The Best Zucchini Bread

 I know that claim is completely subjective, but this bread is so moist and delicious! I had my regular recipe that I always used until I found this one, SO GOOD! (from allrecipes.com)- except I didn't add the walnuts.  Remember you can always substitute 1/2 cup of oil for 1/2 cup of applesauce.

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• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Coconut Banana Bread With Lime Glaze

This is a twist on banana bread, but oh so yummy!

2 C flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 C sugar

1/4 C (4 Tbs) real butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 1/2 C mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas)

1/4 C sour cream or plain yogurt

3 Tbs apple juice or milk (id you don't have juice, milk is fine)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 C coconut


Topping: 2 Tbs additional coconut

Glaze: 1/2 C powdered sugar whisked with 1 1/2 Tbs fresh lime juice


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs and beat to combine. Add banana, sour cream or yogurt, apple juice (or milk), and vanilla. Beat until blended. Add flour mixture and beat at a low speed until just combined. Stir in 1/2 C coconut. Pour batter into a 9×5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle additional 2 Tbs coconut on top. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until a knife or skewer inserted in center comes out clean.



Note: Check bread after about 40 minutes. If the top has browned and the coconut pieces are looking toasty, cover top of bread lightly with a piece of foil. Continue baking until done.


When done, remove pan from oven. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes and then carefully remove from pan.


Whisk powdered sugar and lime juice together for the glaze and then drizzle over top. Cool for another 15 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Pretzel Bites

I am a dedicated reader of Mel's Kitchen Cafe Blog. She posted these this week and I thought it would be something my family would love, but I'm not a huge pretzel fan, so I didn't make them. The next day my sister called to tell me she had made them and they were delicious, so of course I had to try them out.

They. Are. Delicious.

My sister did some with cinnamon and sugar and some as salted, I did them all salted. Next time I will try the cinnamon/sugar. The salted ones though are so nice, they taste just like a soft pretzel from a store. I bought a jar of cheese dip for chips, I think Tostitos brand. Dip the soft warm buttery pretzel in that, oh my gosh. My sister gave me the advice to only use 1 tablespoon of baking soda instead of two, it was perfect with one.

Anyways, enough gushing, here's the recipe. She has a picture collage of step by step instructions if you go to her website.

Chewy Pretzel Bites

*Note: if using active dry yeast, increase the yeast to 1 tablespoon. Proof the yeast in the warm water and sugar (let it bubble and foam – maybe about 5 minutes) before adding it to the flour and salt.

*Makes about 2 dozen pretzel bites

Dough:
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup (8 ounces) very warm water

Topping:
1/2 cup (4 ounces) warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
Coarse salt (optional)
3 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Mix to just combine. Add the water and mix well, adding more flour, as needed, a bit at a time to form a soft, smooth dough that clears the sides and bottom of the bowl. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it is soft, smooth and quite slack. The goal is to get a really soft dough that isn’t overly sticky. Lightly flour the dough and place it in a plastic bag; close the bag, leaving room for the dough to expand, and let it rest for 30 minutes or up to 60 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 500°F. Don’t be afraid of the high heat! This is what will help those pretzels to brown up perfectly and stay soft on the inside. Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper or lightly greasing them.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into about four strips of equal length. Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. While the dough is resting, combine the 1/2 cup warm water and the baking soda in a liquid measuring cup (deep enough to dip the pretzel bites into). Make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved. Sometimes I have a hard time getting the baking soda completely dissolved, so I just lightly stir up the mixture right before adding each pretzel.

Cut each strip of dough into about 6-8 pieces, about 1 to 1 ½ inches in width. You don’t have to be completely exact, just eyeball it. Dip each pretzel bite in the baking soda solution (this will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color), and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Bake the pretzels for 7-8 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Bake one sheet at a time – it won’t hurt the other pretzels to chill out for a little longer.

Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you’ve used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but that’s what gives these pretzels their ethereal taste. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave on low heat.

Whole Wheat Bread

Whole Wheat Bread
(perfected by Scott's Dad Randy Black)

3 1/ cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup gluten flour
1 T + 3/4 tsp instant yeast
2 1/2 cups steaming hot tap water (120-130 F)
1 T salt
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey or sugar
1 1/4 T lemon juice
2 1/2 cups more whole wheat flour

Mix first 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, gluten and yeast in a mixer with a dough hook. Add water while mixer is on and mix for 1 minute. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Add salt, honey oil and lemon juice. Beat for 1 minute. Add last flour one cup at a time, beating in between each cup. Beat for 10-15 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Beating it for the full 10-15 minutes will make a very soft dough.

