Simple GAB

In my never ending quest to find some new and creative uses for the abundance of Zucchini we are harvesting daily, I stumbled upon this tasty recipe  for Zucchini Cookies over at Hoosier Homemade.

As usual I made a few minor tweaks to suit my tastes,  so below is the recipe as I made it. If you want to see the original recipe & some step by step photos please visit Hoosier Homemade! (and check out her cupcakes, oh my!)

Zucchini Cookies

• ½ cup butter softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 – 1 ¼ cup grated zucchini  (lightly packed in the cup)
• 2 cups flour: a blend of 1 ½ cup white, ½ cup wheat (I may use more wheat next time)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375° F

In large bowl cream butter and sugar together until nice and smooth.  Add egg and mix well.  Stir in shredded zucchini.

In a medium bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and spices,  and whisk to mix well.

Stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until just moistened.

Gently fold in the raisins.

Drop by tablespoon full onto cookie sheet (I use  a small cookie  scoop to makes it easier)

Bake 8-10 minutes.  Cool on pan about 1 minute before removing to wire rack.

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These were super moist and very tasty, reminding me a little bit of a spicy oatmeal raisin cookie, but smoother. I may add a little ground flax seed to the flour mixture for a little more texture next time.

The boys were not so sure they wanted to eat Zucchini Cookies, but after a taste, they love them!  Too bad, I was hoping to save more for me!

Now what to do with the rest of the Zucchini?? Any ideas?

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In the heat of the summer here the zucchini become quite prolific.  Seems everywhere I turn someone is asking “got any good zucchini recipes?”.  I too was asking that question yesterday when I decided it was time to reduce the amount of zucchini in the veggie drawer (so I could refill with new harvest of course).

I am sure Mr B&W is quite sick of the old standby of Zucchini sauteed in EVOO with garlic and my herb du jour!  I had an idea of what I was in the mood for, a nice baked stuffed zucchini, so I did yet another quick Swagbucks search to see what I could find.  Helps that I also needed to use up some free Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon I had thanks to my participation in the Kraft First Taste program.  So I searched for stuffed zucchini and bacon.

I found this great yet simple recipe on Kayotic Kitchen, a blog from the Netherlands that I had yet to stumble upon. (pretty good BTW, check out her other fab food recipes).  If you want some very Pioneer Woman style recipe posts with a little humor and tons of how to photos check her out!  Here is my slightly altered version of her Zuccini recipe.

Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients:

1 tbsp sour cream

¼ to ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp curry powder

½ tomato

1 tsp thyme

2 zucchinis

1 onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1-2 Tblsp fine bread crumbs (optional, I just like ‘em)

cheese

pepper (optional-I left it out as I don’t care for it much at all)

2-3 slices of bacon (I used turkey bacon this time)

Directions: Preheat your oven to 400°F

Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp and set aside.

Cook your bacon in a saute pan until slightly crisp. Transfer to a plate covered with paper towel or set on rack to drain.

Dice up the onion, and add that with the minced garlic to your pan with a Tblsp. of  EVOO (or just use bacon grease like I did).  Cook until soft and getting a little bit brown, then add the curry powder. Cook for only about 30 seconds more.  Transfer to a bowl.

While the onions are cooking chop up your zucchini pulp, and dice your tomato.  I tossed the zucchini into the still hot pan just to soften a bit and color the edges.  Toss this and the tomato into the bowl with your onion.

Chop or crumble the bacon into the bowl.  Add the thyme, sour cream and bread crumbs, and mix well.

Place your zucchini boats into a buttered baking dish.  I salted them slightly, then scoop on the stuffing mixture. Top this with the cheese of your choice (I used an Italian blend).

Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes.  If you’d like a little more color on top then set under the broiler just until the cheese bubbles and browns.

Let me know if you happen to try out this recipe!

Have any other good Zucchini recipes? I sure could add to my repertoire.

Please post a link if you’ve been blogging about zucchini, too.

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My boys get very excited when they see either the mail carrier, the UPS guy or the FedEx guy come down our road…and since there are only three houses down our road the odds are pretty good that the truck will be  stopping here! This time it was indeed for us and we received another fun package from MyBlogSpark!

Inside was a box of the new Chocolate Cheerios®!

