Peach Zucchini Bread

Here's my take on a different kind of zucchini bread. A fruit and veggie combo. I usually make chocolate zucchini bread but I thought why not think out of the box. I had two zucchini's just sitting there on my kitchen counter and several peaches in the fridge and I had an hour because some cute girls in our new neighborhood came to pick up the twins and take them to the park to play. So I whipped together this bread while listening to the latest GOP Presidential Debate (ugh!).  I actually combined two recipes and here's how I made the bread.

Peach Zucchini Bread

1 cup Oil
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup zucchini (shredded)
1 cup fresh peaches diced
3 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Beat oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs together. Add dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini and peaches.

Bake in 2 well greased (pam and flour) 9x5’ loaf pan for 50 - 60 minutes. Cool in pan 15 - 20 minutes and remove from pan and cool on rack.

Clearly my almost 2 year old loved the bread because she helped herself to not one but two loaves. She climbed up onto the counter (while I was in the garage answering my husbands question) opened up the twist tie and helped herself to the zucchini peach bread (sorry to my neighbor Stephanie who was supposed to get one of the loves... it was eaten and destroyed.)

Slow Cooker Corned Beef

Today is St. Patrick’s Day! I’ve been asked a few times how to cook corned beef. So I thought why not blog about it.  And after St. Pat’s the meat always goes on sale. My husband requests it every year and the twins even liked it! We ate the corned beef with potatoes and onions that I roasted in the oven.

Enjoy. It really is quite tasty!

Slow Cooker Corned Beef

3-4 lb. corned beef brisket or bottom round
1 (6 oz.) can frozen orange juice, thawed

1 tablespoon brown mustard

Trim excess fat from corned beef.

Cover with water and let stand 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

Put the beef into the slower cooker.

Mix tablespoon of brown mustard and orange juice together and pour over meat.

Cover tightly and cook on low for 10-12 hours or at high for 5-6 hours.

Korean Ground Turkey Beef Bowl

Mondays are pretty hectic. I’m at work all day and when I get home all I want to do is play with the twins and love on them. But dinner still needs to be made! This is one of my go to meals. Korean Ground Turkey Rice bowl … it’s  so easy and has so much flavor! It’s hard to stop with just one bowl!

Korean Ground Turkey Rice Bowl

Ingredients

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes, or more to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 green pepper

1 pound ground turkey (or ground beef)

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Cooked rice, for serving

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about one minute. While garlic is cooking chop up green pepper and add to pan. Cook for a few minutes just until barely tender.

Add ground turkey to pan.

Cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the turkey as it cooks.

Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes.

Serve over rice and enjoy! 

Chocolate Brownie Crinkle Cookies

In my church we are assigned woman to visit monthly. So I thought giving them a cookie could help the fact that I haven’t visited them for quite some time. Yes, we have talked at Church and sent texts back and forth. (thank you technology) But no in home visit. Summer got busy. But then again aren’t we always busy! Here are the cookies I made. 

Hopefully this makes up for the fact that I was bad at visiting this Summer.

 

Chocolate Brownie Crinkle Cookies

1 1/3 cup flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup butter softened

2 large egss

1 tsp vanilla extract

confectioners sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Beat butter. And add brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract. Beat till combined.

Crack eggs and combine. Beat.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Add to wet ingredient and beat in mixer.

Once combined roll dough into 1 ½ inch balls and in the confectioners sugar and place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 10 minutes. Only 10. Don’t over cook or they won’t be brownie chewy like.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Instant Jello Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was one of those days. One of those demanding days. So I made these cookies last night and I lost count of how many cookies I ate today. I guess eating sweets can make a hard day seem all that better. 

Here's the recipe for the cookie I just keep eating. So if you're looking for a chewy chocolate chip cookie.. I found the recipe. My husband and I love our cookies chewy.  I'll post the sugar cookie recipe I make sometime soon as well. My husband kept saying over and over again this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's perfectly cooked on the outside while it's chewy in the middle. My new favorite thing to do is to add in dried cherries.  Go ahead and give it a whirl. I dare you to eat just one!!!

Instant Jello Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup softened butter

¼ cup sugar

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 package (4 oz) instant vanilla pudding

2 eggs

1 package (12 oz.) chocolate chips

1 cup nuts/raisins/dried cherries

Combine butter, sugar, vanilla and pudding mix in large bowl. Mix well beating until creamy.  Beat eggs in.

Gradually add flour, soda, chips and nuts or dried fruit. Batter will be stiff.

Drop by teaspoonful about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Makes 7 dozen

Homemade Cream of Chicken soup. Low in fat!

I wanted to make homemade Cream of Chicken soup for awhile now. And since it was a snowy Sunday afternoon and I was making Broccoli and Rice casserole I thought why not make the whole thing from scratch. Especially since my husband was home to help with the twins! It's always nice to know that your casserole is completely made from scratch. The recipe I used is low in fat because it doesn't call for butter and I used skim milk.

Here's the recipe I used which I thought was mighty good! 

Cream of Chicken Soup

2 1/2 Cups water

2 teaspoons chicken bouillon 

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 parsley

Combine the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the milk in a large saucepan. Bring to a low boil.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup milk until a smooth, thick mixture forms.

Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking as the mixture simmers. Continue to simmer, stir and whisk. Then let sit for 5 plus minutes. 

Add it to whatever you are making! Freeze or store leftovers. 

Apple Cinnamon Bread

I had some applesauce in my fridge. It needed to be used. So I made this Apple Cinnamon Bread. I liked it so much that I made it again right after the first loaf came out of the oven!!

2 large eggs

1 cup cinnamon applesauce (I used non-sweetened applesauce and added extra cinnamon)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray I also flour my pans. I hate it when the bread gets stuck to the bottom of the pan.  I so hate this!!

In mixer combine eggs, brown and granulated sugar, oil, and vanilla extract. Mix mix mix. Then add applesauce and sour cream.

Now add all the dry ingredients to mixer. But don't over mix. Some lumps are fine. 

Turn batter out into prepared pan and sprinkle granulated sugar on top. I love to do this to all my sugary breads and to muffins!

Bake for 45 minutes. Check to make sure it's done by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean it's done.

Allow bread to cool in pan and then take it out of  the pan and cut and eat!