First Zucchini bread of the season!

So, we have successfully made our first batch of zucchini bread and mini muffins (mainly for Elsie) and have the recipe below. We started out grating about 3 medium sized zucchini and had a lot to work with, so we doubled the recipe.

Our darling daughter helping make the zucchini bread!

Here's the recipe. Originally, it was from the internet, but with all the tweaking that has been done, I take credit for it at this point! :) Enjoy.

Low Fat Zucchini Bread

3 eggs (whites only)

1 cup Splenda (sugar can also be used if you don't have Splenda available)

1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar (or 1 cup regular brown sugar)

2 cups grated zucchini (2 medium sized or 1 big usually)

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

3 cups wheat flour (white flour could also be used)

2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cups nuts (optional)

Mix egg whites and sugars - beat really well. Then, add all other ingredients one at a time. Usually makes 2 bread pans, sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350º for 50-55min. If using by the recipe written, the bread won't rise much, but maintains a perfect shape.

Garden 2009

Soon we will have recipes to post for this blog, but until then, here's a picture of our big garden at the vineyard this year. We measured it as 60ft x 60ft and we have approximately 80 tomato plants to name just a couple of the plants we have. We are growing everything from giant pumpkins, to squash (acorn, butternut, buttercup, spaghetti), zucchini, eggplant, green beans, broccoli, spinach, corn, cucumbers, onions, green onions, potatoes, snap peas, peppers, beets, dill, basil, cilantro, and garlic (to name a few)!

Curried Pumpkin Soup

This is a new favorite of ours - modified from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 onions, sliced
2 leeks, trimmed, cleaned, and thinly sliced
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
4-6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 Tbsp mild curry powder
1/4 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, and 3 allspice berries, tied in cheesecloth to make a sachet
1 medium-large sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced in cubes
1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced in cubes
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 can coconut milk (use to your preference of taste)
Chives for garnish

Preparation:
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat
Add the onions, leeks, carrots, and apples and sauté over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent, about 15 minutes
Add the curry, spice sachet, and the remaining veggies. Pour in the broth and bring to a gentle simmer, for about 45 minutes, until the veggies are very soft.
Remove spice sachet and puree the vegetable mixture in food mill, blender, or use immersion blender (best thing ever!! :))
Add coconut milk (original recipe calls for heavy cream, but the coconut milk brings out a great flavor, in our opinion)
Serve with chives garnished on top if preferred.

Best Apple Crisp (we think!)

This is taken from the foodnetwork.com and not modified much!

Filling:
5 baking apples, peeled, cored, chopped small (the peeler, slicer, de-corer thing works wonders!)
1/4 c. finely chopped pecans
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat flour)
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Topping:
3/4 c. all-purpose flour (we again, used whole wheat)
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. chilled butter, cut into pieces
1/4 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

For the filling:
Mix all the ingredients together. Place into 8 ramekins or an 8x8 in. baking pan.

For the topping:
Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Blend the butter into the mixture until it forms pea size lumps. Stir in pecans and sprinkle over the filling.

Bake crisps for 35-40 minutes. Cool 10 min. before serving. Goes well warm with ice cream! :)

SO good - enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

So, this recipe is modified from Epicurious.com - our favorite recipe site. I was looking for a recipe with butternut and apples that didn't use heavy cream and this was a good one! We enjoy the recipes and especially the comments from others who use them because we tweak and change things all the time with our recipes and the comments from other cooks really helps with that! Our modifications are in parenthesis. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
Makes 8 Servings

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp (1/4 stick) butter
1 Lg Onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
4 1/4 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1-inch cubes (we used a medium sized butternut squash from the garden)
4 1/4 c. (or more) vegetable broth (we had chicken broth on hand, so used that instead)
5-6 apples, peeled, cored, diced (used about 5-6 medium sized apples from orchard)
*Recipe calls for 1/2 c. apple juice, but instead we upped the amount of apples*
Light sour cream
Chopped fresh chives

Preparation:
We will post how the "recipe" calls for this, but we sautéed the onion and nutmeg til they were brown and then put all the ingredients into a big crock pot for a few hours on high, left to go on a hike up the bluff, and came back to a great meal! We recently got an immersion blender and it's fantastic - used for the first time on this soup and it was great! Recommended if you have one, otherwise, the blender works well.

Recipe directions:
Melt butter in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and nutmeg, sauté until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add squash, broth, apples (*and apple juice, if using). Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered until squash and apples are tender, about 30 minutes. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream and chives.

Zucchini Garden Chowder

(this recipe is taken from "Simply in Season" and modified a bit by us)

Serves 6-8

2 Tbs butter or margarine

Melt in soup pot over medium heat.

2 medium zucchini (chopped)

1 medium onion (chopped)

2 Tbs. fresh parsley (chopped)

1 Tbs. fresh basil (chopped; or 1 tsp dried)

Add and sauté until tender.

1/3 c. wheat flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

3 c. water

Stir flour and seasonings into vegetables.  Gradually stir in water to make a smooth stock.

3 chicken or vegetable bouillon cubes

1 tsp. lemon juice

Add and mix well.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes

6 baby red potatoes (chopped)

Add and cook until tender.

2 c. tomatoes

1 1/2 c. evaporated milk (1 1/2c. equals 1 can)

2 c. sweet corn

Add and return to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes until corn is tender.

2 c. cheddar cheese (shredded)

1/4 c. parmesan cheese (freshly grated)

Just before serving add and stir until melted.  

*Note - this soup freezes well.  We've added the cheese and then put the soup in freezable containers.  Another possible add in - crab and shrimp to make it a seafood vegetable chowder, which is also quite good.

Welcome!

We are excited to start our blog about veggies, recipes, and fresh foods. A place where we can share recipes that we enjoy and recipes that include veggies fresh from our garden. Enjoy cooking! :) Here's a couple pictures of what our garden started off as this summer. It is a big garden and a lot to take care of (at times) but we love it and love the idea of making our own foods.