Still Cooking!

After about a 2 month lapse, I finally have a second to jump back on here and let you know that I'm still here and still cooking. I haven't had near as much time so the recipes are a little quicker ones, but I've been finding a little time to make dinner and bake some bread and so on. My 1 1/2 month old makes things a little more challenging, but we are so blessed with a baby that is really good overall. She is such a cutie...its just been an adjustment having an infant in our house. A very good adjustment though!

Before she was born, I actually made a few loaves of this bread and stuck them in the freezer. They turned out very tasty and are a perfect fall quick bread for breakfast or dessert!

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread From Better Homes and Gardens Best Recipes Cookbook

4 cups flour
2 T baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds (omitted since I didn't have on hand)
1 recipe Vanilla Icing (optional-also omitted)

Grease 2 9x5" loaf pans; set aside. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and ginger; set aside. In a large bowl combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs and oil. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture; stir until just moistened. Fold in berries and almonds. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 60 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool. Drizzle with vanilla icing if desired before serving.

Vanilla Icing:
In a small bowl stir together 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Stir in enough milk (1-2 tsp) to make icing of drizzling consistency. Makes 1 cup.

Strawberry Bread

Another great recipe to enjoy some of the fresh produce right now. My husband is not a big fan of strawberries, but loved this bread. You wouldn't even know they are in there!

Strawberry Bread From Simply in Season
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup strawberries, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup oil (I did 1/2 oil, 1/2 applesauce)
2 eggs
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix together in a large bowl, stirring until just combined. Pour into a greased 8" loaf pan and bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees until a toothpick in center comes out clean, 1 hour.

Pear Zucchini Bread

Even though it is just me at home for a few months, I still enjoy baking bread for something quick and yummy to eat in the morning while I drink my coffee. I stashed some shredded zucchini in the freezer from my summer harvest and I recently purchased some pears from a high school student in the FFA. I found this recipe and since I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided I should give it a try. These loaves turned out moist and delicious! A tasty change from regular zucchini bread.

Pear Zucchini Bread From Taste of Home's Quick Cooking
2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I substituted canola oil)
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups finely chopped peeled ripe pears (2-3 medium)
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts

In a large bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the pears and zucchini. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Pour into 2 greased 9 x5" loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Beer Bread

I love the Tastefully Simple beer bread mixes, but I don't like the $5 or so that it costs to buy the mix. I found this recipe on recipezaar.com and it turned out great! This bread is so yummy hot out of the oven and just as tasty after it has cooled. Such an easy, quick bread to make and it would be a great addition to some piping hot chili or other great soup.

Beer Bread From recipezaar.com
3 cups all purpose flour (use a spoon to measure flour into measuring cup)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
12 oz can of beer
1/4 cup melted butter

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together and add the beer. Stir until all the flour is mixed in. Pour the batter into a greased 8x4 loaf pan and pour the melted butter over the top. Bake for about 1 hour until the bread tests done.

Zucchini-Honey Bread

Each day I go out to my garden and pick 3-5 zucchini that are perfect for zucchini bread. I've shredded some already and started stocking my freezer for the winter months so we can have zucchini bread all year, but I also make sure I use some fresh in my baking and cooking. I am always looking for new recipes to try and I found this zucchini bread recipe in an old Southern Living cookbook. It turned out really good, especially with some mini chocolate chips added!

Zucchini-Honey Bread From Southern Living

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 T ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine first 5 ingredients; stir in pecans. Combine zucchini and remaining ingredients in separate bowl; add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 9x5 loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans and let cool on wire rack.

Kate's Blue-Ribbon Coffee Cake

This coffee cake was delicious! I love baking recipes that use sour cream in them. If you've never tried it you should. The cake turns out so moist and tasty. This recipe was fabulous and easy to put together. It looks so fancy too, baked in a bundt pan.

