Disclaimer: I can't personally vouch for the awesomeness of this creation since mine turned out, well... in the garbage can. But that's because the kitchen gods smote me, not because the recipe sucks. Here's what happened. I wanted to bake something for my friend Meg, who was good enough to find Ella some hand-me-down uniforms for this upcoming school year. Meg wears ironed aprons, has perfectly parted hair, and served us grilled angel food cake with strawberries on china for a play date snack. I even had a saucer for my coffee. This, after I offered up a frozen pizza and whatever the kids could find on the kitchen floor when she came to our house. Needless to say, I needed a pretty good baked good for this domestic diva, so I fancied up a traditional banana bread recipe, poured the batter into my best bread pan--the one without the rust on the bottom--popped it in my oven, and waited for its glorious completion. I wasn't sure how long it would take since this was a new creation and I like my bread moist (that sounds like it should be dirty, but I can't think of how), so after 30 minutes I pulled it out to check on it. After stabbing the bread with a kabob stick I decided it still had a while to go and opened the oven door to put it back in. Only instead of opening like a normal oven would do for a normal cook, my oven door fell apart in my hands. With an underdone bread in one hand and an oven mitt in the other, I first caught the door handle as it pulled off the door, then the door frame and, finally, the glass panel from the front of the oven. Yet somehow, through all of this, the door itself did not open. "Steve, I need you!" I shouted to my husband upstairs. "Come quick, it's an emergency!" "Oh, *%$!," he proclaimed as he ran into the kitchen and grabbed a screw driver. "No time for fixes!" I shrieked, "Get the crow bar and pry open the oven! I'll hold the glass and the front of the stove for the next 15 minutes! We need to get Meg's banana bread back in there, STAT!" Steve, who knows nothing about aprons, or play dates, or parted hair, did not share my sense of urgency to save the bread and instead saved the oven door. By the time he was done, it was too late. I tried to make him eat the underdone bread as a punishment, but the batter stuck in his throat. Anyway, mine ended up in the garbage can, but if you're not in possession of demon appliances I'm sure yours will be divine.
Smitten Zucchini Banana Bread
Here's What You're Gonna Need:
(as always, divided into groups for those like myself with kitchen ADD)
1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup oats (rolled or quick or stolen from a horse or whatever)
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2-3 overripe bananas (The grosser the better. Unless they have fruit flies. That's too gross.), thoroughly mashed.
1 tsp vanilla
2 smallish or 1 big honkin green zucchini--shred, then give it a quick squeeze in a paper towel to get some of the moisture out.
1 cup walnuts and/or whatever makes you happy (raisins, chocolate chips, bacos, whatever)
And Here's What You're Gonna Do:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 9X5 loaf pans or at least 2 muffin tins.
Whisk together the first group of ingredients (flours, wheat germ, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt).
In a different big bowl, beat the eggs. Add the sugars, oil, applesauce and mashed bananas. Add vanilla and mix it all up.
Pour the dry ingredients into the big bowl of wet ones and stir until just combined. Fold in the zucchini, walnuts, and whatever else you got.
Pour into loaf pans.
Bake, I'm guessing, 45ish mins for bread, 35ish for muffins, or until your favorite baking stabber comes out dry.
Then please mail to my friend Meg and say it's from me.
Showing posts with label Zucchini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zucchini. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Goatless Goat Cheese and Vegetable Bruschetta
After extensive research I have discovered that goat cheese is made from the milk of goats, not goats, making it a delicious meat-free choice. Unless, of course, you get a piece of a goat teet or something in there--then I don't think it can be considered vegetarian anymore. Plus, goat cheese give the appearance of sophistocation so the next time you go to the pool or park or something you can sit down next to someone and be all, "Oh, you're having string cheese today? How droll. We eat Goat Cheese on my side of the tracks." Then fan yourself importantly and invite yourself over to the commoner with the string cheese's house for dinner and offer to bring an appetizer. Now go get yourself some teet-free goat cheese and let's put on airs!
Note: This recipe makes A LOT of roasted vegetables--enough to serve vegetable bruschetta as an appetizer at a dinner party. Even if it's just you and the cat, make it all--we're going to use the vegetables you don't use for the bruschetta for something else later this week.
