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I enjoyed (past tense) so much the banana chips and dried apples that I made so decided to make more. I also wondered how it would be to have some dried mushrooms on hand so I first made a batch of those
The second day I dried banana chips:
The third and fourth days I dried batches of apples. Here is the last batch in the racks ready for the dehydrator:
What delicious, healthy snacks!
Ddd
Green tomatoes yielded 24 loaves of delicious bread. Yes I CAN count - we already ate one warm from the oven!
My delicious recipe uses green tomatoes and tart apples (I used Granny Smith). I used the same marathon baking method as for my zucchini bread (double batches with dry ingredients in one gallon ziplock and wet ingredients in another - combine in the mixer).
I also added two mock apple (zucchini) pies to the freezer along with these loaves of bread.
Ddd
Every time I visit at my son's house I come back inspired (challenged) by my multi-talented daughter-in-law. This time I was inspired to try making no-knead artisan bread. Awesome stuff to eat - easy to make.
I followed the master recipe in the book Artisan bread in five minutes a day : the discovery that revolutionizes home baking by Jeff Hertzberg
It is a wet dough that keeps in the fridge for up to a week while you take off portions to bake up fresh. I baked two loaves right away and kept two in the fridge to bake in the next few days. I will defininately be making more of this!
Here are my first two BEAUTIFUL loaves:
YUMMO!
Ddd
Sometimes the neighbors are overly generous with their zucchini (OK, they ALWAYS are). This year I was given some real whoppers so I had a marathon baking session. I would like to share some of my favorite recipes and methods here.
First up is a new-to-me recipe for a pie - yep, a zucchini pie! It is mock-apple and it truly delicious. There is NO telling this is zucchini, either.
| 6 cups zucchini 1 ¼ cups sugar 1 ½ Tbsp flour 1 ½ tsp cream of tartar | 1 ½ tsp cinnamon dash of salt dash of nutmeg pastry for double crust 9 inch pan |
Peel very large zucchini, slice lengthwise, remove and discard seeds. Slice like apple. Add to ¼ cup lemon juice and ¼ cup water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes until just tender. Drain and cool. Add remaining ingredients and place in unbaked pie crust in a 9-inch pan. Cover with second crust and flute and seal the edges. Cut slits for steam. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes until top is browned.
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Then I made up 22 full-size and 8 mini loaves of zucchini bread. I have three recipes that I use so that we have some variety and I always double the recipes. For a marathon session I get out some gallon ziplock bags. For each recipe I place all the wet ingredients, including the sugar and zucchini in one big bag. I measure out all of the bags at once (for this session I ended up with 6 bags of double recipes. The number of bags I have is entirely dependent on how much zucchini there is. I measure that into each bag FIRST and build the rest of the recipe around it. I label the bags with a marker as to which recipe they are.
Then I take another set of bags and measure out all the dry ingredients, including the nuts. These also get marked with the recipe name.
Now I just match up bags of wet and dry by recipe and set them aside.
Now I'm ready to mix up some zucchini bread. I massage a bag of wet ingredients to get them unstuck from the sides of the bag.
Pour that into the mixer bowl and start it up on low speed. Then I massage and roll around a bag of dry (in place of sifting).
With the mixer running I feed the dry ingredients into the bowl gradually.
I leave the mixer running while I spray the pans with non-stick spray. I read a great idea on another blog the other day and tried it out... place the pans on the door of your dishwasher. All the overspray goes on the door and is cleaned up when the dishwasher is run.
While the loaves are in the oven I wash the mixer bowl, paddle and spatula. That way I'm ready for the next batch to be mixed up. When the loaves come out of the oven I turn them out to cool on a wire rack. They stay here until the next batch comes out of the oven.
When the loaves are cooled to this point I slip them into vacuum seal bags but leave the ends open. I use a marker to write the product name on the bag. When they are completely cooled I will seal them with the vacuum sealer. Here is the layout partway through the marathon. At this point there are 4 more loaves in the oven and 4 still to mix up.
Here are the recipes I used today:
ZUCCHINI APPLESAUCE LOAF| 2 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 2 cups white sugar 2 cups grated zucchini 1 cup applesauce 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flour | 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 cup chopped nuts (walnut or pecan) |
Beat eggs, oil, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in zucchini, pineapple, and vanilla.
In another bowl, measure and combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and nuts. Pour all at once into batter. Stir to moisten. Pour into greased loaf pans.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until bread tests done. Cool for 10 minutes before turning loaf out to cool on rack.
| 2 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 2 cups white sugar 2 cups grated zucchini 1 cup crushed pineapple with juice 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flour | 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 cup chopped nuts (walnut, pecan, unsalted cashew, or macadamia) |
Beat eggs, oil, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in zucchini, pineapple, and vanilla.
