Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup grated zucchini
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin tin or use liners.

In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whist together the egg, applesauce, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the zucchini and the chocolate chips.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12 large muffins.

*From http://eat-drink-love.com/chocolate-zucchini-muffins/

Cheesy Zucchini Bake

Hi! How's it going? I've been on a bit of a "hiatus" from blogging, but I'm back! Its zucchini season and I've been trying new recipes to use up my harvest. Here's something a little different from the usual. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
2 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
4 cups chopped zucchini
3 eggs
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup shredded mozza cheese

Press crescent rolls into a greased 8x8 pan.

Melt butter in a medium skillet; add chopped onion and chopped zucchini and saute over medium heat 5 minutes (or until tender-crisp).

In a medium bowl, beat eggs and stir in spices. Add a small amount of the onion/zucchini mixture to the eggs to temper them. Then add remainder of mix and stir together.

Stir in shredded mozza cheese and pour mixture into the unbaked crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

*From http://www.lemontreedwelling.com/

Vanilla Yogurt Chia Seed Pudding

Good morning! If you're looking for a new (easy) breakfast idea, you've come to the right place. I've recently starting making chia pudding and I'm quite enjoying it. I didn't know what to expect, but it was all over Pinterest, so I thought I'd try it out. Plus it's super good for you!

3/4 cup milk
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 chia seeds

Add all ingredients, except chia seeds, to a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add chia seeds and whisk to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning it should be fairly thick like pudding. Give it a good stir and then scoop a portion into a bowl and top with granola and fruit. Leftovers will keep for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Makes about 4 servings.

*From http://www.littlebroken.com/

Biscuit-Topped Casserole

Wow! So apparently I haven't posted anything since July. I usually forget to take pictures when I make something. But this time I thought this is a good winter dish and made sure to get a picture.

1 tsp oil
1 lb lean ground beef
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup green or yellow beans
1/2 cup chopped onion

4 oz cream cheese, softened
10 oz can of condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Tube of refrigerator country-style biscuits (10 biscuits per tube)

Heat oil in large frying pan on medium. Add ground beef and cook until mostly browned, then add the veggies (feel free to change up the veggies depending on what you have in your freezer). Cook until ground beef is no longer pink and veggies are starting to cook. Remove from heat. Drain.

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Add soup and stir.

Add beef mixture and next 4 ingredients to the bowl. Stir. Transfer to ungreased 3 quart casserole or 9x13 dish. Bake, uncovered, in 375F oven for 15 minutes.

Arrange biscuits on beef mixture and bake, uncovered, for another 20-25 minutes until biscuits are golden.

Strawberry Banana Bread

As per my last post, its strawberry season! Yum! With some of the last strawberries that I hadn't done anything with yet, I thought I'd bake something. This recipe caught my eye as I also had some ripe bananas that needed to be used up. I just pulled the loaves out of the oven and they smell delicious!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped and tossed in 1 tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Spray 2 loaf pans and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the sugar mixture and beat until combined. Add the mashed bananas and mix until combined.

Sift all dry ingredients together and then slowly add into the banana mixture. Mix just until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in floured strawberries.

Pour batter into the two prepared loaf pans and bake at 375F for 15 minutes. Then turn oven down to 350F and bake another 25-30 minutes until edges are brown or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool before removing from pans.

*From http://therecipecritic.com/2015/07/strawberry-banana-bread/

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

It's strawberry season! Yesterday morning I went strawberry picking with my family and went home with four ice cream pails of strawberries. I love fresh strawberries! So far I have made 10 half pint jars of strawberry jam and frozen several bags for future smoothies. I also discovered this recipe. I happened to have some frozen rhubarb in my freezer, so this seemed like a good way to use it up. I was right, its delicious! So easy to make and makes a great topping for ice cream, yogurt, waffles, etc. The options are endless. Enjoy!

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
5 tsps cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup sliced rhubarb

Combine sugar, orange juice, cornstarch and vanilla extract in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add strawberries and rhubarb; reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and blend with immersion blender or manually mash if you don't have an immersion blender. I like to leave some fruit chunks, but you can blend to smooth if you wish. Enjoy warm or cold. Makes 2 large pasta sauce sized jars.

*Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/200454/strawberry-rhubarb-sauce/

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Fettuccini

8 oz fettuccine 

3 tbsp butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 - 300 ml jar of roasted red peppers, drained

1 cup cream

4 oz feta cheese, crumbled 

1/4 cup Parmesan 

Fresh basil

Cook pasta according to package directions. 

Meanwhile melt butter in pan and sauté minced garlic until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add roasted red peppers, cream, feta cheese and Parmesan cheese. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes. Using an immersion blender, purée the red pepper sauce. Feel free to leave some chunks of red pepper. 

Add cooked fettuccine to the sauce and toss to coat. Top with some fresh basil and additional Parmesan.

*From http://laughingspatula.com/