Kate's Blue-Ribbon Coffee Cake From Midwest Living Magazine

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 8-oz carton sour cream
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Spray 10" bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray or grease and flour pan; set pan aside. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, stir together eggs, 1 cup sugar, butter and 1 tsp vanilla. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; stir until just moistened. Add sour cream and stir vigorously until batter is smooth.

For streusel: In a small bowl, stir together walnuts, brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, cinnamon and 2 tsp vanilla.

Spoon 1/3 of batter into bottom of prepared pan; spread evenly. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the streusel. Repeat layers with remaining batter and streusel.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. To remove cake from pan, cover with an inverted serving plate and turn cake over onto the plate. Serve warm.

Rhubarb Bread

I have not been good about keeping this site updated with new recipes. I've been doing quite a bit of baking and cooking lately, but I've also been doing a lot of gardening and yardwork which has limited my computer time. I will work on adding more new recipes in a more timely manner :)

I had some more rhubarb left to use up and I found this recipe. I didn't have a ton left so the 1 1/2 cups was perfect. This bread was so moist and tasty. It disappeared fast!

Rhubarb Bread From Sparks from the Kitchen

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 egg, beaten
1 cup sour milk (I mixed 2 tsp lemon juice with the remaining amount of milk)
2 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup diced rhubarb
1/2 cup nuts, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the above together and pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans (7x5" approximately).

Topping: Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp softened butter. Sprinkle on top of bread. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

I'm doing more baking for the week and I found this recipe in my grandma's old book of recipes. I still have frozen zucchini from my garden so I figured this would be a good way to use some more up. I love chocolate chips in my zucchini bread!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

2 cups grated zucchini (drain juice so zucchini is as dry as possible)
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
12 oz pkg chocolate chips (can substitute 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips as well)
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Mix together sugar and oil. Then mix in eggs and grated zucchini. Add salt, flour, baking soda, spices and vanilla. Mix well, then stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Bake in 2 greased and floured 9x5" loaf pans at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool on rack for 1 hour before serving.


For other zucchini recipes try:
Orange Zucchini Bread
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Zucchini Oatmeal Bread

Orange Zucchini Bread

I grew a ton of zucchini in the garden this last summer and I really enjoy baking with it. To extend zucchini season, I shredded a bunch of the vegetables and froze them in 2-3 c packages to use to bake with during the winter. I was looking for a different kind of zucchini bread recipe since I tend to make the typical bread recipe or zucchini bread with chocolate. Both are very good, but being me I like to try different things. I found this recipe which includes orange and coconut and decided to give it a try. It turned out great!

Orange Zucchini Bread From Kraft.com

2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 c sugar
1/2 c cooking oil
2 tsp orange peel
3 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c orange juice
2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1 c shredded coconut

Grease 2 8x4" loaf pans. Combine the eggs, sugar, oil and orange peel in large bowl. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture and the orange juice alternately to the egg mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in zucchini and coconut. Spoon into prepared pans. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes until center is set. Cool on wire rack.

Pumpkin Bread

I enjoy baking so that we have muffins or breads for breakfast. Ryan often just grabs something on his way out the door on the way to work so it's handy having muffins or quick breads that will be a lot easier to eat in the car then cereal. I froze some pumpkin that I had grown in our garden and some that I bought locally. I just cooked the pumpkin and then pureed it and it's keeping nicely in the freezer. I pulled out a package of pumpkin the other day to make some bread and it turned out really good.



Pumpkin Bread From Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook



3 c sugar

1 c cooking oil

4 eggs

3 1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2/3 c water

1 15 oz can pumpkin



Preheat oven to 350. Grease the bottom and 1/2" up the sides of 2 9x5" loaf pans or 3 8x4" loaf pans; set aside. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs and beat well; set sugar mixture aside.



In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Alternately add flour mixture and the water to sugar mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Spoon batter into prepared pans.



Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is one of my favorite zucchini bread recipes. I think the chocolate part may have something to do with that. It is really pretty easy to make and it makes 2 loaves-one for now and freeze one for later. It's so good!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread From Sparks from the Kitchen cookbook

3 c flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder and baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
3 c sugar
1 1/2 c vegetable oil (I substituted 1 c applesauce and 1/2 c oil)
3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract (I omitted since I did not have.)
3 c grated zucchini
1 c chopped nuts (I omitted since I did not have any.)
1/2 c chopped dates (optional-also omitted)
*I did add about 3/4 c chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. Beat eggs in large bowl until frothy; gradually beat in sugar and oil. Add vanilla, chocolate and almond extract. Fold in dry ingredients. Fold in zucchini and nuts. Pour into greased and floured 10" tube pan (Bundt pan) or 2 loaf pans. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Zucchini, Zucchini Everywhere!!

I planted 4 zucchini plants and I have gotten about 18 zucchini already this year. I love it! I really enjoy baking with zucchini and it's got to be good for you since its a vegetable. I am already working on freezing some so I can make zucchini muffins and bread all year long. I found this recipe in Grandma's cookbook for some zucchini bread. It is delicious!

Zucchini Oatmeal Bread

2 c flour
1 c quick oats
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
3/4 c salad oil (I substituted 1/2 c applesauce and 1/4 c oil)
3 c shredded zucchini
1 tsp vanilla
1 c chopped walnuts (omitted since I didn't have any on hand)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x5" loaf pan. In large bowl, mix flour, oats, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In medium bowl, with fork, beat eggs slightly, stir in salad oil, shredded zucchini, vanilla and walnuts; stir into flour mixture just until flour is moistened. Spoon batter evenly into pan. Bake bread 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool bread in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and finish cooling on wire rack.

Poppy Seed Sour Cream Loaf

I'm always looking for different breads or muffins to make for breakfast. I don't really like to spend a lot of time baking at night so I really appreciate recipes that are easy to put together and don't take a lot of prep time. I found this one in Grandma's cookbook and it turned out to be fast and tasty. It's a little different than what I usually make, but it was a nice change too.

Poppy Seed Sour Cream Loaf

2 c flour
2 T poppy seeds
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 c sugar
2 T butter, melted and cooled
8 oz dairy sour cream (1 c)
1 T grated orange peel

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8x4" loaf pan. In a small bowl, combine flour, poppy seeds, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and butter; stir in sour cream and orange peel. Add flour mixture; stir until just combined. Spoon into pan (mixture will be thick). Bake about 50 minutes. Remove from pan and cool. Yield: 1 loaf

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I'm always looking for good breakfast bread or muffin recipes and I found this one on recipezaar.com. It is pretty rich, but very tasty. It would be really good for a brunch or just a special treat in the middle of the week.

Sour Cream Coffee Bread

1 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c pecans, chopped (I omitted since I didn' t have any at home)

Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt and fold into the sour cream mixture. Combine the remaining sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Spray a 9" bundt pan with cooking spray. Spoon 1/3 of batter into pan and sprinkle with 3/4 of the cinnamon mixture. Spoon remaining batter into pan and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture. Bake at 350 for 1 hour until done. Cool 10-15 minutes in pan and invert onto a plate to serve. This is very good with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Banana Oatmeal Bread

This bread was really easy to make and it tastes great.

Banana-Oatmeal Bread
1 c flour
1 c rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c mashed bananas
1/4 c buttermilk
1 c chopped nuts, optional

In a small bowl, combine first 5 ingredients; set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter. Continue beating, while gradually adding sugar until pale and fluffy. There should be no lumps. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk. On slowest speed of mixer, or by hand, gradually add the flour mixture until batter is an even consistency. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until done.

Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Bread

This was really easy and really good! It is a Light and Tasty recipe.

1 and 1/3 c flour
2/3 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c fat free milk
3 T butter, melted
1 c fresh or frozen blueberries
2 tsp grated lemon peel
Glaze: 1/3 c powdered sugar
2 T lemon juice

In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, beat the egg, egg white, applesauce, milk and butter. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries and lemon peel.
Transfer to an 8x4" loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Combine the glaze ingredients; pour over warm loaf. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

This was so good!