In another bowl, measure and combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and nuts. Pour all at once into batter. Stir to moisten. Pour into greased loaf pans.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until bread tests done. Cool for 10 minutes before turning loaf out to cool on rack.
| Mix together: 3 eggs 1 c. oil 2 c. sugar 2 c. grated zucchini 3 t. vanilla | Sift together and stir in: 3 c. flour 1 t. salt ¼ t. baking powder 1 t. soda ¾ t. nutmeg 3 T cinnamon |
Add 1 c. chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
Bake at 325o for 1 hour in 2 greased and floured loaf pans (makes 4 mini-loaves)
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I freeze up my loaves and we eat on them all year as well as passing them on to friends, taking them to dinners, and using them as thank-you gifts. I will do some Green Tomato bread to add to this stock when I get some off my vines. Here is that recipe:
GREEN TOMATO BREAD
| 1 ½ cups ground green tomatoes ½ cup grated tart apple 2 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 3 beaten eggs | 1 teaspoon vanilla 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt | 2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg ¾ cup chopped nuts ½ cup raisins (optional) |
In a large bowl, combine green tomatoes, apple, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Into separate bowl, sift dry ingredients. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
Add nuts and raisins (if using) and stir to combine. Divide mixture between two greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out dry.
NOTE: The green tomatoes can be ground and measured out for freezer storage until you are ready to make bread, if you wish.
Hope you enjoy this!
Ddd
For a ladies' event at church I offered to make a cake for dessert. The theme is Where the Heart Is so a heart cake was in order. In order to make it easier to serve it is actually 48 cupcakes (red velvet), arranged and frosted as one unit.
The extra off to the side is because the heart really only takes 47 cupcakes! The fact that the cupcakes dictate the design also accounts for the 'wonky' outline of the heart.
The colors and design were matched to a piece of fabric that was selected for the table centerpieces.
Ddd
Three pies, hot from the oven, ready for a trip to a pie auction. Together, they sold for $100!
Just in case YOU want a pie worth $30-$35 I'll give you the recipies for them. They are CRANBERRY (upper left), COCONUT MACAROON (upper right), and PINEAPPLE-MACADAMIA (lower).
OIL PASTRY - (thanks, Mom!) makes one crust - do not double
In bowl combine 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Stir with a fork until blended and crumbly. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons chilled water. Sitr until it comes together and forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for 10 minutes. When chilled roll out between two pieces of plastic wrap.
CRANBERRY PIE
Combine in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and boil, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes, till thickened. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Pour into a 9" unbaked pie shell and dot top with 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine. Add a lattice top as this pie needs lots of venting.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Then turn oven down to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 35 minutes.
COCONUT MACAROON PIE
Mix all ingredients. Pour into a 9" unbaked pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees about 1 hour, till golden brown.
PINEAPPLE-MACADAMIA NUT PIE
Cram together the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and continue beating. Add corn syrup, flour, extract, pineapple and nuts. Pour into 9" unbaked pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes, until firm.
Enjoy!
Ddd
I didn't know whether to code the topic of this 'in the kitchen' or 'in the garden'! This plate was part of our dinner the other night and the surrounding items were sent to the refrigerator for later consumption. All of these were picked from the garden barrels within an hour of this photo!
So, the garden was a success! Here we have (clockwise on the plate and then surrounding it) radishes, green onions, carrots, cucumber, green beans, tomatoes, and beets. The tomatoes are from those cheater plants. On the left edge of the plate you can see just one pea that DH did not snack away while I was preparing the shot.
Other garden successes not on tonight's menu - spinach, lettuce, cherry tomatoes (yet to ripen), white onions.
Ddd
11 for dinner… this was Easter at our house. We were fortunate to have a house full of family and here’s what we served:
Peanut-Apple Salad with dressing of balsamic vinaigrette and honey served on a bed of lettuce leaves with a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese.
Potato Salad
Deviled Eggs
Veggie Tray of grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, baby carrots, and radish flowers.
Rolls
Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Stuffed Mushroom Caps with minced ham and cheddar cheese, baked
Rolls
Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream
Breakfast for 4 of us was Ham and Cheese Omelets and Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Rolls.
Everything was very tasty and I thought I’d share the recipe for the Cinnamon Rolls and the Apple Crisp that I developed by combining and making changes to some others that weren’t quite what I wanted.
In bread maker pan add the following ingredients in the order listed – ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons of lukewarm water, 2 tablespoons softened margarine, 2 ½ cups bread machine flour, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon bread machine yeast.
Set bread maker to make dough only. While it is being processed by the bread maker stir together 6 tablespoons softened margarine, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ cup brown sugar. Spread evenly in the bottom of a buttered 9 x 9 inch square pan. Arrange 36 pecan halves in the pan. Set aside.
When the dough is ready, turn out onto floured surface and use floured rolling pin to roll into a rectangle 13 x 17 inches. Mix together ¼ cup softened margarine, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Blend well and spread evenly on the rolled out dough. Sprinkle with ½ cup chopped pecans.
Roll from the narrow end up the length. Dip serrated knife in flour and cut dough into 9 even sections. Place into the 9 x 9 inch pan on top of the pecan halves. Set pan in warm place until doubled in size – roughly 1 hour.
Bake 35 to 45 minutes in oven preheated to 350 degrees. Immediately invert pan so rolls will release and the caramel drips over them.
APPLE CRISP
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In small bowl combine 1 cup regular rolled oats, 2/3 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine, 3 tablespoons apple juice. Mix well and set aside.
Into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, slice 8-10 cups of peeled apples - I use a mix of Honeycrisp, Gala, Braeburn, Fuji, or Granny Smith.
Make a mixture of 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon and a dash of salt. Sprinkle this over the apples. Pour 1/3 cup apple juice over both. Then sprinkle the whole with the oatmeal mixture and bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before serving.
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