Apricot Almond Bread

Now that it's cooling off, I'm starting to bake again! It's an exciting time of year. Sadly, I didn't have any zucchini this year (cursed squash bugs!) but I've been baking bread again for a few weeks. So today when I got up and it was one of those lovely fall mornings perfect for baking, I went in search of my trusty Fannie.


This bread was a bit odd, to be honest. I like nuts in bread, but I always use pecans and walnuts. The almonds were just a wee bit odd to me. But the apricots were delicious, and I think I would make it again.

For this, I did change it up a little b/c I only had 1 c. of apricots and Fannie calls for 1.5. So I adjusted the water and flour as well.

Without further ado, here is the recipe I made:

Ingredients:
1 c. chopped dried apricots
1 c. boiling water
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. sliced almonds
1 egg
1 tsp. orange extract

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a loaf pan.
In a medium/large mixing bowl, add the apricots, butter, sugar.
Pour water over them and let sit until lukewarm.
Stir in remaining ingredients, pour into pan, and bake for 1 hr.

I baked for 1 hr 10 minutes, but it was a little too brown on the bottom. So next time I'd cut the time a little. This bread is very crusty on the outside, but an interesting variation on some of the other fruit breads I've had.

Carrot Cake Oatmeal--overnight slow cooker breakfast

Okay, so if you've read my blog at all, you know we're a breakfast family. That doesn't just mean we believe in the importance of eating breakfast every morning. It also means we believe in eating breakfast for dinner on occasion, and sometimes for lunch, if the mood suits us.

Needless to say, when my brother in law introduced us to baked oatmeal, we were hooked. Lately, I've been wanting to try a crock-pot oatmeal, though. It seems so easy--throw everything in the pot, turn it on, and wake up to breakfast (and maybe a delicious-smelling house). This was my first attempt at crock pot oatmeal, and sadly, I'd have to mark it down as a big fat FAIL.

When I was adding the 8 CUPS (yes, you read that right) of water, I thought it sounded like an awful lot. But I've cooked steel cut oats before, though it's been a while, and I seem to remember them taking a lot of water. So I went along with it, dubiously. In addition, the recipe says to put it on the 'warm' setting on the crock pot for 8 hours. I thought that seemed low, but hey, it's oatmeal, it'll just swell and absorb all that water...right?

the raw sludge in the crock pot after 10 hrs

WRONG. I woke to no good smells. I woke to a huge pot of warm soup...very thin soup. The carrots were still crunchy. The water was not absorbed. The oatmeal was not ready and waiting to eat.

I ended up turning it on high for an hour, and after tasting it again, I gave up and put it on the stove to boil away some of the water. Finally, it was ready, though still pretty runny. This was not a thick, yummy heap of carrot cake. It was a soupy porridge. With some cream and honey, it was actually tasty, but I'd make some major revisions to this recipe if I were to try it again.

bubbling away on the stove after 12 hrs in crockpot

Ingredients:

• 2 cups steel cut oats
• 2 cup shredded or chopped carrots (I threw mine in my Ninja for a minute or so)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut (shredded or flake)
• 8 cups water (I'd definitely cut this to 6 next time, maybe even 5).
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional--I did not use this).
• honey and cream or half & half for topping

Instructions:

1. In a large slow cooker, combine ingredients except for toppings. Set on "warm" and cook for 8 hours. 
2. Now, obviously, I would not recommend this cooking method. I'd try it on low next time, but I can't give conclusive evidence that would work, either, as I haven't done it. But I'd be wary of cooking anything on warm again.

   

   It finally cooked!

   
   
    

Slow Cooker/Crockpot Bean and Kale Soup

This past fall, my mom had grown Jacob's Cattle Beans, and we made them several times. They are the most delicious beans ever! Our favorite recipe was one for a bean soup. Over Christmas, she gave me a jar of the uncooked beans, and I've been waiting to use them. I wanted to make a meal in the crock pot, so I threw the same ingredients together and cooked it all together. I used frozen peppers, tomatoes and kale that I'd put up from my garden this summer.

