Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

This recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes for Low Fat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread is a wonderful one. I thought about not posting it since my photo isn't the greatest but it is healthy, low fat & delicious so needed to share :)

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
from Gina's Skinny Recipes at skinnytaste.com

* 1 cup all purpose flour
* 1 cup white whole wheat flour
* 1/2 cup brown sugar (not packed)
* 1-1/8 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 cup chocolate chips
* 1 large egg, beaten
* 2 tbsp melted butter
* 1 cup apple sauce
* 1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini (not packed)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.
Add chocolate chips and gently mix to combine. In a medium bowl, mix egg, vanilla, melted butter, apple sauce and zucchini. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Pour
batter into a large 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 325° for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and let it cool before slicing.

My notes: I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter because my old recipe (which used a cup of oil!) had that and we like the taste of cinnamon & chocolate. The whole wheat flour I use is Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour which I find in the health food section of my grocery store. It comes in 5 lb bags and the WW pastry flour is much finer ground than the WW flour found in the baking aisle. I use it by substituting it for 1/2 of the white flour in most recipes as part of our quest to become more healthy.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP

Roasted Banana Cinnamon Rolls

I saw this recipe on the blog Picky Palate and since it was so easy with it's semi-homemade ingredients it was worth a try. The bananas were cut up and roasted with butter and brown sugar in the oven and the dough was a can of Pillsbury french bread spread with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. You can find step by step photos and this original recipe of the blog author by clicking HERE.

I love bananas and I love cinnamon rolls but this combo was not for me but Jeff did like them. If in a pinch I will make rolls with the french bread dough again but just leave out the bananas.

Marsha - Thumbs down
Jeff - Thumbs UP

jam & toast...

My favorite breakfast is homemade bread toasted with homemade jam. Last week's bag of rhubarb was used in the previously posted muffins, rhubarb bread and rhubarb-raspberry jam. I know bread machines are not used by many bakers these days with the popularity of 5-minute breads but I still use and love mine. When I saw the Rhubarb Bread for the bread machine recipe on Beth's Favorite Recipes I knew I had to give it a try. The freezer jam is one I have made for years both in the raspberry and strawberry versions.

Rhubarb Bread for the Bread Machine
from the blog, Beth's Favorite Recipes

Rhubarb Bread for Bread Machine
1 1/2 lb loaf

1 C. chopped rhubarb
1 C. water
1/2 t. finely shredded orange peel
2 T. butter or margarine
2 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. bread flour
3 T. brown sugar
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. active dry yeast

Procedure:
In medium saucepan combine rhubarb and water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 min. or till rhubarb is tender. Measure rhubarb-water mixture and add water if necessary to equal 1 1/3.C Cool slightly. Add ingredients to machine according to manufacturer's direction.

My Notes: this bread tastes wonderful especially toasted but I made it as posted and it didn't raise as tall as I would have liked. I have this happen with all the wheat flour recipes in my machine unless I add gluten which I didn't have on hand. Beth's notes say she used all white flour so I definitely will make this again using all white flour. If you have the same problem with your machine adjust accordingly.

Rhubarb Raspberry (or Strawberry) Jam
(written on a scrap of paper in my recipe collection - I have been making this for 30 years so I don't remember where it came from)

6 cups diced rhubarb
3 cups sugar
1 package raspberry or strawberry jello
1 bag frozen raspberries or strawberries (the individual flash frozen kind)

Mix the sugar & rhubarb together in a medium sized kettle and let sit for 1-2 hours so some of the juices from the rhubarb mix with the sugar. Heat to boiling and let simmer until rhubarb is cooked and breaking apart about 10-12 minutes. If using strawberries add them about 2/3 of the way through the cooking time and if using raspberries add them add them at the very end and reheat to boiling (you want the strawberries to break down a little and you want the raspberries to not turn to mush). Add the package of jello, stir until completely combined and then take off heat. The jam will thicken as it cools. Put into containers and store in refrigerator or freezer.

