I think so, yes. Making a beer shake is as easy as putting both in a blender, or putting both in a cup and stirring vigorously (careful, beer gets pretty excited and likes to make a mess!). Our chocolate ice cream below went well with a Uinta Hoodoo Kolsch-style ale.
If you have one of your own wonderful ice-cream making contraptions this is an even more pleasing dish, as this chocolate ice cream is amazing. Yes, Alton Brown with Food Network again! Almost 150 reviews, all five stars? That's the one!
After cooking the mixture, there may be some clumps at the bottom - you can strain these or pretend they don't exist and get out a spoon because they are a delicious taste of things to come.
Chocolate Ice Cream
From the Food Network
Special equipment: Ice cream maker. A candy thermometer is also helpful.
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder, approximately 1/2 cup
3 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
1. Place the cocoa powder along with 1 cup of the half-and-half into a medium or medium-large saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Add the remaining half-and-half and the heavy cream. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.
2. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added (this cooks the eggs without having cooked eggs). Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F. Pour the mixture into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract. Place the mixture uncovered into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours.
4. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.
5. Mix with a beer of your choice and enjoy!
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| Hooray for iPhone cameras! This beer shake didn't last long. |
If you have one of your own wonderful ice-cream making contraptions this is an even more pleasing dish, as this chocolate ice cream is amazing. Yes, Alton Brown with Food Network again! Almost 150 reviews, all five stars? That's the one!
After cooking the mixture, there may be some clumps at the bottom - you can strain these or pretend they don't exist and get out a spoon because they are a delicious taste of things to come.
Chocolate Ice Cream
From the Food Network
Special equipment: Ice cream maker. A candy thermometer is also helpful.
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder, approximately 1/2 cup
3 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
1. Place the cocoa powder along with 1 cup of the half-and-half into a medium or medium-large saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine. Add the remaining half-and-half and the heavy cream. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.
2. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and whisk to combine. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about 1/3 of the cream mixture has been added (this cooks the eggs without having cooked eggs). Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F. Pour the mixture into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract. Place the mixture uncovered into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours.
4. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. Serve as is for soft serve or freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.
5. Mix with a beer of your choice and enjoy!
Friday, July 5, 2013
Candied Ginger (Crystallized Ginger)
I love ginger. I eat candied ginger, well, like candy. I've always purchased it until now, but ran out and wanted some RIGHT NOW. Good thing it's easy! Homemade candied ginger holds its spicy flavor much better than the prepackaged variety so if you are a fan of ginger at all, you owe it to yourself to try this and keep the recipe in your pocket for holiday gifts to ginger-lovers.
Candied ginger is great in banana bread, chopped and sprinkled over oatmeal, yogurt, cupcakes (yeah that got your attention didn't it!), fresh fruit, pumpkin or apple pie, in cookies, scones, truffles... just throw a handful into anything you're baking and chances are it will be great. The flavor pairs beautifully with fruits or chocolate.
To find fresh ginger, look in the produce section of most grocery stores. In the stores I frequent, it's usually near the mushrooms. Asian markets will probably have the best prices since it is mostly associated with Asian foods but it's pretty easy to find even in Salt Lake City. Look closely and make sure there is no mold before you buy it. If you notice a blue color or a blue ring inside when you slice it, this is just fine and is specific to a Hawaiian species of ginger - and you just scored because this species is extra flavorful!
In addition to being super delicious, ginger is incredibly good for you. It helps with nausea and gastrointestinal issues, lessens joint soreness, reduces motion sickness, and even boots your immune system against bacterias, fungi, and some cancers. Now, half of this recipe is sugar, so it sure isn't a health food, but if you don't already use ginger this great candy might just grow on you and encourage you to use the root in other dishes.
This recipe is from Alton Brown on the Food Network. It seems like any time lately that I search for a recipe, Alton Brown's version appears in the top five. This makes me wonder whether he has some kind of magic Google-Fu or if he really does just specialize in everything I want to make - either way, he does an amazing job.
1. Spray a cooling rack with nonstick spray and set it in a half sheet pan lined with parchment. I don't know whether the nonstick spray is really needed, but I had some, and making things not stick is always nice. The parchment paper is needed, you'll see why by the end.
2. Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/8-inch thick slices using a mandoline. I estimated the ginger root by picking up a bunch in one hand and picking up a 15-oz can in the other hand (a pound is 16 oz) and it was about the same. Like my scientific-ness? I used a vegetable peeler to peel it - the edge of a spoon will work too, the peel is very soft - and a regular knife to slice the roots. The 1/8" is a good guideline but I just eyeballed it. For a long thin section of ginger, cut at a diagonal to make bigger oval slices instead of little circles. Bigger is better (note, not thicker) so that the pieces do not fall through the drying rack.
3. Place into a 4-quart saucepan with the water and set over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for 35 minutes or until the ginger is tender. I started the timer as soon as I put the lid on.
4. Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. I drained it into a container so it was easy to pour out the needed 1/4 cup, plus now I have ginger-liquid to do something else with. Likely another cooking experiment.
5. Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar. After the peeling and slicing I took out the bad parts and had less than my estimated almost-pound, so I dropped the sugar to about 1 3/4 cups. This is a very forgiving recipe.
