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

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.

Flaming Pears

I thought I saw this recipe in a cookbook, but then I couldn't find it. So I kind of winged it.

For this, I used:
About 1 lb pears, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp organic butter
2 tbsp organic sugar
rum

1. Melt butter in skillet.
2. Add pears and sprinkle with sugar.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pears are soft and liquid has evaporated, 10-20 minutes.
4.  Pour rum over pears, light on fire, and let the alcohol burn off.
5. Serve while hot, with ice cream or cream.

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.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

 Today I made my very last zucchini bread of the year *sob.* I had a cup of leftover zucchini from the lemon blueberry bread I made, so I used it to make The Charm of Home's chocolate zucchini bread, since my last one was such an epic failure. Somehow, I hadn't made a chocolate one all summer after that, even though I love chocolate zucchini cake. Now that it's winter, I'm in more of a chocolate mood, so I chose this recipe out of all the delicious looking ones left on the list of 50. Below is the recipe for a whole loaf (I made a half-sized mini loaf).

Ingredients

2 large eggs

1/4 c honey
1/2 c coconut oil, in liquid form
1/2 c organic sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder
1/3 c cocoa powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark b/c it's more chocolatey)

1 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c. whole wheat flour
2 c shredded zucchini
1 c chocolate chips, save 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top of bread

Instructions:
Prepare a loaf pan & preheat oven to 350.
Combine in a mixing bowl eggs, honey, oil, sugar, vanilla
Add flours, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa powder and stir to combine
Add zucchini and chocolate chips and mix well.
Pour into loaf pan and spread 1/4 chocolate chips on top
Bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
Remove from oven and cool 15 minutes
Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack. I like the chocolate chips still melty, so I always eat it warm. 


This turned out really well! I would definitely  make it again. It tasted like my mom's from when I was a kid...not all dry and gross like the one I made earlier in the summer.

Drunken Pears, aka, Pears in Port Wine

 This was a wonderful recipe I took to my book club this fall. Our pear tree was loaded this year, so much so that we were giving away pears by the bag-full. Sadly, Fannie only has a few pear recipes. But this one was very good. Would definitely make it over and over!

Ingredients:

• About 1 lb. pears, peeled, cored and sliced in quarters horizontally. I was using drops, so mine weren't perfect quarters, but large chunks. 
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 tbsp sugar
• pinch of lemon rind, or dash of lemon juice
• Port wine/red wine

Instructions:

1. In a sauce pan, combine water and sugar and bring just to a boil
2. Add pears, cover and cook until tender but still firm
3. Place pears in a serving dish (I used my 8x8 pyrex bc I was transporting it to book club. A pie pan would work, too)
4. Pour wine over pears and let sit for at least 1 hr. Fannie calls for port wine, but I didn't have any, so just used a sweet red someone had given us that we had opened and not finished. 

It turned out great! Everyone loved it, even my mom, who doesn't drink wine. The pears really absorbed the flavor and were such a pretty color, too. It looked as good as it tasted. Now if only I can find my camera with the pictures on it...

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

Green Tomato Green Enchillada Sauce

I've had a plethora of tomatoes this year. It seemed like the crop would never end. But, it froze for the first time last night, so I had to pick all my tomatoes the day before, even if they weren't ready. Hence, a plethora of green tomatoes! I now have almost a bushel of green tomatoes, and have exactly 3 recipes for them.

A friend of mine has as chili verde that uses them, so I hit her up for the recipe...which called for green enchillada sauce. I didn't have any on hand (who does?) so I looked up recipes for it. I found one, which calls for tomatillos, which I also don't have. But remember what I do have?

So, I made green enchillada sauce using green tomatoes instead of tomatillos, and I have to say, it wasn't half bad! In fact, it was pretty tasty.

My recipe follows (makes about 20 oz)

ingredients:
About 3 c. green tomatoes (1 lb approx)
1 onion
2 jalepenos
1/4 c. cilantro
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions:
Put 4 c. water in a large saucepan on medium heat
Chop the tomatoes, or stem small whole ones and add to the water
Chop the onion and add to pot
slice the garlic and add to pot
seed jalepenos and add
add lemon and lime juice and cumin
cook until tomatoes are very soft
add salt & pepper & cilantro and let cool
process in food processor or blender.

This was pretty tasty. I'm not sure what green enchillada sauce is supposed to taste like, so I'm not really picky. But it tasted close enough to what comes on Mexican food in the restaurants where I've had it, and it was beyond easy, so I would definitely make it again.

Taking a Break

If you've been following a while, you've probably noticed that some of my posts lately have been empty. That's because blogging takes a lot more time than I have some days. With that said, I'm going to try to do an amended version of NaNoWriMo for the first time ever this year (that's National Novel Writing Month, for those of you unfamiliar). During the challenge, you try to write an entire novel in a month. Sooo, I will be extra busy, and am  not planning on having any time to blog. I'm going to *try* to start back up in December, but you never know. At some point, though, I will be back with Fannie. So do not despair, I will still be trying out recipes and giving a verdict...but I'm not sure when.

For now, this has been a long and taxing process (the blogging, not the cooking), so I'm taking a little break to work on a shelved novel. I will still be cooking and hopefully keeping track so I can post about them sometime later.

Have a happy November and enjoy NaNo if you're participating!

Adobo Sauce

This is a quick and easy recipe for Adobo sauce, which can be used in a ton of things. Instead of going out and buying it, I made up a batch myself which was very quick and easy. You can use it to can chili peppers or chipotle peppers in. But I used it in a salad dressing.