Here's what you're gonna need:
One of each of the following*:
green zucchini
yellow zucchini
large portobello mushroom (or a couple of shitake mushrooms)
red bell pepper
orange or yellow bell pepper
japanese eggplant
tomato (or 2 Roma tomatoes or a handful of cherry or grape tomatoes)
medium red or white onion
*I've found this is a great combination of vegetables for making bruschetta (or solving crime), but if you don't use all of them it won't be the end of the world. The important thing is to get a good mix of colors and flavors so you can show your friends and neighbors how sophisticated you are.
olive oil
balsomic vinegar
4oz plain goat cheese
1 whole wheat or multi-grain baguette
And here's what you're gonna do:
Chop all of the vegetables into 1/2 -1/4 in pieces, placing them in a large bowl as you go. Toss with enough balsamic vinegar to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste and enough olive oil to coat and toss again. Set aside on the counter to marinate for at least a half an hour, mixing the vegetables occasionally with your hands.
Preheat oven to 425.
Line a large cookie sheet with release foil. Spread the vegetables out on the cookie sheet, making sure they are all coated in marinade. Roast vegetables for 20-25 minutes, or until they are tender and the peppers are starting to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven, slide the vegetables and any marinade remaining on the cookie sheet back into the large bowl from before and let cool for at least five minutes.
While the vegetables are cooling off, slice as much of the bagette as needed for your crowd or lack there of. Cutting the bread on the bias allows more surface area to smother with goat cheese and toppings as well as reinforces the idea of your fanciness. Lay the bread out on a cookie sheet (the same one as before if you're a savvy non-dishwasher) and brush the tops with olive oil. Broil for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned and toasty. For God's sake, stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on your bread or you'll light it on fire like I--I mean, someone I know named... Samy-- did last time I made bruschetta.
Now you have some deciding to do. Just how much bruschetta are you going to need here? You're going to want to pile vegetables high on the toasts, so err on the side of lots. Spoon as much of your vegetable mixture as needed to generously top your toast into your food processor or blender and pulse lightly for a few seconds. You don't want puree here--think very chunky salsa. Stow the rest of your vegetables away in a tupperware in the fridge for later this week--I'll tell you what to do with those suckers later. For now focus!
Spread a happy amount of goat cheese on each of your toasts and top with roasted vegetables. Drizzle on any left over juices/marinade for an extra foo foo touch. Now look how sophisticated you look! Can I get your number?
Note: This recipe makes A LOT of roasted vegetables--enough to serve vegetable bruschetta as an appetizer at a dinner party. Even if it's just you and the cat, make it all--we're going to use the vegetables you don't use for the bruschetta for something else later this week.
Here's what you're gonna need:
One of each of the following*:
green zucchini
yellow zucchini
large portobello mushroom (or a couple of shitake mushrooms)
red bell pepper
orange or yellow bell pepper
japanese eggplant
tomato (or 2 Roma tomatoes or a handful of cherry or grape tomatoes)
medium red or white onion
*I've found this is a great combination of vegetables for making bruschetta (or solving crime), but if you don't use all of them it won't be the end of the world. The important thing is to get a good mix of colors and flavors so you can show your friends and neighbors how sophisticated you are.
olive oil
balsomic vinegar
4oz plain goat cheese
1 whole wheat or multi-grain baguette
And here's what you're gonna do:
Chop all of the vegetables into 1/2 -1/4 in pieces, placing them in a large bowl as you go. Toss with enough balsamic vinegar to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste and enough olive oil to coat and toss again. Set aside on the counter to marinate for at least a half an hour, mixing the vegetables occasionally with your hands.
Preheat oven to 425.
Line a large cookie sheet with release foil. Spread the vegetables out on the cookie sheet, making sure they are all coated in marinade. Roast vegetables for 20-25 minutes, or until they are tender and the peppers are starting to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven, slide the vegetables and any marinade remaining on the cookie sheet back into the large bowl from before and let cool for at least five minutes.
While the vegetables are cooling off, slice as much of the bagette as needed for your crowd or lack there of. Cutting the bread on the bias allows more surface area to smother with goat cheese and toppings as well as reinforces the idea of your fanciness. Lay the bread out on a cookie sheet (the same one as before if you're a savvy non-dishwasher) and brush the tops with olive oil. Broil for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned and toasty. For God's sake, stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on your bread or you'll light it on fire like I--I mean, someone I know named... Samy-- did last time I made bruschetta.
Now you have some deciding to do. Just how much bruschetta are you going to need here? You're going to want to pile vegetables high on the toasts, so err on the side of lots. Spoon as much of your vegetable mixture as needed to generously top your toast into your food processor or blender and pulse lightly for a few seconds. You don't want puree here--think very chunky salsa. Stow the rest of your vegetables away in a tupperware in the fridge for later this week--I'll tell you what to do with those suckers later. For now focus!
Spread a happy amount of goat cheese on each of your toasts and top with roasted vegetables. Drizzle on any left over juices/marinade for an extra foo foo touch. Now look how sophisticated you look! Can I get your number?
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