6. Return the ginger and 1/4 cup water to the pan and add the sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes. This was a fascinating process to watch. The tiny amount of water looks like it will evaporate in a few minutes but with the sugar and ginger it multiplies and the whole thing becomes kind of a soup. Keep stirring. Bubbles form, and more bubbles, and so many bubbles it started to look like a meringue. Keep stirring. All at once the bubbles turned into sugar - dry, crystalline sugar - and the ginger was all in separate pieces and not sticky-looking at all. I kept it on the heat for a couple extra minutes to encourage the drying-out; total this step was about 25 minutes.
7. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces. To do this, you can just dump the whole pot onto the cooling rack. The sugar falls through to land on the parchment paper and the ginger sits on top.
8. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Save the sugar that drops beneath the cooling rack and use to top ginger snaps, sprinkled over ice cream or to sweeten coffee. The sugar keeps the amazing ginger flavor very well.
Condensed recipe:
Candied Ginger
by Alton Brown / Food Network
INGREDIENTS
Nonstick spray
 | |
| Homemade Candied Ginger |
Candied ginger is great in banana bread, chopped and sprinkled over oatmeal, yogurt, cupcakes (yeah that got your attention didn't it!), fresh fruit, pumpkin or apple pie, in cookies, scones, truffles... just throw a handful into anything you're baking and chances are it will be great. The flavor pairs beautifully with fruits or chocolate.
To find fresh ginger, look in the produce section of most grocery stores. In the stores I frequent, it's usually near the mushrooms. Asian markets will probably have the best prices since it is mostly associated with Asian foods but it's pretty easy to find even in Salt Lake City. Look closely and make sure there is no mold before you buy it. If you notice a blue color or a blue ring inside when you slice it, this is just fine and is specific to a Hawaiian species of ginger - and you just scored because this species is extra flavorful!
In addition to being super delicious, ginger is incredibly good for you. It helps with nausea and gastrointestinal issues, lessens joint soreness, reduces motion sickness, and even boots your immune system against bacterias, fungi, and some cancers. Now, half of this recipe is sugar, so it sure isn't a health food, but if you don't already use ginger this great candy might just grow on you and encourage you to use the root in other dishes.
This recipe is from Alton Brown on the Food Network. It seems like any time lately that I search for a recipe, Alton Brown's version appears in the top five. This makes me wonder whether he has some kind of magic Google-Fu or if he really does just specialize in everything I want to make - either way, he does an amazing job.
1. Spray a cooling rack with nonstick spray and set it in a half sheet pan lined with parchment. I don't know whether the nonstick spray is really needed, but I had some, and making things not stick is always nice. The parchment paper is needed, you'll see why by the end.
2. Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/8-inch thick slices using a mandoline. I estimated the ginger root by picking up a bunch in one hand and picking up a 15-oz can in the other hand (a pound is 16 oz) and it was about the same. Like my scientific-ness? I used a vegetable peeler to peel it - the edge of a spoon will work too, the peel is very soft - and a regular knife to slice the roots. The 1/8" is a good guideline but I just eyeballed it. For a long thin section of ginger, cut at a diagonal to make bigger oval slices instead of little circles. Bigger is better (note, not thicker) so that the pieces do not fall through the drying rack.
3. Place into a 4-quart saucepan with the water and set over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for 35 minutes or until the ginger is tender. I started the timer as soon as I put the lid on.
4. Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. I drained it into a container so it was easy to pour out the needed 1/4 cup, plus now I have ginger-liquid to do something else with. Likely another cooking experiment.
5. Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar. After the peeling and slicing I took out the bad parts and had less than my estimated almost-pound, so I dropped the sugar to about 1 3/4 cups. This is a very forgiving recipe.
6. Return the ginger and 1/4 cup water to the pan and add the sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes. This was a fascinating process to watch. The tiny amount of water looks like it will evaporate in a few minutes but with the sugar and ginger it multiplies and the whole thing becomes kind of a soup. Keep stirring. Bubbles form, and more bubbles, and so many bubbles it started to look like a meringue. Keep stirring. All at once the bubbles turned into sugar - dry, crystalline sugar - and the ginger was all in separate pieces and not sticky-looking at all. I kept it on the heat for a couple extra minutes to encourage the drying-out; total this step was about 25 minutes.
7. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces. To do this, you can just dump the whole pot onto the cooling rack. The sugar falls through to land on the parchment paper and the ginger sits on top.
8. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Save the sugar that drops beneath the cooling rack and use to top ginger snaps, sprinkled over ice cream or to sweeten coffee. The sugar keeps the amazing ginger flavor very well.
Condensed recipe:
Candied Ginger
by Alton Brown / Food Network
INGREDIENTS
Nonstick spray
1 pound fresh ginger root
5 cups water
Approximately 1 pound granulated sugar (1 lb is about 2 1/2 cups)
DIRECTIONS
5 cups water
Approximately 1 pound granulated sugar (1 lb is about 2 1/2 cups)
DIRECTIONS
Spray a cooling rack with nonstick spray and set it in a half sheet pan lined with parchment.
Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/8-inch thick slices using a mandolin. Place into a 4-quart saucepan with the water and set over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for 35 minutes or until the ginger is tender.
Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar. Return the ginger and 1/4 cup water to the pan and add the sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Save the sugar that drops beneath the cooling rack and use to top ginger snaps, sprinkled over ice cream or to sweeten coffee.
Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/8-inch thick slices using a mandolin. Place into a 4-quart saucepan with the water and set over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for 35 minutes or until the ginger is tender.
Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar. Return the ginger and 1/4 cup water to the pan and add the sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes. Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Save the sugar that drops beneath the cooling rack and use to top ginger snaps, sprinkled over ice cream or to sweeten coffee.
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