My recipe - Dark Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

What to do with the giant zucchini from my garden....zucchini bread.  I got a recipe from Food Network - Paula Deen's recipe for chocolate chip zucchini bread.  I made some changes, to make it a bit healthier.  With Paula's new health kick - I think she would approve of my changes.

Here is my version of Paula Deen's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread - indicating the original recipe and my changes.  This recipe makes 2 loaves - I doubled it to make 4 loaves....but I left measurements here for 2 loaves.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 cups white sugar (this was 2 cups of white sugar)
• 1 cup apple sauce (this was 1 cup of vegetable oil)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini 
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips (this was semisweet chocolate chips)

I didn't do, but it was in the original recipe:

• 1 cup chopped pecans 
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• Whipped cream, for serving
• Zucchini ribbons, for serving

Directions

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans. (I used tin foil pans so I could give them away)

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in apple sauce, vanilla, zucchini, and chocolate chips. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. (I ate it right away....who can wait when the kitchen smells SO good?!?)

 Here is the "raw" batter in a tin foil pan that I had buttered. Make sure that there is about 1 inch of space still in the pan.  I buttered the whole pan, so when it rised, it all would come out cleanly.

 In the oven - all pans lined up together.

 See how much is rises?  Here is the stick coming out cleaning - indicating it is ready to come out.

 Here is a close up of the finished loaf.  Isn't it pretty?  See the color?  Browns, golds, greens....so pretty!!

The finished piece.  Moist, not too sweet.....perfection!

My life - My Garden

Sorry for not writing for awhile....the summer has been so busy.  You can see part of what I have been doing right here.....growing my garden.  With the heat we have been having, keeping ahead of the heat has been a challenge.  I water my garden every day, always watering down low, to make sure the water gets to the roots and doesn't just roll off of the leaves.  I have a sheet on my fridge to keep track of how much I have harvested....I'll let you know at the end of the season my final count.

 Here are my brussels sprouts....see how they are budding along the thick stem?  This plant has been my most fascinating.  It is so different from how everything else grow - fruits coming from flowers vs. the intersection of stem and leaves.

 Here is the eggplant.  The color contrast between the leaves and the veins are so pretty.  And the deep purple of the vegetable.  Wow.....

 This is a spaghetti squash.  It has quite awhile to go.....but it's getting there.

 See the cauliflower growing in there?  And look at the wonderful blue, gray green of the leaves.  It needs more time, but it is going well.

 Here is broccoli.  I already picked on large bunch.  Each plant only grows one bunch.....not much yield for the amount of space this plant needs.

 I have a jungle of tomatoes.  You can see them starting to ripen.  I already have been able to pick the smaller ones.  The larger ones are taking longer.

And now the piece de resistance.....my giant zucchini!!!  Isn't this crazy?!?!  It grows SO fast.  I am going to make zucchini bread.  I'll post pictures and the recipe soon.

My life - Camping and Madison, WI Farmers Market

We just got back from camping in Smokey Hallow in Lodi, WI.  We have been camping for almost 9 years - this time there were 11 families.  Some folks were in one space all together, a few in another, and us and a couple other families a bit away.  We had great weather - warm during the day and cold at night.  We cooked over the fire only for dinners.  Breakfasts we just had cereal and had some other things from other families (pancakes, waffles).  Lunch - cold cuts, snacks and sharing food with others.  Dinner Friday night I made chicken, baked potatoes, and brats - all over the fire.  Speaking of fire....we made our fire from scratch - no fire starter!  Twigs and logs - so much more fun. Saturday night dinner was a bust....skirt steaks that I marinaded, peas (from the farmers market) and baked potatoes.  The steaks were just off.....I don't know if it was the marinade or the steak itself, but it just tasted not quite right.  No one ate it and I ended up throwing it away. And the peas got too smoky flavored for anyone to eat. So....potatoes and the generosity of others.  Totally sucks.  I hate when my meals suck.

On Saturday, we went to Madison's Farmer's Market. It is one of the best farmer's markets around.  It goes around the capital building on both sides of the street.  Everything is so delicious and fresh.

 This is our favorite thing to eat at the Farmer's Market - hot cheesy bread. We eat one there and one at the campgrounds.  When we get it, it is warm and fresh.  SOOOOOOO tasty!!!!!!!

 This is where the bread comes from.....find it, buy it, love it!!