Heat oven to lowest temp. (170 F). Turn dough onto an oiled counter top and knead together. Divide and shape into two loaves and shape into oiled bread pans. let raise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the dough reaches the top of the pan.Do not remove bread from oven. Turn oven up to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks.

Makes two large loaves.

ENJOY!

Coconut Bread

Hi Ladies!

Thanks, Kelly, for sending me the invite to contribute. You all have very yummy recipes which I cannot wait to try. As an introduction, I'll share a recipe that I've recently discovered. Maybe all of you have experienced the decadence of Coconut Bread many, many times, but it is fairly new to me. My college buddy, Anne Jackman, shared this recipe with me.

Baking this bread makes your whole house smell like a coconut cream pie. That alone would be enough except that the taste is divine. So moist and sweet. The clouds part and angels sing when you taste the buttery glaze. Are you salivating yet?

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Bread-
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp coconut extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup shredded coconut

Glaze- (Optional, and this makes a liberal amount of glaze, fyi)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease two 9x5 bread pans.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. Add coconut extract.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk and shredded coconut. Pour into prepared bread pans.

Bake in preheated oven 60-75 minutes until crust is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make glaze mix together sugar, water and butter in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and add coconut extract. Pour over loaves while both bread and glaze are still warm. Sprinkle with additional shredded coconut as a garnish, if desired.

Easy Bread

I've looked for a good bread recipe my whole married life. Maybe I'm a bit picky, but I finally found one I love. It has a soft crust and it's so soft and moist in the middle. Delicious.

1 tbsp yeast

1/2 tbsp salt

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup honey (or brown sugar)

approx. 5-6 cups flour (white or wheat or combo.)

Mix first 5 ingredients in mixer. Add flour one cup at a time until soft dough forms. Stir for 1-2 min. Let rise 1 hr. Separate into 2 loaf pans. Let rise another 1/2 hour. Bake 350 for 38 min.

This is only half the loaf left, we couldn't help ourselves when it first came out of the oven.

Easy Breadsticks

Thanks to the Kitchen Cafe blog I found this easy recipe for breadsticks and they are so good.

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 tbsp instant yeast

2 tbsp sugar

3 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp salt

Put all the above ingredients into mixer and knead for 3 min. Let rest for 10 min. While resting grease a 11x13 cookie sheet (sheet cake size). Put the dough onto the pan and roll out until it has filled the pan. Cut into long rectangles with a pizza cutter. Put on any toppings you like.

I like garlic salt, a little rosemary, and parmesan cheese. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap. Let rise 30 min. Bake at 375 for 15-20 min. or until golden brown.

This is the dough in the cookie sheet getting ready to rise for 30 minutes.

Final product.

Chili and Cornbread

This was my mom's chili recipe. I recently came across it in a file on my computer. It has her commentary about it that I won't include but it's great to see how she felt about the recipe. The cornbread recipe I came across a while back and thought it was so easy and unique. It's a sweet cornbread and I like that. Sorry - no pictures. I was rushing out the door to set up for the Daddy/Daughter Dinner.

Chili

2 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
1 onion coarsely chopped (I add this to the meat as I am cooking it)
1 small/medium bag kidney or red beans, pre-soaked in cold water overnight.
2 tsp. salt
2 TBS. chili powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 Large Can (46 fl. oz) tomato juice.

Soak bean overnight. Drain and place in a pot and cover with water. Cover and cook at a soft boil until tender. Make sure the water level stays above the beans. This takes a while. I cooked mine from 9AM to 2PM. Then I added the rest of the ingredients and simmered until we were ready to eat. I transferred it to a crockpot to keep it warm.

Toppings:
Grated cheese
Chopped Onions
Sour Cream

This was always our traditional Halloween dinner.

Cornbread
2 boxes Jiffy Mix Corn Muffin Mix
1 box yellow cake mix

Mix both boxes according to directions and combine the batters. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes. Test for doneness.

I have to add some commentary on this cornbread. Yesterday I made it and couldn't get the toothpick to come out of the center clean. I cooked it longer and never was able to get the middle completely done. I have never had this problem in the past. I don't know what it was. I am considering lowering the temperature and cooking it longer the next time. I am a VERY inexperienced baker so I wish I knew what more I could do to make sure the center cooked. Let me know if you have any tips.