I did not put chipotle in mine, because I don't have any and because I wanted to make a marinade sort of sauce. I had found the recipe while looking for Puerto Rican food, so I made an adobo that, according to the site, was a Puerto Rican versian. It had crushed garlic, olive oil, salt, black pepper, oregano, vinegar and paprika. I wasn't sure about measurements, so I sort of winged it.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano (powdered is best, but you can use the leaves, if that's what you have)
1 tbsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together in a small jar, shake and leave overnight to let the flavors mingle. It does not need to be refrigerated, as that will make the olive oil separate. Shake right before using.

Beef and Corn Casserole

I made this beef and corn and black bean casserole, because I had some cooked black beans to use, and because it looked kind of plain with just beef and corn underneath. Even so, my husband sprinkled it liberally with spices, and even my son ate some seasoning salt on it. I don't think I'd make it again, but it was fine once. Quite edible, just not very exciting.

Ingredients:

•  2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 c. corn kernels (I used canned, bc I don't have fresh corn)
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 1 c. bread crumbs
• salt 
• Optional: I added 2 c. cooked black beans and a lot of ground pepper, and, after it was cooked, some Tony Chachery's for seasoning.

 Directions:

Heat oil in large cast iron skillet. Add peppers and onions and cook until onion is translucent.

Add ground beef and cook until pink is gone.

Preheat oven to 350. Add black beans and corn, salt to taste, and heat through.

Pour into a casserole pan. Lay tomato slices over, sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake 25 minutes or until crumbs begin to brown.

Vegetarian Black Bean Soup

This soup was not the most exciting bean soup I've had, but it was a fine meal and we ended up eating it all, so I guess I'd call it a success.

For this you will need,
4 c. cooked black beans (or 2 cans)
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp. butter
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried mustard
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
In a cast iron skillet, melt butter.
Add onion and celery and cook until onion is translucent, stirring often.
Put black beans and onion and celery through a food processor.
Return to skillet and heat, stirring occasionally, until simmering.
Add mustard, lemon juice, salt & a lot of black pepper.

Serve in soup bowls with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, or whatever topping you like.

You could also add a ham bone and/or chopped ham to this.

Salmon Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 extra small onion (about 1/4 c.) I used red onion
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/4 c. minced parsley (or 2 tbsp dried)
• 2 c. cooked brown rice
• About 1/2 can of salmon (or 2 cans tuna)
• salt & pepper to taste

 
Directions:

1. Melt butter in cast iron skillet.
2. Finely chop onion and green pepper and add to skillet.
3. Cook until onion is translucent.
4. Add rice and salmon and parsley and heat through.
5. Add salt & pepper and serve

Warm Mustard Sauce for Fish, etc

This sauce would go well with any fish, but I've always used it for salmon loaf.

Ingredients:
1/3 c. prepared mustard
3 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. ground sage
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in small sauce pan and heat over medium/low until hot but not boiling

Three Bean Salad with Mustardy French Dressing

Okay, so the other day (Thursday) is the first day I've missed a post. I was so busy this week with work, family, car trouble, etc, etc, and any spare moment I had (spare moment--haha, what's that!?), I spent working on my novel. So I apologize. I was really hoping I'd get a post done every day for a year, but life happens.

To make up for the missed day, I'm posting two recipes that go together today. Although of course you can use the French Dressing recipe for salads and other things, I used it on this, so I'm posting both recipes to catch up.

This three-bean salad is actually an adaptation of a recipe called "Kidney and Green Bean Salad." But I wanted three-bean salad, and I happened to have both kidneys and garbanzo beans in the closet at once (miracles happen) so I went ahead and made it a three-bean salad.

For this, you will need:
1 c. red kidney beans, cooked and drained
1 c. garbanzo beans, cooked and drained
1 c. green beans, cut into pieces roughly the length of a kidney bean, cooked and drained
1/2 small red onion, minced
1/3 c. mustardy French dressing (recipe below).

Toss ingredients together in a bowl and let sit at least an hour, preferably overnight or make in the morning and serve at dinner.

Mustardy French Dressing:
Combine in small jar and shake well: 
2 tbsp. vinegar (I used apple cider)
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (or throw a crushed clove in the jar if you're going to let it sit a while...I made mine at the same time as the salad, so I used garlic powder)
1 tsp. ground mustard (or 1.5 tsp. Dijon if you don't have dried mustard in your spice cabinet)

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.

Kale and Parmesan Frittata

Well, this was originally a spinach and cheese frittata, but since I have kale instead of spinach, it became a kale frittata, and I must admit, it's pretty good. The only changes I'd make next time is that I would add more kale. I'm not sure if Fannie meant frozen or canned spinach or fresh, but if it had been already cooked, it would have cooked down enough that it worked out. So next time, I'll start with cooked kale.

For this, I used:

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 c. kale, sliced
• 1 green pepper, chopped fine
• 1 red pepper, chopped fine
• 1/4 c. parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. parsley
• salt & pepper

Instructions:
Melt butter in skillet

Add onion, peppers, and kale and cook about 5 minutes, until onion is translucent
 
Meanwhile, beat eggs, milk, parmesan in a separate bowl 
Add veggies to egg mixture, along with salt & pepper, and return to pan
Cook about 5 minutes, pricking the top and lifting the edges gently to let the egg mixture flow underneath.

Slide the whole thing out onto a plate and invert into frying pan and cook about 1 minute.As you can see, mine was a little overcooked on the bottom when I turned it, but I was so proud of myself for flipping the whole thing without breaking it to pieces that I didn't care a bit! This was tasty and as good as the other frittatas I've made. We had it for a quick week-night dinner.