The boys were pretty excited because

A) they love Cheerios®

B) they love chocolate

C) they knew they could eat some right away

D) they knew  something else fun was sure to happen

So yes I let them hurry up and grab their favorite cereal bowls and dig right in. (I had to join them of course)   The Cheerios® were a big hit!  All of us thought that the chocolate flavor in these was better than some other chocolate cereals we have tried. Although I love chocolate, I have never found a chocolate flavored cereal that I like. These Cheerios®  seem to fill the bill.  Also I was happy to see that they only have 9g of sugar. (remember my recent post on Children’s cereals? )

A little more about the cereal from General Mills:

Chocolate Cheerios is low in fat, heart healthy*, has 100 calories per serving, contains at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving (at least 48 grams recommended daily), and is a good source of calcium and vitamin D. Made with real cocoa, Chocolate Cheerios can help your family start the day off right with a delicious and nutritious breakfast that is sure to make you smile!

*Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. Chocolate Cheerios cereal is low in fat, saturated fat free and naturally cholesterol free.

Along with this box of new Chocolate Cheerios we were given some recipes that use the new Cheerios®.  They are all fun things you can make for Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Cheerios® Marshmallow Hearts

Chocolate Hazelnut Marshmallow Balls

Strawberry-Chocolate Cheerios® Parfaits

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

They all sound good, but we chose to try the Chocolate Cheerios® Marshmallow Hearts first.  Oh how I wish I had thought of buying those Strawberry flavored Marshmallows that Bubba has been begging me for!

image courtesy of Cheerios®

Next we will definitely try the Strawberry-Chocolate Cheerios® Parfait!

image courtesy of Cheerios®

If you want to see even  more recipes using  Chocolate Cheerios® click here for the Chocolate Cheerios® site, and also you can find a coupon to save on your purchase!

Now all this cereal talk and making goodies was great fun for the boys, but MyBlogSpark also included some fun Chocolate themed goodies for Mom, too.  Check this out, there are some Chocolate themed bath products and a decorative chocolate brown bowl to store them in!  So Mom needs to head off to relax with some Chocolate bath salts and body wash.

Do you love Chocolate, too?

Does  a fun new cereal make you smile?

Need some relaxation?

You can win a Chocolate Cheerios Gift Pack courtesy of MyBlogSpark and General Mills.

Just post a comment below telling us about what you  and your families do to start your day off with a SMILE!

Deadline to enter is midnight EST on Monday, February 15, 2010.

Winner will be selected by a random drawing on Tuesday February 16, 2010

**Truth in Blogging Disclaimer:  We received a FREE box of Chocolate Cheerios® and the Gift Pack pictured above courtesy of MyBlogSpark and Cheerios®. As always we will provide you with our honest opinions of any product we review, no matter how we obtained the product.  See our About tab above to read more about Truth in Blogging.

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I have been told if you make meatloaf in a muffin tin it looks more appealing to kids, so I thought I would give it a try.  Bubba is not too fond of meatloaf at all so I searched high and low for a recipe I thought he would enjoy.  The one I found has both broccoli and cheddar cheese in it,  two of his favorite things. Besides adding cheese to meatloaf makes it a little more like a cheeseburger, don’t you agree?

We had just gotten a great deal on ground turkey so I decided to sub in the turkey for ground beef in this recipe from the website of my local grocery store, Hannaford.   Bubba was very excited to help make Muffins (a favorite food).  He measured and mixed, but when reading the nutrition info said ” there is not very much sugar in this, that is healthy, and there is a lot of protein”. Of course later when he tasted them he said “these are not like regular muffins!  I thought they were very tasty eating just plain, but the boys chose to try dipping in various condiments like Ranch dressing, A-1 steak sauce, and Barbeque sauce.  Hey as long as they eat them they can dip away!

The best thing about having any leftovers is they make a great grab & go breakfast!  Mr B&W took a few to work on a hurried morning and said they definitely hit the spot.   We are going to make a double batch and freeze them.

Cheddar and Broccoli Meat Loaf Muffins

Directions:

What Kids Can Do to Help
* Crack and beat eggs.
* Measure ingredients and mix together.
* Scoop mixture into muffin cups.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with vegetable cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, use a fork or whisk to beat eggs until yolk and white are completely mixed. Add all remaining
ingredients and use a wooden spoon or fork to mix until well combined.
3. Divide mixture among muffin cups, about ½ cup mixture in each cup. Press mixture into cups.
4. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes, until cooked through and browned on top. Let muffins rest in pan for 5 minutes. To serve,
run a knife around edge of each muffin. Use a fork to lift muffins out of pan and transfer to a plate. Serve warm.

May be refrigerated for up to 2 days, or frozen. Reheat in 350°F oven, 5 minutes for refrigerated, 12 minutes for frozen muffins.  (or you can reheat in microwave for 30-50 seconds depending on the power of your microwave)

Recipe courtesy of Hannaford fresh magazine March/April 09.