• 2 cups dry beans of your choice (Jacob's Cattle Beans are the best!) soaked overnight & drained.
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 red pepper, chopped 
• 1 green pepper, chopped 
• 2-3 cups chopped tomatoes (canned, fresh or frozen)
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 cup brown rice
• 8 cups water 
• 1 bunch of kale leaves, chopped or sliced
• salt and pepper to taste

Irish Lamb Stew

First of all, I must apologize for these and all future pictures. I only have an old iPhone for most of them, and the pictures are not very pretty. But this stew was quite tasty, so here goes.

You will need:

2 lbs. boneless shoulder of lamb (I'm not sure I used shoulder, but it was mutton and it turned out fine).
2 tbsp. butter
2 c. boiling water
1-2 c. sliced carrots
1-2 c. cubed turnips
1-2 c. cubed potatoes (I used my little purple ones, so I only had to slice them in half of throw them in whole)
1 onion, sliced
salt & pepper as desired


Instructions:
Melt butter in hot skillet
Add lamb and brown on all sides
Stand back some as you add boiling water
Cover and simmer 1 hr.
Add vegetables and simmer 30 minutes more.
Add salt & pepper to taste and serve.

I wasn't sure I'd like this, since it doesn't have much seasoning and I'm not a huge fan of lamb. But it was actually really tasty and everyone liked it. 
 

Apple Carrot Zucchini Bread

 I am officially out of zucchini, but I had one small summer squash left, so I managed to squeeze out one more zucchini bread recipe!

 

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 c. organic sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour 
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1-2 tsp cinnmamon
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2-1 cup shredded zucchini or yellow squash
• 1/2 cup diced, peeled apple
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
3. Blend butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together.
4. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together.
5. Fold dry ingredients into wet along with carrots, squash, apples, and pecans.
6. Pour into prepared pans.
7. Bake until golden brown, approximately 1 hour, or until toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

One Pot Chicken Rice Soup

I know this isn't a very Christmasy meal, but my husband and I both got a cold this week, so when my mother in law said she didn't have dinner plans, I offered to cook. When I looked up chicken rice soup recipes on Pinterest, they all had cooked chicken. Which is fine....if you have some leftover cooked chicken. But we didn't. And who wants to go through cooking the chicken separately, and the rice, and then adding it to the soup (when you're already sick and feeling like a soggy tissue)?

So I tried making it all in one pot.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices

2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

2 quarts water

1 cup brown rice

2 lb package of chicken (I used legs & thighs, but breasts would be fine, too).

1 bag frozen peas

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, add water, chicken, and rice. Add more water if needed to make sure all the chicken is covered. Bring to a boil and cook about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, chop vegetables.
3. Add carrots, celery, onions, oil, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme
4. Cook another 20 minutes, until vegetables and rice are tender. Pull some of the chicken off the bones. It should come off pretty easily.
5. Add the frozen peas, salt & pepper to taste.

This turned out really well! I wasn't sure because all the recipes I found called for cooked chicken and cooked rice. But I wanted to make the whole thing in one pan. And it worked out really well. The rice thickened the broth so it was nice and thick and stew-like, and the rice was perfectly done at the same time as the chicken and veggies. I have never made chicken soup before (except chili verde), but I will definitely make it again. It was super easy and really tasty, and everyone liked it, even my picky son.

Red Beans and Rice--Slow Cooker Vegetarian Meal

Now that it's winter, I've finally dusted off the crockpot. I love soups and stews, but for some reason, I never use a crockpot in the summer. This is the second time I used it in the past 2 weeks, and I love it!

The recipe I found for beans and rice used sausage, but I didn't have any, so I made it vegetarian this time.

Here's what I did.

Ingredients:
1 lb bag dry small red beans
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
3 cloves minced garlic
2 bay leaves

2 tsp Creole seasoning (I use Tony Chachere’s)
2 tsp original Tabasco sauce
2 tsp salt
1 cup dry brown rice

Instructions:

1. The night before, add the beans to the crockpot and cover with water to about 2 inches above the beans, and let it sit overnight.
2. Drain beans in morning, cover with water to cover about 2 inches above the beans, and turn the crockpot on low. If you won't be around all day, add the other ingredients. I was home, so I left the beans on for about 4 hours before adding the other ingredients, b/c I like my vegetables a little firm.
3. If you'll be around, after 4 hours, open the crockpot and add all ingredients EXCEPT salt & seasoning. You'll also need to add 2-3 more cups of water.
4. Cook 4 more hours or until rice is soft. 
5. Add salt & seasoning and serve hot.

