What's Cooking?

As I have mentioned before, I love food!  I love to cook, eat, and read about food.  So you can imagine my frustration when my oven decided to stop working a few weeks ago.  Here in the heat of the summer, I must admit, I do not use my oven often. We live in a very old house with poor insulation and a kitchen that feels like it is centered on the Equator for most of the summer.  However, when the oven went, my whole kitchen seemed to close down.  It didn't matter that I still had the stove top to use or even the microwave.  I just quit cooking.  I could sense the frustration from the hubby and honestly I missed creating in the kitchen, so I decided to do something about this.

I bought a toaster oven.  Yep.  No need to fix the oven at this point in the summer, so I opted for a smaller, cooler appliance that could serve our needs until it cools enough to worry about the oven for Fall cooking.  And you know what?  I got my kitchen groove back.  That's right.

Now we're cooking!  And just in time, too!  It is the time of year to "Clean out the Garden".  You know the feeling. . . you have cooked squash and zucchini every imaginable way--grilled, fried, sauteed, on pizza, in casserole. . . and if you see another squash any time soon, you might go crazy.  So imagine your surprise when you are cleaning in the garden and lift up those giant squash leaves to find this:

Bottom: average size zucchini
Top: GIGANTIC zucchini

I guess this guy was hiding before we went on vacation and once we returned, he was gargantuan!  Not only was he hiding, but there was obviously a game of hide and seek going on in the squash patch, as I found 2 others this big, if not larger later in the week!  Now typically, I would share this bounty with our chickens, but a few years ago I found a fantastic recipe for both zucchini cookies and zucchini brownies that The Reporter begs for.  Yes, you heard me. A six year old that begs for zucchini!

So I took this guy and his friends inside and ran them through the food processor, measured out 3 cups at a time and bagged them up for future use!

Four of the 12 bags of zucchini now nestled in my deep-freezer

I saved out enough to whip up a batch of zucchini brownies with a twist--I decided to try out my cupcake making skills and poured the batter into muffin tins, adjusted the time accordingly and whipped up some dairy-free icing. As you can see, all those sleepless nights nursing and watching "Cupcake Wars" is paying off--I've never iced a cupcake so well!

I still had just enough zucchini left to whip up some yummy spiced zucchini muffins adapted from this recipe over at Real Simple.  (I used whole wheat pastry flour and added in 1/4 c flax seed and 1/4 c wheat germ) 

Do you think they were a hit?

The Little Guy can't get enough of these!!

So, if you are about "squashed-out" try one of these tasty recipes now or freeze some shredded squash and enjoy them later! 

Zucchini Brownies

This recipe is adapted from the book "Simply in Season--a World Community Cookbook" Compiled by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert. If you enjoy fresh, local foods, it is well-worth the small investment. The book is divided by seasons and the recipes feature foods that are available in each season.

 I hardly ever follow a recipe as it is written, so I have changed it to reflect how I make these.

Combine in a large bowl:
1 3/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup flax seed  and 1/4 cup wheat germ
Stir in:
2-3 cups shredded zucchini

In a separate bowl, combine and beat with a fork:
1 egg

  (if you want to make these vegan, you can use 1/2 c applesauce!)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut milk yogurt (You can use regular yogurt, but I wanted them to be dairy-free!)
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Stir wet mixture (sugar, egg, etc) into zucchini/flour mixture.

Spread evenly in a 9x13 inch pan or divide evenly into a muffin tin to make cupcakes

Sprinkle the following on top of batter:
1/2 to 1 cup semisweet or mint chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) 

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (35-40 minutes) 

For cupcakes/muffins: Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Icing:

1/2 c butter or vegan butter substitute

8 Tbsp cocoa

~3 c confectioner's sugar

1/3 c milk, almond milk, or coconut milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter and stir in cocoa.  Add sugar and milk while mixing at low speed, alternating wet and dry ingredients until desired consistency is formed.  Stir in vanilla extract. Pipe onto cupcakes using a pastry bag. (Adapted from Hershey's cocoa box)

And while we are on the subject of food, stay tuned for some yummy lunch ideas that we enjoy around here during the school year!

Now, I need ideas for all these peppers. . .