Zucchini Muffins

I shouldn't have told Ryan when I was on the phone with him that I was making "zucchini" muffins...he's scared of anything that is edible that comes from the ground (not really, just isn't a big vegetable lover).  I should have named them something more "magical" like... Green Speckled Love-Muffins. Something I'd say to the preschoolers. He would've never known there are nutrients in them.

We all know that your grandmother's or mother's zucchini bread was always delicious and never really tasted like zucchini, right? Well, that was the point I wanted to get through to Ryan...that the vegetable can be used in many sweet baking recipes.  Because I just love food and learning about it and talking, making, and eating it... I always get Ryan to at least try new things that he hasn't tried before. He's never had zucchini in a sweet way. Therefore, zucchini muffins it is! (I actually just took them out of the oven and realized I never put in baking soda, #$^@&$%&#%$^&*!!!!! They didn't rise. And I'm going to school to get a pastry arts certificate? Great job Noelle. Welp, I'm posting them anyways)

Zucchini Muffin Recipe - don't forget the baking soda.

Ingredients

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)

Method
*You don't need a mixer for this recipe!*

1 Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the zucchini mixture and mix in. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts.

2 Spray your muffin tins. Fill cups completely with batter. Bake about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a toothpick.

Grate the heck out of the zucchini to get 3 cups (about two 7-8 inch zucchinis).

Wet ingredients in 1 bowl. Zucchini, sugar, eggs, vanilla.
Mix this, then add the melted butter.

Dry.

Add the cup of walnuts. I used the end of a spoon and chopped away at them that way to break them up a bit.

Wet and dry.

Fill.

Bake, cool, and eat!

Vegetable Soup

It's the end of March and I'm craving a hot bowl of soup?? Those little days in between the bitter-cold where it's about 65 degrees out and you can walk out of the gym in shorts and not FREEZE really tease me.  I still felt like making some soup to warm up the kitchen AND drink some hot broth to release any of the cold I still have in me, so I went to Russo's and bought mounds of wonderful vegetables to melt into something creative.

Came home, and decided on a Harpoon Munich Dark beer first. Thank you Jesse, it was great.

The vegetables I used:

4 celery stalks
4 carrots
1 sweet potato
1/3 summer squash
1 white onion
1 yellow squash
1/3 Savoy cabbage (the crinkled-leaf kind)
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes
handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

Cut the root veggies up into large chunks, turn the oven up to 400 Degrees and roast them until very soft.and sweet. This takes about 40 minutes.

Also, there's no need to peel them, just wash them.  They're going into the blender.

Dice the onion and add it to about a tablespoon of crushed garlic and extra virgin olive oil that is being heated in a deep frying pan.

I tried to take a picture of my crying eyes here after I cut the onion. NONE of them came out even half way decent to share.

Sweat baby, sweat. Sweat the onions until translucent and then add the chopped up yellow squash. Then the chopped celery.

Next, I took out my large soup pot added 2 48oz cans of fat free chicken broth, the cooked onion, squash, celery, and chopped cabbage.  I turned the flame up to medium-high and put on the lid to let the cabbage slowly cook.

Out of the oven! Root vegetables are soft.

BLEND IT. Add some water to make it easier on yourself

Add the blended orange vegetables to the soup and stir!

Next, add the following spices:

Garlic powder
Dried Chives
Onion powder
Black pepper
Basil

Just add a little at a time. I honestly can't estimate how much I put in, just enough to make it taste very delicious!

Let the soup cook on low heat for another 40 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Heat it up and enjoy :)

Weekly throw-together

Just about every week I take an hour or so to put together this bowl of health, which I will use throughout the week.  Whether I put it cold on lettuce and add some dressing for a salad, heat it up alongside some chicken, or eat it cold right out of the bowl... I have found this as the easiest and fastest way to have nutritious and easily prepared lunches and dinners for a week!

Obviously I started my cooking hour with a piece of 90% cocoa dark chocolate. Yes, 90%.

And alongside my cooking station was my pal, Saveur, which I received in the mail today! Best Christmas present this year, thanks Sarah!

Next, the ingredients.

What I used this week:

-Bulgar Wheat
-Green peas
-Whole kernel corn
-Broccoli florets
-1/4 Red onion
-1 Vine tomato
-Fresh parsley
-1 clove garlic
-Olive oil
-Balsamic Vinegar
-Salt, pepper
-Lime juice

I make it very easy on myself and buy many varieties of frozen vegetables (especially when they're on sale) heat them in the microwave for a bit and add them to the salad.

Bulgar Wheat. You're probably wondering what it is. Well... it's the staple of tabouli.  Tabouli is a Mediterranean dish made with only a few ingredients. Very delicious.

The only specific guidelines I follow to cook the wheat are:
1. Pour about 1- 1/2 cups into a pot
2. Cover the wheat about an inch over with water
3. Put it on a medium flame on the stove with a cover
4. Bring to a boil
5. Watch it until the water is absorbed and bulgar is cooked and chewy

Dice the onion, parsley, and tomato.

Add the rest of the veg. Pretty Colors!