Chicken Chili Verde

I made this with the green enchillada sauce I posted yesterday. I got a similar recipe from a friend which used pork, but I didn't have pork, so I went looking for a recipe that used chicken, then combined bits and pieces of several recipes until I had something I could make.

For this, I used:
2 lbs chicken legs (you could use whatever parts you have)
1 can green chilis
2 cans (or 3-4 c. cooked) white beans (I used 1 of navy beans and 1 great northern)
16 oz green enchillada sauce
3 c. chopped green tomatoes
1 can yellow hominy

In a large pot, add the chicken and enough water to cover
Cook until chicken is tender and falling off the bone
add remaining ingredients and cook about 10 mins until tomatoes are soft

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Okay, so these sounded so good in theory...not so much in practice. My son loves pumpkin pancakes, but unfortunately, my pumpkin crop was a big fat fail this year. So I thought I'd make sweet potato pancakes instead. You can imagine my excitement when I found a recipe that even said, "If you like pumpkin pancakes, you'll love these." WRONG!

Don't let these fool you...these are the 'after' pics. See below for the horror story.

While I don't blame the sweet potatoes for the failure, I will definitely NOT be making this recipe ever again. When I put all the ingredients together, the batter turned into a blob of frothy, foaming gelatinous goo. Every pancake, no matter how long I cooked it, was raw in the middle. Even when I left it in the pan so long it was burnt on the outside. It was very reminiscent of the snickerdoodle pancake fiasco I had last year. Remembering that particular pancake disaster, I added a lot of milk to these...about half a cup. And stirred it for quite a while, to get all the foaming bubbles out. Then, the batter was the right consistency (a bit thicker than cream) and the last few turned out okay. The buttermilk made them super sour, though. If I add buttermilk again, I'd probably only use 1/2 c. and 1 c. regular milk, which might make them less foamy and more liquid.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 sweet potato, cooked, peeled and mashed

creepy foamy batter cooking

Creepy foamy pancakes rising way too high while remaining raw inside.

This was the best looking of a dozen, most of which were burned on the outside and raw inside.

Creepy over-risen pancakes with butter and syrup...still creepy.

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
2. Add egg, buttermilk, and mashed sweet potato. Stir in but do not over mix; the batter should have small lumps.
3. Heat a cast iron skillet and drop a dallop of butter into it. 
4. When butter begins to bubble, pour in a bit of batter to the size pancake you want. 
5. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2½ minutes, flip over. 
6. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
7. Serve warm with a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

After beating some of the foam away and adding more liquid, they approached normal.

Pumpkin Bread

I couldn't believe Fannie had a recipe for Pumpkin Bread, but she does. It turned out really well, too.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. white flour
• 1/2 c. organic sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 c. pumpkin puree
• 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 c. chopped  walnuts
• Optional: Fannie calls for 1/4 c. water, but I left this out as my batter was perfect without. If your batter is too thick, I'd use milk instead of water.

 Directions:
preheat oven to 350.

Sift together flour, sugar and baking soda. Mix pumpkin, oil, eggs, milk and spices, them combine with flour & mix lightly.

Stir in nuts and pour into a buttered loaf pan.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Ever

I've made a handful of oatmeal raisin cookies over the years, since that's my favorite kind, find recipes everywhere from cookbooks to the top of an oatmeal container. But these are my all-time favorite, adapted from bits here and bits there, and tested many times over.

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. white flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c. raisins
 


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Cream butter in a large mixing bowl.
Gradually add sugar and cream into butter.
Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix flours, baking soda and cinnamon.
Add to butter mixture and mix well.
Add oatmeal and raisins and mix well.
Form into cookies of desired size on a buttered or nonstick cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes.