Click here for  a printable copy that includes nutrition information (when made with ground beef)

Let me know if you try these.

Have you made meatloaf in muffin tins? What recipe do you use?

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Football season is getting pretty exciting with the playoffs in full swing and the Superbowl right around the corner!

If you are gearing up for some celebrations bringing together friends to watch the game, I have a few tasty appetizer ideas for you.

In our house having a casual appetizer spread for dinner on football Sundays is a popular option! Thanks to Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark we had a chance to make some new recipes featuring Old El Paso chiles*.

Check out our super cool football table decor*…makes it pretty festive, now doesn’t it?

We love chips and dip so my guys chose this great Green Chile Dip to go with their tortilla chips.  Super easy to make,  with just the right amount of spice for everyone to enjoy.  Old El Paso Green chiles add a lot of flavor with out adding too much spice.

I tried to hurry up a grab a plate before everyone else, but that darn photographer caught me…

Next up we made some Chile, Cheese and Bacon Quesadillas.  We used our George Forman grill to cook up the bacon, and then heated up the quesadillas on there as well.   I really liked the combination of the bacon with the chiles.  Now take these and dip into that Green Chile dip…oh my is that good!

There are a few other recipes from the Betty Crocker site that feature Old El Paso chiles that I want to try next. Most have a prep time of  less than 30 minutes each.  A few that look interesting are:

Black Bean Dip

Green Chile Cornbread

Taco Nachos

Skillet Nacho Chili

Slow Cooker Salsa Chili

Seven Layer Bean Dip

Right now is the perfect time to taste test some new recipes before  you gear up for the big game.

Here is a link to a coupon for .55 off a can of Old El Paso Green Chiles so you can try out one of these tasty recipes.

The chiles come in 4.5 and 7 oz. cans, are fat free and are less than 10 calories per serving.
A tasty way to spice up your dishes.

Old El Paso is generously offering up another “Tackle the Taste” gift pack for one of my readers!
This includes two free cans of Old El Paso green chiles, a ceramic football shaped serving platter, two sets of football themed plates, cocktail napkins, and football themed table runner!

You will get one entry into this giveaway if you leave a comment and let me know what you like to serve for appetizers on game days.

To get a second entry just link back to this post from your own blog and leave me a comment with the link to your post!

Deadline to enter is Wednesday January 20th, 12 midnight Eastern Time.

*Old El Paso and MyBlogSpark provided me with the chiles to make these recipes, along with a “Tackle the Taste” football themed pack for our table decor.

As if the 12″ of snow this week was not enough to get us into the Christmas spirit, baking coolies sure sealed the deal.

It all started a few days ago when Bubba wanted to make “Stoplight” cookies.  So we whipped up a batch of dough, rolled it out, cut into circles and sprinkled some red, some yellow and some green. Then lined them up in a row like a stop light before we could eat them.

AJ, being a little grumpy the next day said we should have made Christmas cookies, and said he’d  help make some.  Lucky him, we had saved some dough in the refrigerator!

Fast forward to the next day when we suddenly get dumped on with a foot of snow! Perfect day for making cookies.  Bubba was happy to help, AJ suddenly found that playing FIFA soccer on the Wii was far more exciting.  (ha you think you are getting any cookies now mister?)

Behold the final product, beautifully decorated as only a 5 year old can:

Christmas Ornament Cookies

(adapted from Treasury of Christmas, 3 cookbooks in 1)

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon orange extract (recipe calls for almond, but the boys don’t like it)

assorted sugars, candies or decors

Place flour & salt in medium bowl; stir to combine. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and extract. Gradually add flour mixture and beat on low until well blended. Divide dough in half, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Take one portion of dough and roll out onto lightly floured surface to ¼ inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with floured cookie cutters.  Reroll the trimmings and cut out more shapes. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet.  If using sugars, decorate cookies before baking (if using icing or frosting decorate after baking)  To make cookies into ornaments for the tree, take a drinking straw and cut a hole near top of cookie so that later you can insert a ribbon for hanging.

Bake 10 -12 minutes until edges barely turn a light golden brown. (cook them any longer than that and they will be best used as ornaments & not eaten!) Let stand on cookie sheet 1 minute to cool, then remove to wire rack.

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I will try to post a recipe as we work our way through our holiday baking.  I have a few favorites I make only at this time of year.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that you like to make for the holidays?