My notes: as all those old handwritten recipes go this one is vague on package sizes. I used the small package of jello this time and the jam is not as thick as usual. I do think I used a larger package of berries than usual so I should have used the larger package of jello. This is so good I would eat it with a spoon if I had to - but it is still spreadable consistency :)

Now I need to get another bag of rhubarb to try those bars on Beth's site and I still have to make my favorite rhubarb-pineapple sauce & Jeff's favorite rhubarb crisp! I did add a plant to my own garden this year but have to wait another year for it to get established for my first harvest.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs UP

Breakfast for one...

Recently, the Pioneer Woman posted about making cinnamon toast the right way and I knew I wanted to try it. Then yesterday, Beth (Beth's Favorite Recipes) posted it and said it was the BEST so this morning I just had to try it.
Let me just say...they are right! Without knowing it I have totally been making cinnamon toast the wrong way for many years. According to PW I have been using approach #3 which is the worst cinnamon toast on earth :) This tastes so good and had such a good crunch on top - just plain delicious.
I didn't have any mexican vanilla as PW suggests but used some "real" vanilla as well as the best cinnamon out there. I received some Penzey's spices as a gift from my friend, Jayne, we use a lot of cinnamon in our house and there is no comparsion to the store brands.

Cinnamon Toast - The Right Way
by Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Difficulty: Easy Servings: 8
Ingredients

* 16 slices Bread (whole Wheat Is Great!)
* 2 sticks Salted Butter, Softened
* 1 cup Sugar (more To Taste)
* 3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (more To Taste)
* ⅛ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Smush softened butter with a fork. Dump in sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, if using. Stir to completely combine.

Spread on slices of bread, completely covering the surface all the way to the edges.

Place toast on a cookie sheet. Place cookies sheet into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until golden brown and bubbling. Watch so it won’t burn!

Remove from oven and cut slices into halves diagonally.

Click HERE to see PW's post with step by step photos.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - poor guy wasn't home and missed it but I will be making it many more times in the future.

herbed crackers...

I received a Wilton Valentine cookie pan as a gift last weekend and the recipe for herbed crackers on the back of the label intrigued me.


Herbed Crackers - (recipe from Wilton)
Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup butter softened
* 8 ounces Monterey Jack or white cheddar cheese, shredded
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon oregano or basil
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/8 teaspon pepper

Makes about 1 dozen crackers.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray pan cavities with vegetable pan spray.

In medium mixing bowl cream butter with cheese. Stir in flour, salt, oregano, garlic powder and pepper.

Bake 11-13 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

My Notes: I didn't have white cheddar on hand so I used regular cheddar thus giving the crackers an orange tinge.

Marsha - Thumbs UP
Jeff - Thumbs Down

Though I probably won't be making these again given Jeff's rating - the cookie molds are fun and you'll be seeing those again!

Chocolate Chip Bread

The recipe I'm sharing today has been one of our family favorites since 1994 when I got my bread machine for Christmas. We enjoy it for breakfast and snacks. Back in the day, I used to get requests from Jayme to have it ready when she came home from college for weekends.
There is no getting around the fact that loaves baked in a bread machine are not pretty but we don't care the taste is awesome.
I learned something else tonight. I have a hard time using manual focus on closeups...is that because I need bifocals? If I use manual focus I think they are in focus, take the shot...eat the bread and download the photos only to find out they are blurry.

Chocolate Chip Bread

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 teaspoons yeast
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons soft butter
1 egg
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup water
(use ingredients at room temperature)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips - add at beep

Put the first 10 ingredients into the pan and press start. Select white bread or mix bread whatever your brand of bread machine has for the feature to add ingredients at the end of the second mixing. In my Hitachi machine, I select Mix Bread and bread color - Light. At the beep add the chocolate chips.

Thumbs UP - Marsha
Thumbs UP - Jeff