Green Bean Casserole (aka, Green Beans Au Gratin)

I made this to go with lamb chops. I've never made green bean casserole, but this was good, pretty much the classic recipe. I liked that the green beans were whole, but they were a little crisp still, so next time I may cook them a few more minutes beforehand.

Ingredients:
1 lb. raw green beans
1/2-1 c. bread crumbs
1 recipe cream sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400

Remove stems from green beans and boil or steam for 3-5 minutes
 
Butter a casserole and toss green beans with cream sauce, making sure they're well coated.
 
Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top
 
Bake about 20 minutes until sauce is bubbly

Coconut Cookies

 Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/4 c. flour (I used 3/4 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
• 1 tbsp. milk/cream
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 c. finely shredded coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream butter, then add sugar, beating until light
3. Add vanilla, egg, milk and mix thoroughly
4. Mix flour and baking powder, then add to butter mixture and stir to combine
5. Stir in coconut 
6. Arrange by on a cookie sheet and bake 8-12 minutes until golden brown on edges.

 These were pretty good, a basic cookie, a bit plain for me, but good enough. My son liked them and we all ate them in a few days, so they were a success overall. If I made them again, I'd add some spices and maybe raisins to make them more interesting.

Pumpkin Banana Nut Bread

Okay, so you know  how I got all obsessed with putting zucchini in every bread possible after I found the post with 50 zucchini bread recipes? Well, the same blog also has a collection of 50 pumpkin bread recipes. So guess what's coming soon? That's right--I'm testing some of them out!

Of course I failed to use my bananas in time again, so the first recipe I made was Banana Pumpkin Bread.

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup organic sugar

2 tablespoons honey

2 large eggs

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1 cup ripe mashed banana (about 2 bananas)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 c, whole wheat flour

1/2 cups white flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
 

  1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a loaf pan.

2)  In a large bowl, beat together the oil, yogurt, sugar, honey, eggs, pumpkin, banana, orange juice, and vanilla.

3)  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Sprinkle the walnuts over the top, if using.  Fold the dry ingredients into the banana pumpkin mixture, and mix just until combined.

4)  Spoon the mixture into the prepared bread pan and Bake for 53 - 58 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  (I think there's something wrong with my oven, because I baked it for 1 hour and 40 minutes and a toothpick never came out clean so I finally just took it out)  Remove from the oven and cool on rack in pan for 10 - 15 minutes.  Remove from the pan and continue cooling on rack.  When completely cooled, slice and enjoy, or wrap in plastic wrap and store in fridge overnight. The original says it is better after sitting overnight, but I always like my bread warm. 

 

This one was still gummy even after the crazy amount of baking time, so I think my oven is wrong or I need to drain the bananas after mashing or something! It tasted okay, but I don't think I'm very crazy about pumpkin bread. I may make a few of the recipes on the list, but definitely not as many as the zucchini bread list. My husband and son really like this one, though, and it ended up being eaten up before I got around to making frosting for it, which I'd tentatively planned.

Banana Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Okay, so this is the very last of the banana zucchini bread recipes from the collection of 50 zucchini bread recipes. I don't know why I always end up with overripe bananas, but I do. So now that I've made all the recipes, I guess I better start eating my bananas faster!

This one wasn't much different from the Greek yogurt chocolate chip zucchini bread, but it was okay. It, like most of the recipes, turned out a little gummy. I don't know why I can never get it to rise and stay all puffy like when I first take it out of the oven. This wasn't my favorite, but it was edible.

I used:

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 Cups Sugar

1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 Egg

2 Mashed Ripe Bananas

1/2 c. coconut oil

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 Cup Shredded Zucchini

About 2 oz. chopped dark chocolate (or chocolate chips, if you have them)

 

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder

In a small bowl, beat eggs, bananas, oil, and vanilla

Combine wet and dry ingredients and beat until moistened

Add zucchini and mix until combined.

Add chocolate and mix.

Spread in buttered loaf pan.

Bake approximately 60-75 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I baked mine for 85 minutes and it still came out sort of gummy. Grrr.

 This bread was okay with some butter on it, but Fanny's banana bread is much better.