 See how the booths are just all around the street?  SOOOO many people, so many booths.

 All kinds of vegis.....

The capital building.

Dinner - Quinoa Patties

These are quinoa patties.  I made them before on April 5th, but this time the zucchini I used was from my own garden!!  My first zucchini!  So exciting!!


2 rounded cp cooked quinoa  - cooled down from cooking (see the box/bag of your quinoa for instructions how to make it)
3/4 cp shredded cheddar cheese (or any other cheese you prefer)
1/2 cp fat free cottage cheese
1/2 cp shredded carrot (I got it from the salad bar)
1/2 cp shredded zucchini - squeeze out the water once you have grated it
3 eggs
3 T flour
1/4 cp grated onion
1/2 t sugar (I used agave)
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 t ground cumin
1/8 t salt
1/4 t garlic powder


Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl


In a non-stick pan with a thin layer of olive oil - medium heat.  To keep it into a patty, cooking it on medium is better than hotter.  This allows for the patty to set up before flipping it.  When I put the thicker patty into the pan - I flattened it out with my hand - to about 1/2-1/4" thick.


This makes about 10 patties.


I served it with greek plain, nonfat yogurt and I always double the recipe to have extra to put in the fridge for snacking.  They are just as good cold as warm.

Dinner - Green Beans, portobello mushrooms and burgers

I haven't made dinner for quite awhile.  Between baseball games and visiting with friends, I haven't really had the chance.  So today, I bought burgers from work (they are on sale and SOOOOO yummy).  I also made green beans with panko and garlic and portobello mushrooms with onions and blue cheese.

Here are the green beans.  Soon I will be able to pick them from my garden....but not quite yet.  I steamed the green beans.  Once they are softer, I add some butter, panko and 2 cloves of garlic to the pan.  It all gets brown and crunchy.  So tasty!

These are the mushrooms.  My grill is out of gas, so I had to make it in the oven.  I sliced up vidalia onions and cooked them low and slow in the saute pan. I lined a baking sheet with foil and put the mushrooms in at 350 degrees.  After about 10 minutes, I put the onions and some blue cheese on the mushrooms.  The blue cheese I used was Maytag and it was very strong.  I used a bit too much for my liking, but with some refining this would be a delicious dish.

Restaurant review - Brunch Cafe - Fox River Grove, IL

This was a savory crepe.  It was SO good....scrambled eggs, avocado, tomato and spinach.  It was great because the crepe itself was somewhat sweet, and then the smooth avocado, tangy tomato, healthy spinach and substantial eggs.

I really like this place.  Everyone is always nice here - from the staff to the other customers.  And the whole family finds things they like to eat.  Easy decision -

Restaurant review - L'Eiffel Bistro and Creperie South Barrington, IL

WOW....what a great night.  We ate outside and it was beautiful.  I found this restaurant on Open Table.  It was in a nice outdoor strip mall of all kinds of upper level stores....Sur La Table, Coldwater Creek, etc.  The only problem with eating outside was the bugs.  We both got bites all over our ankles and feet. I'm still itching!

Few hiccups with the menu.  I only saw one savory crepe on the menu....surprised due to the name of the restaurant. But there were about 6 dessert crepes to choose from. Also, I was curious about the different and unique drink choices, but our server had no idea what each of them were.  Too bad, I was willing to try something new.

I ordered my favorite way...all appetizers.

 This is the ceviche.  It was delicious....nice and fresh with different textures from the different kinds of seafood (shrimp, octopus, scallops) and vegis (peppers, onions, tomato, avocado).

 This was a shrimp and crab cake.  It was crunchy and light.  It was served on a bed of wilted spinach and the yellow sauce was some kind of lemony sauce.

These are curry mussels.  You can order them with or without fries....I had it without fries.  The flavor was great, but the mussels were just ok.  A bit over cooked....rubbery.

This is what Amy had.....but she had them switch out black noodles (made from squid ink) for these rice noodles.  This is shrimp and scallops with a buerre blanc sauce.  It was a tasty dish....the seafood was cooked perfectly and the beurre blanc was light and flavorful.

We had two desserts....a crepe with apples and caramel with vanilla ice cream and chocolate mousse.  Both were delicious.....

I'll definitely be coming back here.  Though sitting outside was wonderful, I am still itching, so maybe we'll sit inside next time.