I cannot believe how time is flying by and that it is already time to post my Menu Plan. AJ just returned home yesterday and I did not spend a minute on menu plans, so I am behind.  Now we are in the swing of fall soccer so back to quick things to get us out the door in time on practice nights (oh and this year Bubba is playing, too, so that is even more practices to schedule around!!)

Of course if you go visit I’m An Organizing Junkie for the list of bloggers who are also posting their plans you will see that over 200 are ahead of me!!

We are kind of in the middle of garden harvests, so not much to work with from there.  If we are lucky we will have enough Green Beans for one meal.  I am anxiously awaiting all those green tomatoes to turn red!

Here is my hastily planned menu for the week:

Monday

Herb Marinated Grilled chicken, rice, Green Beans

Tuesday

Strip steaks, Potatoes, spinach (for me) and hopefully fresh Green Beans for everyone else.

Wednesday

Soft Chicken Tacos,  and cheese Quesadillas for Bubba

Thursday
Diner’s Choice (the boys choose)

Friday

Sandwiches and fruit or veggies from Thursdays trip to the Farmer’s Market.

Saturday

Yet another Baseball Celebration, I’m off the hook.

Sunday

Slow Cooker Adobo chicken, rice and assorted veggies.

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We are going Blueberry picking again, so I’m thinking we should be having some  Blueberry Buckle for breakfast on the weekend.

Here is a recipe I have had for many years, given to me by a dear sweet woman, Mim,  who I worked with at one of my first jobs.

Mim Paolucci’s Blueberry Buckle

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup Shortening

1 egg

¾ cup milk

2 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen)

2 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

crumb topping:

½ cup sugar

⅓ cup flour

½ tsp. cinnamom

¼ cup butter

Preheat oven to 375°, grease a 9″ round pan

Make crumb mixture by cutting dry ingredients into the butter with a pastry tool, or a couple knives, until it looks like fine bread crumbs; then set aside while making the batter.

For the batter mix together in a medium to large bowl the sugar, shortening and egg until well blended

Stir in milk and blueberries (tip: sprinkle a little flour over the blueberries and shake around before adding them so they will not sink in the batter)

Sift together in medium bowl the flour, baking powder and salt, then stir into above mixture.

Spread batter into your greased 9″ pan and sprinkle top with crumb mixture.

Bake at 375° for 45 min.

Cool until barely warm to the touch. Tastes even better if you can wait until the next day!

Wow this week really flew by and it is time again to post my Menu Plan.

Be sure to visit I’m An Organizing Junkie for a great list of  bloggers who are also posting their weekly menus.

It is now the part of the summer that I must take note of what will be ready in the garden, so I can incorporate those veggies  into our meals. Right now we are at the tail end of the peas, but still have some beans, and the zucchini is just becoming ready to pick.

Here is what’s on the menu for the week:

Monday

Creamy Zucchini with Linguine (I’m using the very first  garlic from the garden!)

Tuesday

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad and Garlic bread

Wednesday

Grilled Pork chops, rice, green beans from our garden

Thursday
Diner’s Choice  (the boys choose)

Friday

Make your own pizza party.  I think I will be having some fresh garlic on mine!

Saturday

Baseball cookout @ coaches house!  (we only have to BYOB)

Sunday

Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Lime Chicken from Meal Planning 101.

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I think I will be sneaking in this delicious Zucchini Breakfast Casserole for either Saturday or Sunday’s breakfast.

You know when you are craving just that certain something, you have a recipe idea in your mind and nothing else will do?  Well I found myself in just that type of predicament, and rather than thumb through pages and pages of cookbooks I decided to give my Swagbucks search engine a try…and voila…I found Frantic Home Cook and a must-try recipe for Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies.

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup butter softened
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup sifted powdered sugar
½ cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. In another mixing bowl, beat together butter,   granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the ¼ cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. TO that add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat well.  Stir in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with mixer. You may then need to stir in the remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. (but if you are using a heavy duty Kitchen-Aid mixer like I did, then you won’t have to do it by hand)

Form the chocolate dough into 32 balls approximately 1 ¼ inches in diameter.

For the peanut butter filling combine powdered sugar and the remaining ½ cup peanut butter in a medium mixing bowl and beat until smooth.  Shape mixture into 32 (¾ inch) balls. On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Wrap the chocolate dough up and over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling balls.

Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them  for 8-10 minutes or until they’re just set and surface is slightly cracked. They will still be slightly soft, so do not over-bake them. Let stand for 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool.  Then hide them, or there will be none left for you!

If you have some patience,  drizzle them with some melted chocolate. I could not wait that long, so mine were all devoured, unadorned.

Enjoy!