Chopped garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Add what you want. I usually add more vinegar as the week goes on.

Add the cooked bulgar, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste...then gently toss!

This small hand-made bowl was a birthday gift from Scott! Made by Gleena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Pickle Party

JARS! We needed lots of jars. More jars than we thought for the...oh how appropriate.....shall I say, "pickle party"? Mason jars worked just fine for Scott (who is an old college friend..pictures follow). I, on the other hand, used a beefy jar so I could stuff as many of those delicious vegetables into their vinegar bath.

The party started with the following ingredients:

A large amount of fresh vegetables:
     -Cucumbers, obviously
     -Carrots
     -Beets
     -Purple Onions
     -Jalapenos
     -Celery
     -Green tomatoes
     -Cauliflower
     -Green Beans
     -Radishes
Salt (Kosher and smoked)
White Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar
Fresh Garlic
Fresh Dill
Black Peppercorns
Celery Salt

 

I probably missed listing a few ingredients here, but you get the picture (no pun intended).

Oh, and the eggs you see there.. Scott just forgot to put them in the fridge.

Anyways, we got to sanitizing each and every jar and lid with a huge lobster pot of boiling water. Sort of a tedious task, but necessary.  We also then got to the peeling and chopping of the vegetables.

The sitting vegetables were just so pretty! I honestly had trouble capturing a picture that showed their colorful beauty. Corny. Sorry.

We boiled some beets. Skinned em. They smelled up the kitchen with that soil smell and turned the sink a bloody red. What a great vegetable, huh?

Next, was the special pickling potion that we had to create! We had so many ingredients to throw in that I think we all forgot to follow any sort of recipe and just mixed our own vinegar-based concoction.

My potion included:
White Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar (equal parts)
More Salt
Less Sugar
Peppercorns
Raw Garlic
Dill

We put it all into a covered pot, turned the heat on high, and waited for a nice boil.

Here's my stuffed jar.

The brine boiled for about 5 minutes. We took it off the stove and used a funnel to pour it through to be extra careful.  As my pickled vegetables sat in the fridge for 2 weeks, they became a deep dark purple because of the beets. I wish I took a picture before I ate them all! Oops.

Here's the pouring.  It was a great sinus cleanser all right. Boiling vinegar evaporating up into your face!

JARS! We needed lots of jars. More jars than we thought for the...oh how appropriate.....shall I say, "pickle party"? Mason jars worked just fine for Scott (who is an old college friend..pictures follow). I, on the other hand, used a beefy jar so I could stuff as many of those delicious vegetables into their vinegar bath. The party started with the following ingredients: A large amount of fresh vegetables:      -Cucumbers, obviously      -Carrots      -Beets      -Purple Onions      -Jalapenos      -Celery      -Green tomatoes      -Cauliflower      -Green Beans      -Radishes Salt (Kosher and smoked) White Vinegar Apple Cider Vinegar Sugar Fresh Garlic Fresh Dill Black Peppercorns Celery Salt I probably missed listing a few ingredients here, but you get the picture (no pun intended). Oh, and the eggs you see there.. Scott just forgot to put them in the fridge. Anyways, we got to sanitizing each and every jar and lid with a huge lobster pot of boiling water. Sort of a tedious task, but necessary.  We also then got to the peeling and chopping of the vegetables. The sitting vegetables were just so pretty! I honestly had trouble capturing a picture that showed their colorful beauty. Corny. Sorry. We boiled some beets. Skinned em. They smelled up the kitchen with that soil smell and turned the sink a bloody red. What a great vegetable, huh? Next, was the special pickling potion that we had to create! We had so many ingredients to throw in that I think we all forgot to follow any sort of recipe and just mixed our own vinegar-based concoction. My potion included: White Vinegar Apple Cider Vinegar (equal parts) More Salt Less Sugar Peppercorns Raw Garlic Dill We put it all into a covered pot, turned the heat on high, and waited for a nice boil. And here is a picture of my patient jar. And my stuffed jar. The brine boiled for about 5 minutes. We took it off the stove and used a funnel to pour it through to be extra careful.  As my pickled vegetables sat in the fridge for 2 weeks, they became a deep dark purple because of the beets. I wish I took a picture before I ate them all! Oops. Here's the pouring.  It was a great sinus cleanser all right. Boiling vinegar evaporating up into your face! Here's a shot right after we put the lid on. A 2 week wait and a delicious snack awaited me! Scott used a bunch of other vegetables that he bought at the Copley Square Farmers Market.  He also added a lot of jalapenos too. I just wanted the traditional...salty, tangy, sour pickles. Next time, I will venture out a bit more.  Here are pictures of his jars. And the finale. The jar all the way to the left is filled with eggs. Looks like something you'd see in Harvard's Natural History Museum. Floating, white, and slimy figures in a cloudy liquid. It's turning more purple as it sits. It's sort of mothering the other little jars. How cute Closer Lastly, here's Seth with his more expensive camera than mine taking more pictures of our creations. Don't be shy with your pickles. Plan a "pickle party" and throw in whatever vegetables and spices that suit you. :o) Oh, and take pictures.